PA USE TET
WTEC LAC

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

restlemania 26 may very well have
been the best WWE show in years, but
it was also an event that couldn’t help
bring sadness with its fantastic main event. When
The Undertaker pinned Shawn Michaels following
three Tombstone Piledrivers, it marked the end of
Michaels’ long and storied career.
It isn’t necessarily surprising that Michaels
is finally hanging up the boots. After all, he’s 44
years old and has been in the wrestling business
for decades. He’s suffered through numerous
injuries over the course of his career, including a
catastrophic back ailment back in 1998 that forced

him into retirement for a full four years. It speaks
to Michaels’ remarkable athleticism that he was
physically able to recover from that and return full-
time to a business in 2002 that is as taxing as any
sport.

Over his 26-year career that began in 1984,
Michaels held four world championships during
his WWE tenure and established a legendary
reputation as one of the best big moment
performers of all time. He earned his nickname
of “Mr. Wrestlemania” with a number of amazing
matches on the grandest stage of all in the wrestling
world. He put on unforgettable performances
with some of the best of all time, including Kevin
Nash, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, Steve

 

Austin, Ric Flair, John Cena and of course, The
Undertaker. The Undertaker may have never lost at
Wrestlemania, but no one has ever out-performed
Shawn Michaels when the lights are on bright.

So it was sad, after watching him for so many
years, to see Michaels go, but he couldn’t have
asked for a better exit from the WWE. He gave
everyone one final epic match to remember at
Wrestlemania in Phoenix before giving a very
heartfelt and touching speech that couldn’t have
been scripted.

As it always does, the WWE will roll on, and
new stars will always come to the forefront, but
I think it is safe to say that there won’t ever be
another Shawn Michaels.

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