Shawn Michaels says he still considers WWE WrestleMania 26 with The Undertaker to be his last match
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Shawn Michaels discussed his retirement from WWE after losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26 along with his decision to wrestle at the 2018 Crown Jewel PLE in Saudi Arabia. Here was the excerpt…
Van Vliet: How’d you know it was time to say goodbye?
Michaels: “There didn’t feel like there was anything left to do. 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. And none of those have been why I’ve ever done this. Even at my worst, when I was complaining and bitching about money or spots or places and titles and anything, it was still never really about the financial side of it. It was more about the work of art I was doing. I didn’t—I don’t know that I conceptually knew that at the time, but as I got older it was more about knowing what this finished picture looked like. 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.”
Van Vliet: Do you still consider that match at Crown Jewel your last match, or is it the one with Undertaker at 26?
Michaels: “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. And I was like, ‘Oh, I thought they—oh, but they’re not really retired.’ And I know Kiss has never retired, but you know, I don’t know. That just felt like a special separate one-off. HBK, Mr. WrestleMania, the Showstopper—that was what ended with Taker at WrestleMania. And then I still came back and refereed the match between Hunter and Taker, and again, I’ll always play a role in the WWE. Would it count if I went into the Rumble this year or something? Probably shouldn’t have said that. I was just using that as an example. But no, I don’t consider those a match. A single performance by me, by HBK, by that guy—that’s not who that was. That was a dude hanging out with his buddies, having a match. So, one was the artist. The other one was just a dude, like I said, hanging out there with his buddies.”