SHAWN MICHAELS SPEAKS ON LEAVING WWE, PUTTING CAREER ON THE LINE

Shawn Michaels, who puts his career on the line this weekend at WrestleMania against the Undertaker’s undefeated streak, appeared on Atlanta’s 790 The Zone Sports Radio this morning and spoke about reports from a popular news website that he plans on leaving WWE shortly after WrestleMania XXVI and thus, will be losing against the Undertaker on Sunday. Michaels said:

“That’s the situation that I’m in. The career is on the line, so I guess I say ground breaking news by them I guess. That is the match at Wrestlemania, the career versus the streak. It’s one of those things that’s bitter-sweet. Obviously I want to be the one guy to beat the streak. I think that if anyone can, I’m the one, but you have to be willing to put it all out there. If things don’t go my way, I still have a great deal of peace and I can look back on a career that I’m very proud of.”

It’s worth noting that in the new issue of WWE Magazine, there’s an interview with Shawn Michaels, who is asked about retirement. Michaels cryptically said, “I have my retirement set already. I have been thinking of my retirement for a long time now.”

During the 790 The Zone interview, Michaels also spoke about his return to WWE back in 2002 after being out of action with a back injury for over 4 years. Despite the fact that he already had a Hall of Fame career before he left WWE in 1998, he was told that the new generation of WWE fans might not even know who he was and WWE felt they needed to reintroduce him to everybody. He said:

“Yeah, and that’s the sort of thing that as you’re doing it, I can remember coming back in 2002 and them informing me that ‘hey, you almost need to reintroduce yourself’, because there is a whole other generation. On one hand, you want to be a little offended by that. You say ‘come on, I’m not the end all, be all, but I’m Shawn Michaels.’ But to really understand that there is a whole other generation that you now have to appeal to and you do appeal to. When you see the little guys hanging over the rails at the show, you do realize that. You’ve got their dads who watched you, and now they’re watching you.”