In pro wrestling, nobody who retires stays retired. That’s just how it works.
Mick Foley retired at No Way Out in 2000, was back for WrestleMania a month later and has wrestled sporadically ever since. Ric Flair got maybe the greatest retirement sendoff in wrestling history at WrestleMania 24, but within a few years he was on Impact bleeding to death with Foley. Terry Funk’s had more retirement matches than some wrestlers have had matches. The list of wrestlers who retired and stayed retired (without being forced to by life-threatening injuries) is very short.
One of the most prominent names on that short list is Shawn Michaels, who lost a career-threatening match to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26 and hasn’t wrestled since. Anywhere. On the latest episode of the WOOOOO! Nation podcast, Flair — who got sent into temporary retirement by Michaels’ foot — dropped the info that WWE doesn’t want Michaels’ retirement to be permanent, and that they’ve been trying to get him into the 2016 Royal Rumble as a surprise participant. The only problem?
“They want him so bad for Royal Rumble, but he ain’t budging from that ranch down there in Texas.”
It’s certainly not surprising. If we’re just going on what WWE wants, they probably want Shawn, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and everyone else who was popular during the late ’90s/early 2000s in the Rumble. They’ve probably sent out feelers to Gangrel. “Hey, Scotty 2 Hotty, what’re you up to?”
Maybe I’m one of those guys who doesn’t want to be happy or whatever, but I’m happy Michaels is so steadfast in his decision to hang out at a ranch all day and go hunting instead of returning to wrestling as a performer. You only get so many shots at a great goodbye, and losing to The Undertaker in a critically acclaimed match in the main-event of a WrestleMania is about as good as it gets. His legacy is intact. He’s got nothing to prove. Showing up again to get a reaction and getting unceremoniously tossed out by Big Show isn’t gonna help anybody.
Stick to your guns, Shawn. Literally.
