1) It was the main event
at Wrestlemania. For the first time ever in Wrestlemania or any
other pay-per-view in recent time has there been a retirement match
that headlined a PPV. Shawn Michaels is the first recipient of such
an honour. Had it been a ‘fake’ retirement, it would probably have
been the third to last match of Wrestlemania. Even if the WWE
thought that this would have been the biggest match of the night,
we have come accustomed to the best matches never ever
main-eventing the night. HBK v Angle, HBK v Flair or even HBK v
Taker I last year were the best matches of the night but not the
main events.
2) Time-off for Shawn
Michaels could have been scripted into the storyline, there was no
need for a retirement angle. We have seen so many wrestlers given
time-off in recent years, none of those angles ever involved
retirement. Sackings, banishment from a brand, injuries or
whatever, if they wanted to give HBK rest, they did not have to
have him play into a retirement angle with The Undertaker. We have
seen a million and one scripts to put HBK on the sidelines in the
past, none included a retirement angle.
3) Shawn Michaels has
made it public that it has been his intention to retire from
professional wrestling to spend time with his family quite some
while ago but has always delayed it whenever Vince McMahon has
asked him to put it on hold. A retirement match at Wrestlemania –
does not get any bigger than that!
4) Wrestling Tweeto.
Wrestlers like Ted DiBiase Jr. and color commentator Jim Ross
tweeted on their profiles honouring Shawn Michaels’ career. Now,
nay-sayers could say it’s scripted but from what I have observed,
DiBiase and Ross are tweeting as human beings and not WWE Universe
puppets. I doubt the WWE would have wanted Jim Ross to leak out
news that HBK v Taker would finish Wrestlemania last this year five
or six hours before the event started.
5) Shawn Michaels is not
scheduled to feature in any WWE event in the next two months nor is
his face on any PPV posters. WWE have leaked news on returns via
posters in the past with the feature of Undertaker at the Survivor
Series poster ahead of his return a few years back so it would not
surprise me if WWE would have placed Shawn Michaels’ face on a
poster to sell tickets.
6) Like it or not, Shawn
is only human and one day he will retire. As I have eluded earlier,
there is no bigger or grander stage to take your final bow other
than Wrestlemania and Michaels strikes me as the kind of wrestler
who would want to retire at the top of his game and not go down the
Ric Flair route, wrestling dark matches at Wrestlemania in his
fifties and sitting out multiple PPVs before his swansong.
7) No more stories, no
more wrestlers. I do not believe that Shawn Michaels has anyone
else to face in the WWE (that he has not faced before in recent
time) that could bring one great match out of him anymore. HHH is
the only one I can think off. HHH and Michaels have a solid
friendship off-screen but I think building a rivalry between HHH
and Michaels will leave the WWE Universe with a sour taste in our
mouths (since HHH and HBK feuding will mean one of them turning on
the other) after all the good times with them in DX.
8) Taker v Michaels II
could not have been delayed. Let us face it, Taker’s time is coming
to an end as well and I am not sure if either Taker or Michaels’
bodies could hold for such a gruelling encounter one year from now.
And as I mentioned, there does not seem to be anyone else for HBK
to face at Wrestlemania, so it had to be this year.
9) The Undertaker shaking
HBK’s hand. That seemed to me like a genuine gesture. These two had
a great match last year but you did not see Taker offering his hand
to Michaels last year. Taker broke his ‘act’ to honour Shawn one
last time.
10) I needed one more to make it to 10 and
if I could think of nine good reasons, surely that is enough!
Anyway what are your thoughts? Anyone thinks that HBK
will return a few months from now or has he permanently
retired?