10 Best WWE Shawn Michaels Matches

Shawn Michaels is arguably the greatest in-ring performer in the history of not just the WWE, but professional wrestling as a whole.

He has wrestled countless match of the year calibre performances and never failed to disappoint. It has been often said that Shawn Michaels is one of those wrestlers who could carry a broomstick to a great match, and that is probably true.

Michaels had an amazing run in the 90's, and his 2002-2010 run was even better.

Shawn Michaels has now stepped out of retirement for the second time having made his in-ring return at WWE Crown Jewel, and we take a look back over the top 10 best Shawn Michaels matches of all time.

#10 Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart - WrestleMania XII

Without a doubt one of, if not the most polarizing match in history, fans either think it is one of the greatest matches of all time or one of the most boring.

As you can tell by its entry on this list, I am certainly not the latter. I think there probably were certain points of the match that were a little slow for sure, I mean it was an hour long after all, so of course, they were going to be worn out, but I still think they kept it together throughout this epic contest.

Considering there was serious heat between both men, Michaels and Hart both worked very hard in this match to make it as fantastic as it was. It was technical, with brawls and high flying manoeuvres and having the match go into overtime only increased its heat. This match was so good, that it is a shame Michaels allegedly faked an injury to get out of losing to Hart in a rematch the following year.

#9 Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho - No Mercy 2008

Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho always had great chemistry together, whether it was from their early feuding days in 2003, or their year stealing feud of 2008. Everyone likes to look fondly back at their clash from WrestleMania XIX in 2003 as the best match between them, and as great as it was, this one still takes the cake.

Often mentioned by Chris Jericho himself as his favorite WWE match he has had, the World Championship Ladder match between Jericho and Michaels from No Mercy 2008 is simply outstanding.

Certainly underrated when fans talk about WWE's greatest matches, this gruelling match had all the drama and intensity in the world, several notable high risk and dangerous spots, including when they both went crashing through the announce table from the top of the ladder and just a lot of jaw-dropping action.

It really is very easy to see why Chris Jericho looks back at this as his favorite WWE match ever.

#8 Shawn Michaels vs. John Cena - WWE RAW April 23, 2007

Shawn Michaels and then WWE Champion John Cena collided in the main event of WrestleMania 23 in 2007, and had a very exciting match. It was so good, many immediately thought that they couldn't top it in a rematch, but they were proven wrong just a few weeks later.

Coming from the April 23, 2007 episode of RAW from London, England, this was an epic encounter. While these two gave us a great match at WrestleMania 23, they topped it with an amazing performance that took up half of an entire episode of RAW, going just under an hour at 56 minutes.

HBK and Cena gave us everything you could ever want out of a wrestling match, a long well-timed effort featuring two of the best, technical wrestling, high spots, several near falls and as much intensity and drama as humanly possible. Shawn took the win with some Sweet-Chin Music.

#7 Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H - SummerSlam 2002

No one ever had a better comeback match than Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 2002. After 4 years away, with only one match wrestled during that time (outside of WWE), Shawn Michaels returned to the ring to battle his then former best friend Triple H in this stunning unsanctioned match.

The live crowd was super hot for this match as there was barely ever a moment in this near 30-minute match where they paused for a second to rest. We had a lot of back and forth action, one of the most drama filled matches in the history of WWE, a lot of weapon use leading to blood, and Michaels giving a stunning crossbody to Triple H through the table.

This was an all-out war. Michaels took the win when he reversed an attempted Pedigree into a bridging pin for the win. Not only the greatest comeback match ever, but the greatest comeback ever.

#6 Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind - In Your House 10: Mind Games

Mick Foley referred to this match in his book, 'Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks', as his favorite match ever. And it's not that hard to see why. The match is incredible.

For almost half an hour, Michaels and Foley beat the high holy hell out of each other. It was never slow paced and had so much drama. It was very violent, as all 90's Foley matches were, fast-paced, a lot of back and forth action, weapon use, dangerous spots, including a reversal of a suplex which was countered into a cross body where both men went crashing through the Spanish announce table.

Unfortunately, it had a bit of a screwy ending when Vader ran in and caused a disqualification, but this is still one of the best matches of the entire 1990's.

