Shawn Michaels Expected To Return To The Ring

Shawn Michaels is coming out of retirement to wrestle one more match, according to Dave Meltzer in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Asked to give his prediction on the last-time-ever clash between Triple H and The Undertaker at WWE Super Show-Down, Shawn Michaels didn’t hesitate on Raw to declare that “The Deadman” was in over his head and “The Game” simply had more left in the tank than the legendary Superstar who forced HBK into retirement.

With the unmistakable toll of the gong and darkening of the arena, “The Deadman” made his always-ominous entrance to remind Michaels that he’d taken the best both he and “The King of Kings” had to offer, ultimately surmising that HBK was still bitter over that career-ending defeat in 2010 (at WrestleMania XXVI).

Michaels replied that he had honored his vow to remain retired out of respect to the system, the audience and Undertaker himself, despite the constant chants of “One More Match.” Undertaker fired back that maybe Michaels was afraid because he knew if he had come out of retirement, “The Deadman” would put him down again — the exact fate, he claimed, that awaits Triple H at Super Show-Down.

According to Meltzer, WWE officials expect Michaels to return to the ring at a WWE live event taking place in Saudi Arabia on Friday, November 2. However, he won’t be wrestling a singles match.

“The working idea internally right now is that Michaels is coming out of retirement,” Meltzer wrote. “Right now it is not for a singles match, and it is targeted, if not scheduled, for Saudi Arabia on 11/2.”

WWE made a strong financial offer for Michaels to wrestle at the Greatest Royal Rumble last April in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which the company earned more profit from than WrestleMania 34. The Saudi Prince’s WWE fandom goes back to the 1990s (presumably Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia). According to Meltzer, he asked Vince McMahon if Michaels, Yokozuna, Ultimate Warrior, The Undertaker, “the guy with the cowboy hat” (Jim Ross) and “the guy with the crown” (Jerry “The King” Lawler) could appear at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

During an interview with Inside the Ropes last month, Michaels discussed a possible return to the ring and suggested that it may be “more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Let’s just say I did it and the match is phenomenal,” Michaels said. “The reality is this hairline is still what it is — like it’s all hot and sweaty — and even if the match is phenomenal and everything else, you’re still gonna bust my chops because I’ve got no way not to expose to you that I’m 53. That’s the thing — and I don’t mean it in a bad way — but you want me to kip up and everything look as if it was 1996, ’97. That’s not gonna happen because father time waits for no man.

“There’s a lot of stuff like what do you do and even does the young guy benefit when all is said and done. I don’t know, it just seems like more trouble than it’s worth.”