Shawn Michaels Reveals ‘The Streak vs. Career’ Match Not Designed to Permanently Retire Him

The Undertaker and Shawn Michael’s WrestleMania 26 match may be the greatest contest in WWE history. While the match was essentially perfect, its stipulations remain the biggest selling point; however, one of them wasn’t planned the way we may have thought.

Michael’s and Taker’s epic was built around The Streak vs. Career stakes. Michaels lost, then bid farewell to the WWE Universe the next night on Raw. However, in an interview with Sports Illustrated, HBK revealed that the plans didn’t exactly call for his permanent retirement.

“I don’t know that I ever completely decided that it was going to be it [for my career] until after that match was over,” said Michaels. “We had always sort of discussed sort of an ‘out clause,’ so to speak, if I had the desire to do it again. But I can remember myself, and ‘Taker, and Michaels Hayes just sitting there after the match, like we had done the year before, just the three of us, sort of sitting there, alone, taking it in, and I said, ‘You know something, guys? I feel good with that.’”

Considering how the match was billed, the idea of Michaels’ retirement being flexible feels strange. What that “out clause” was we’ll never know, but maybe it was a 2018 return match at Crown Jewel if anyone in WWE had that type of foresight.

That Saudi Arabian match effectively ended Michael’s 10-year retirement, but before that, WrestleMania 26 was most certainly his swan song, even if that wasn’t the intention.

When HBK broke his retirement for Crown Jewel last fall, many thought that would set up a match for WrestleMania 35. However, the 53-year-old Michaels seems to have no pans of wrestling again.

“… it’s sort of like saying yes to eating chocolate pie. Sometimes, you know, for the most part, you know it’s not as good for you, you try not to have too much of it, but every now and then, you have a cheat day, you enjoy it, and then that’s it. That’s what this is for me, it’s a very glorified cheat day,” he told WWE.com.

In another interview with Sky Sports, Michaels reiterated that he is in fact done wrestling, despite fans clamoring for one more match.

“No, it was a really special thing, and I really felt that one for a while. I’m good with what I’ve done. I no longer want to do it anymore,” he said.

“The only thing better than having your own WrestleMania moment is watching and helping someone with theirs,” he said. “We had our time, we know the potential of so many of these men and women and we know the joy they can have and we want to pass it on,” said Michaels.

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