#5 Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker — WrestleMania XXVI

An incredible end to an incredible career, at the time at least

Shawn Michaels, perhaps the best in-ring performer in the history of professional wrestling would step in the ring to compete for what would be his last ever time... until WWE Crown Jewel 8 years later in 2018.

Just like the previous year, HBK and The Undertaker danced at WrestleMania in one of the best matches you will ever see and the best ever retirement match a wrestler has ever had. They really pulled out all the stops, and though their chemistry has always been phenomenal, the drama was incredible.

The Undertaker did a great job in looking like he believed he couldn't put the resilient showstopper away. The match featured Sweet Chin Music after Sweet Chin Music, dives, fantastic exchanges and much more. The Prince of Darkness delivered possibly his biggest and best Tombstone ever to put away the Heartbreak Kid.

#4 Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H vs. Chris Benoit - WrestleMania XX

This is a match that, for obvious reasons, isn't talked about very often today, but it is easily the best match of 2004, one of the best WrestleMania matches of all time and the best Triple Threat match ever.

Michaels, HHH and Chris Benoit told an amazing story here. Could Benoit win the big one? Would the two-year long feud between Michaels and The Game finally end? These led to broken tables, unlikely team-ups, suplex after suplex, excellent one-on-one and then three-way exchanges, superkicks, headbutts, high flying manoeuvres, technical offense and a whole lot of blood. No one needed to help carry the other into a great performance, all three men earned their PWI Match of The Year award.

The trio would go on to have a rematch the following month at Backlash, which was almost as fantastic as this, but just a little short of it.

#3 Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle - WrestleMania 21

A dream match that skyrocketed expectations

While WWE often don't capitalize on promoting dream matches, when they do, they can be incredible matches. The Rock vs John Cena, The Rock vs Goldberg, Shawn Michaels vs Hulk Hogan, The Rock vs Hogan, they were all great in their own way, but none as perfect as Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle from WrestleMania 21.

This was truly amazing, as the gifted wrestlers lived up to the hype and then some. This was true wrestling, and the drama was incredible, with more than a dozen near falls, several Angle Slams, suplexes everywhere, a Sweet Chin Music that nearly took Angle's teeth out and what may be the longest Ankle Lock ever to secure the big win for the deserving Olympian. Match of the night, match of the year, and arguably match of the decade.

#2 Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker - Badd Blood 1997

WWE WrestleMania 25 in 2009 wasn't the first time that Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker had a 10/10 epic encounter.

They feuded in 1997 through early 1998 with many good matches, but the one that stands out the most is their clash at Badd Blood 1997, which also happened to be the first ever Hell in A Cell match. It was half an hour of a flat-out action-packed bloodbath.

Everything here was just so perfect. While Michaels did get a lot of offence and moves in, he also took one of the biggest beatings in history, probably only being beaten by The Undertaker's destruction on Mankind the following year in the same match. Shawn looked like he had walked out of heel when all was said and done, he was covered in that much blood.

We have some very violent chair shots that you would never see in today's world, as well as Michaels hitting Taker with a piledriver onto the steel steps. They make it outside the Cell and to the top where we have some scary moments that eventually lead to Taker stamping Michaels off the top to the table below.

As Michaels is lying helpless, looking like he is already dead, Taker signals for the Tombstone before his 'brother' Kane makes his historic debut and hits Taker with a Tombstone of his own, allowing Shawn to make the cover for the win. An absolutely excellent match.

#1 Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker - WrestleMania XXV

This match might just be the best wrestling match we will ever see. Having put on a 5-star classic once before, back in the first ever Hell in A Cell match at Bad Blood 1997, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker managed to have an even better, more incredible match at WrestleMania 25.

Everyone knew Shawn was going to lose, especially since the match had a build up of only about two weeks, but during the match itself, you really believed it was possible Michaels could pull off a win. They kicked out of each other's finishing moves more than once, with perfect exchanges and reversals everywhere, an incredible dive from the ring by Taker and even some of the best frustrated facial expressions you will ever see in a match.

This match rightfully won several Match of The Year awards and even spawned a sequel, to be Shawn Michaels' final WWE match (for 8 years) the following year.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that after this match, no one else could go out in a 5-star match with Shawn Michaels other than The Undertaker. The WrestleMania 26 match between them was excellent, but this match at WrestleMania 25 was just perfect.

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Edited by Nishant Jayaram