HBK’s retirement storyline is one that the majority of wrestling fans are not strangers to. He faced The Undertaker in the main event of Wrestlemania 26 with the stipulation that if he were to lose, his career would be over. He lost the match and faded off into the sunset.
According to Michaels in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, there was an “out clause” in place in case he decided that he didn’t want to hang up the boots for good. Here’s what Michaels had to say:
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. 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.’
You can listen to the entire conversation below:
The first episode of the WrestleMania Series podcast features “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels discussing his WrestleMania 26 “Career vs. Streak” match against The Undertaker, and it is available on iTunes https://t.co/ApkIcoK50A @ShawnMichaels
— Justin Barrasso (@JustinBarrasso) March 6, 2019
