I’ve been waiting nearly a decade for Shawn Michaels to come out of retirement and wrestle again in WWE. Now that it’s finally happening, I can’t help but feel disappointed by all the circumstances leading up to it.
HBK is generally recognized as one of the greatest performers in WWE history. He earned the moniker “Mr. WrestleMania” for consistently stealing the show on the grandest stage of them all.
While Yokozuna was heavily featured at WrestleMania 10 in two separate underwhelming WWF Championship matches, HBK was on the undercard captivating the world by jumping off a ladder and splashing Razor Ramon. When Batista and John Cena were each getting crowned as the new faces of WWE in mediocre championship matches at WrestleMania 21, Shawn Michaels was on the undercard tapping out to Kurt Angle in a match that showcased what elite level talent truly looks like. While Triple H and Randy Orton were trying to cure the world of insomnia in the main event of WrestleMania 25, HBK was there on the undercard having one of the greatest matches ever with Undertaker.
Of course there is a lot more to HBK’s legacy than his incredible performances at WrestleMania. However during his second run in WWE, the main reason he appealed to me was because he could still put on incredibly breathtaking matches. HBK didn’t just try to hang on the same level in the ring with younger stars like Shelton Benjamin, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Edge; it was clear that HBK was still better than all of them.
During the last eight years that HBK has been retired, I have seen plenty of really talented wrestlers reach the upper card and main event levels in WWE. And inevitably the following thought would cross my mind: how amazing would a 20-minute main event match be pitting Shawn Michaels against Daniel Bryan? AJ Styles? CM Punk? Seth Rollins? Ryback? Roman Reigns? Kevin Owens? Brock Lesnar?
With each passing year, the likelihood of any such dream match taking place decreased. HBK wasn’t getting any younger, and there didn’t seem to be any reason to expect he would wrestle again in WWE. Yet here we are now, less than a month away from HBK’s return to the ring on Nov 2., and he’s wrestling...in a tag team match with Triple H against Kane and Undertaker? In a propaganda show in Saudi Arabia?
Everything about this feels wrong.
First, Crown Jewel is a problematic event, to say the least. I don’t need HBK’s return to take place at WrestleMania. I don’t even need it to take place on a Big 4 pay-per-view. But the idea that HBK’s return is happening at Crown Jewel is gross and puts a huge damper on his first match in over eight years.
Second, I don’t care about seeing HBK in tag team matches that don’t involve Marty Jannetty. My fondest memories of DX all lie with the first half of HBK’s career in WWE, when he was full of attitude and the WWF Champion in 1997. The version of DX he brought back with Triple H a couple times during the second half of HBK’s career was always kinda lame in comparison, and that’s the one I associate more with tag team wrestler HBK. That’s very likely the version of DX we are getting at Crown Jewel. That doesn’t do much at all for me; my interest in HBK is all about great singles matches, not tag team matches with Triple H. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Triple H is once again inserting himself into something potentially cool and bringing it down a few notches.
Third, it’s hard for me to walk away from Super Show-Down and feel optimistic about what Triple H, Undertaker, and Kane can do in the ring anymore. Undertaker was a shell of himself in his match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33, and the match with Triple H at Super Show-Down was a harsh 27 minute reminder of that reality. Kane’s matches with Braun Strowman last December and January were so bad that it’s one of the few times where Braun actually looked like a better worker than his opponent. Triple H has more left in the tank than Kane or Undertaker, but he’s also much slower than he used to be and the idea of watching him wrestle just isn’t particularly exciting.
Fourth, HBK is bald and his hat has an uncanny ability to stick to his head. I don’t know what’s going on there, and I’m having a hard time processing all of that.
I don’t know if HBK still has it in him to be The Showstopper, and the rational part of me understands he is over 50 years old and I need to temper my expectations. But regardless of what HBK is capable of right now, it’s going to be really hard to steal the show when he is sharing the ring with at least two guys who are broken down and don’t have it anymore. Maybe HBK is also physically at the point where he would only be able to put on a decent match with even a top elite star like AJ Styles. I at least want to find out what he can do in that setting against one of the very best singles stars in WWE.
The DX vs. Brothers of Destruction tag team match at Crown Jewel is pretty much the opposite of what I want to see in a return to in-ring competition for Shawn Michaels. It’s nothing like the scenarios that played out in my mind over the last eight years. At this point I’m hoping for a big swerve on Raw where HBK’s hat is filled with New Day’s pancakes unbeknownst to him, and that leads to a triple threat tag match at Crown Jewel. I just need some fresh faces in there for HBK to battle with besides Undertaker, Kane, and Triple H.
How do you feel about HBK’s comeback match at Crown Jewel, Cagesiders?