WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels has opened up about his in-ring retirement and the controversial decision to wrestle again at the 2018 Crown Jewel premium live event in Saudi Arabia. Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Michaels explained why he still considers his legendary WrestleMania 26 match against The Undertaker as his true final bout.
Michaels retired in 2010 following his emotional “Streak vs. Career” match with The Undertaker, widely regarded as one of the greatest WrestleMania main events of all time. While he later returned for a one-night-only tag team match alongside Triple H against Undertaker and Kane at Crown Jewel, Michaels made it clear that it doesn’t count in his eyes.
“There didn’t feel like there was anything left to do,” Michaels said of his decision to retire after WrestleMania 26. “What more do you do, except more of the same? And again, I guess that’s fine, but then you’re doing it for so many other reasons. At the end of that match, I felt so comfortable with where it was. I felt like the only thing left really was to sign your name on it. That’s why the last one in Saudi doesn’t do anything, doesn’t have an effect on me one way, shape, or form.”
When asked if he still views Crown Jewel as his final match, Michaels didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah, it’s that one—the one with Undertaker. Because the other one, I don’t know, it was a tag match. It was DX. And I feel kind of bad, because I don’t mean it in a negative way, but that was just sort of like… I don’t know, like Kiss going out and not even with the original members, and playing a concert at the Troubadour or something. That was just a special one-off. HBK, Mr. WrestleMania, the Showstopper—that ended with Taker at WrestleMania.”
Michaels noted that while he’ll always play a role in WWE, his single career-defining performance ended in 2010.
“A single performance by me, by HBK, by that guy—that’s not who that was [at Crown Jewel]. That was a dude hanging out with his buddies, having a match. One was the artist. The other one was just a dude hanging out there with his buddies.”
The full interview with Shawn Michaels is available below:
