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Shawn Michaels often found himself in the top rankings of several WWE critics and fans during his time with the Stamford-based promotion. His matches were all over the list, and rightfully so. However, there is one bout from his career that has divided fans, despite its historic relevance.
The Heartbreak Kid wrestled Bret "The Hitman" Hart at WrestleMania 12 in the first-ever 60-minute Iron Man match. The bout main evented the show and has since received a polarizing reception.
Commenting on his grueling contest against Bret Hart on GV Wire's 'Off the Bottom Rope' section, Shawn Michaels pointed out that if anyone else was in his place, or likewise, if Bret Hart faced someone else, the 'Mania match would have been better received:
"Hindsight is 20/20, especially for the people that didn’t do it. You know what I mean? Understanding the business now and just the the tempo of the business now certainly was different," Michaels said. "Do I think [the criticism is] a little unfair? Obviously, I do. I think if it were somebody else other than myself, and Bret was doing it with somebody else, I think they probably might not get quite the hard time."
He then deemed the match "fantastic" and recalled how it was a major risk to step foot inside the squared circle and wrestle in an hour-long bout.
"I always more so appreciated the risk that we were willing to take as performers to go out there and do that hour match at that time, again in the business, that was that was a huge risk from a company standpoint. It’s very challenging from a performance standpoint to do that. For anybody … to knock it, obviously, as somebody who’s never done it," Michaels said.
Read more about Shawn Michaels' former WWE rival, calling Bret Hart "the best wrestler ever" here.
Shawn Michaels on wrestling one more match in WWE
The WWE Hall of Famer is no longer an active competitor. Instead, he works as the Senior Vice President of Talent Development, overseeing the company's developmental brand, NXT.
In the aforementioned interview, when asked about working one more match, Shawn Michaels had this to say:
"I have no urge to have any more matches. I’m very, very pleased with the career that I had. And I’m enjoying helping the future stars get themselves to weekends like the ones we’re about to have," Michaels said.
Looking back at his career, the WWE Hall of Famer singled out his match against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 21 as one of his best because of the "unbelievable chemistry" the two had.
Over the years, the likes of Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Johnny Gargano, and Adam Cole have tried to talk Shawn Michaels into wrestling one more match, but the latter decided to stay retired.
