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The WWE rumour mill has been running wild over the last few days that Shawn Michaels could come out of retirement to face The Undertaker.
HBK last competed in a WWE ring in March 2010 at WrestleMania XXVI, where he was defeated by The Undertaker in a ‘Streak vs Career’ match, and he has since turned down multiple offers to make a return.
Michaels has often mentioned in out-of-character interviews in recent years that he is happy with the storyline arc of his career and that he wants to be one of the few WWE Superstars to retire and actually stick to their word.
However, this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, which saw The Undertaker surprisingly confront Michaels and question if he has stayed retired out of “fear” rather than “respect”, has led to speculation that HBK is set to lace up his boots again.
In this article, lets take a look at five things you need to know about the rivalry between Michaels and ‘Taker.
#5 The Undertaker didn’t like Shawn Michaels in the 1990s
Nowadays, Shawn Michaels is a model professional who helps the next generation of WWE Superstars hone their skills in NXT. However, back in the 1990s, it was a different story and HBK earned a reputation for himself as being very difficult to deal with.
One of Michaels’ most troublesome moments came at WrestleMania XIV, where he made people backstage believe that he was going to sabotage his WWE Championship main-event match against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin by refusing to lose against the up-and-coming “Texas Rattlesnake”.
At the time, Michaels had upset a lot of his fellow performers backstage, including The Undertaker, who didn’t like the then WWE Champion’s unprofessional actions and threatened to "beat him up" if he ruined Austin’s title victory.
Speaking on Off The Record in 2002, ‘Taker said, “I’ll put it this way: if it hadn’t have been done in the way it was done, it probably would have been a very long night for Shawn Michaels”.
#4 Their WrestleMania XXV match could have been ruined
The WrestleMania XXV encounter between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker is widely considered to be one of the best matches in WWE history.
With Undertaker’s ‘Streak’ on the line, it seriously looked like Michaels would be the first man to defeat “The Phenom” on WWE’s biggest stage, especially as HBK had never lost a one-on-one match against his opponent heading into the show.
‘Taker picked up the win, of course, and he would later lose his undefeated record to Brock Lesnar in 2014, but did you know that the WrestleMania XXV match could have been ruined by time constraints?
The referee that day, Marty Elias, revealed on The Two-Man Power Trip podcast in 2017 that the match was originally scheduled to go on third and last just 15 minutes – a decision that was met with puzzled looks from both competitors when they were told before the event.
Fortunately, the plan changed and the match went on seventh and lasted over 30 minutes, making it the longest match of the night.
#3 Both men could have been officially retired 19 years ago
It’s crazy to think that in 2018, over three decades on from Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker’s wrestling debuts, we are discussing a potential match between the two men at next year’s WrestleMania.
Back in 1999, Michaels had already announced his retirement after suffering a career-ending back injury in a match against The Undertaker at the 1998 Royal Rumble, and there was also serious talk at the time that Mark Calaway was going to call time on his career as “The Deadman” at the age of 34.
Calaway told NBC in an out-of-character interview in 2000 that he had considered retiring due to groin, abdomen and pectoral injuries. However, once he fully recovered, he decided to return because he didn’t want to retire in those circumstances.
Nineteen years later, ‘Taker is still going strong and speculation about Michaels’ return seems more realistic than ever.
#2 The WrestleMania XXV cameraman was a WWE Superstar
One of the most memorable moments from the WrestleMania XXV masterclass came when The Undertaker launched himself over the top rope towards Shawn Michaels, who dragged a cameraman in front of him to avoid being struck by “The Phenom”.
The spot went horribly wrong when the cameraman failed to cushion Undertaker’s fall, leaving him to spike his head on the mat.
Fortunately for ‘Taker, he wasn’t too hurt and he was able to finish the match, but the incident proved to be the final moment in the WWE career of the ‘cameraman’, who turned out to be Sim Snuka (aka Deuce from the Deuce ‘n’ Domino tag team).
Snuka, the brother of current WWE Superstar Tamina, had been off television for several months heading into WrestleMania XXV and he was released two months later.
#1 The two biggest legends in WrestleMania history
Multiple WWE Superstars have enhanced their reputations through their performances on the grand stage of WrestleMania, but nobody is more synonymous with the event than Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker.
Michaels’ series of show-stealing matches at “The Showcase of the Immortals” – against Razor Ramon, Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, Vince McMahon, Ric Flair and, of course, The Undertaker – earned him the nickname “Mr. WrestleMania”.
As for ‘Taker, his undefeated streak of 21 ‘Mania victories between 1991 and 2013 will live long in the memory of WWE fans, and barring a sports entertainment miracle, it will never be broken.
