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This past Monday night on Raw, Shawn Michaels finally confirmed that he would be returning to the ring following an eight and a half year absence.
Michaels will team with his best friend, Triple H to take on the team of Kane and The Undertaker, otherwise known as The Brothers of Destruction.
HBK's decision to return to the ring has been met with a mixed response from the WWE Universe. While many fans are intrigued to see if the showstopper still has what it takes to compete at the highest level, others are worried that a return to the ring could damage his legacy as one of the greatest to ever step foot inside the squared circle.
Michaels is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers to lace up a pair of boots, and his run of astonishing WrestleMania encounters is the stuff of wrestling legend.
It remains to be seen whether he will be able to replicate the kind of displays he blessed us with between 2002 and 2010 but to celebrate the return of Shawn Michaels to the WWE, let's take a look at his 10 greatest matches of all time.
#10 Shawn Michaels Vs John Cena- UK Raw, 2007
It's difficult to pinpoint exactly when wrestling fans started to turn against John Cena, but somewhere between 2006 and 2007 is a good estimate.
Cena's reaction from the crowd at WrestleMania 23 when he took on Shawn Michaels was one of the most negative in his career up until that point, and the decision to have him go over the heartbreak kid didn't exactly do him any favours.
Fast forward a few weeks after WrestleMania, John Cena and Shawn Michaels would meet again in what is widely considered as the greatest match in Raw history.
The two men duked it out for an hour, with the excitement only continuing to grow as the match wore on. Various near-falls were exchanged, and the fact that this match was a non-title bout meant that it really could go either way.
In the end, it was Michaels who picked up the victory, keeping Cena down with a sweet chin music and sending the London crowd into a frenzy.
#9 Shawn Michaels Vs Ric Flair- WrestleMania 24
From a technical standpoint, Shawn Michaels's match with Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24 might not be in the same category as some of his other more acclaimed outings, but from a pure story-telling standpoint, there are few matches that can rival it.
Not only did Michaels manage to drag Ric Flair to one of the best matches of his late career, but he also managed to produce a fitting send-off to a man who, in the eyes of many, is the greatest wrestler of all time.
The final moments of the match, where Shawn Michaels utters the words 'I'm Sorry, I love you' before delivering the final sweet chin music to Ric Flair are some of the most emotional in wrestling history and any wrestling fan who tells you that that moment doesn't bring a tear to their eye is lying.
#8 Shawn Michaels Vs Chris Jericho- No Mercy 2008
In 2008, Shawn Michaels was just two years away from hanging up his boots and walking away from the wrestling industry. He had been back in the WWE for six years by this point and had produced some of the greatest matches the company had ever seen.
All of this, however, didn't stop him from engaging in one of the hottest feuds of the decade with Chris Jericho during mid-2008. The two men had met previously, putting on a match of the year contender at WrestleMania XIX back in 2003 but the two icons took things up a notch for their rivalry five years later.
After an intense feud, which famously saw Chris Jericho punch Shawn Michaels's wife, the two men met in a ladder match at No Mercy 2008 with the World Heavyweight Championship on the line.
After setting the gold standard for ladder matches 14 years earlier, Michaels showed that he was still as capable and as innovative as ever, putting on a classic encounter with Jericho that has lived long in the hearts of wrestling fans ever since.
#7 Shawn Michaels Vs Triple H- SummerSlam 2002
Being British, staying up to watch WWE PPV events was always a big no-no for me as a child, but SummerSlam 2002 holds a special place in my heart because it was the first time I had ever managed to convince my parents to allow me to stay up and watch a show. The reason I tried so hard to convince them- Shawn Michaels Vs Triple H.
Everything about this match captured my imagination. Michaels' redemption narrative, Triple H's heelish intent, the ultimate underdog story, this match was wrestling story-telling at its finest and is still one of my favourite matches of all time to this day.
Any doubts fans had over whether Michaels would still be able to perform at the top level were instantly banished, with Michaels and Triple H going at each other hammer and tong straight from the opening bell.
Michaels' unlikely victory whipped the live audience into a frenzy, and the post-match attack from Triple H was perfectly executed.
#6 Shawn Michaels Vs Triple H Vs Chris Benoit- WrestleMania XX
While a lot of WWE fans may no longer feel comfortable watching the main event of WrestleMania XX, from a pure wrestling standpoint, it is one of the greatest WrestleMania main-events of all time.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels had been raging war on one another for nearly two years by this point, and throwing Chris Benoit proved to be just what the rivalry needed to take it up to the next level.
The three men put on one of the most thrilling show closing spectacles of all time, one packed with incredible wrestling and nerve-shredding drama.
The three men would meet once again a month later at Backlash, and while their match was arguably just as strong as their Mania encounter, this one just felt like an extra special encounter.
#5 Shawn Michaels Vs Razor Ramon- WrestleMania X
One of Shawn Michaels' big legacies in the WWE is the ladder match. While the match gimmick had been utilised before, WrestleMania X was the first time it was used on WWE television, and the match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon is still widely considered as the greatest ladder of all time.
While this match may not be seen as too innovative by today's standards, it set the standard for all the ladder matches that followed and helped the stipulation become a staple of the WWE.
The two men would have a rematch a few months later at SummerSlam and there are many fans who would argue that that match is the stronger of the two.
#4 Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker- Badd Blood 1997
Shawn Michaels has taken part in many firsts in the wrestling industry, and perhaps the most iconic of those was his participation in the inaugural hell in a cell match back at Badd Blood 1997.
The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels have always been incredible in the ring together and for 30 minutes back in 1997, they put on a show the types of which the world had never before seen.
If the in-ring action and the introduction of a new gimmick weren't enough, the match also featured one of the most iconic match finishes in wrestling history, with Kane finally making his WWE debut and costing The Undertaker the WWE title.
#3 Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker- WrestleMania 26
One year after putting on one of the greatest matches of all time at WrestleMania 25, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker met once again at WrestleMania 26, except this time, Shawn Michaels's legendary career was on the line.
While from an in-ring perspective it may not have been as perfect as the original, this was still an incredible encounter, and the fact that Shawn Michaels's career was resting in the balance here only added to the excitement.
The two men put on an absolute masterclass in the ring and this was the first time that Taker's streak really felt as though it could have been broken.
The closing moments, which saw Shawn Michaels defiantly slap The Undertaker before being put down by a pile-driver provided HBK with the perfect retirement. Well, until Crown Jewel, that is.
#2 Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker- WrestleMania 25
In the eyes of many wrestling fans, the match-up between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 is the greatest WrestleMania match of all time.
The two men, who had been given a spot in the middle of the card showed the world why they were considered two of the greatest to ever step in foot inside a WWE ring, putting on what is considered by many to be one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time.
The two men, both getting on a little bit by this point, made the whole thing look simple, dazzling the crowd as they moved perfectly in motion hitting combination after combination. Not even a botched top-rope dive from The Undertaker could damage this match, if anything, it somehow managed to add to it.
In the eyes of many wrestling fans, this as close to perfect as a match gets, and I'd agree, if it wasn't for one other match.
#1 Shawn Michaels Vs Kurt Angle- WrestleMania 21
A controversial choice for number one no doubt, but Shawn Michaels match with Kurt Angle is, in my opinion, as close to a perfect wrestling match that we have ever seen in the WWE.
Back in 2005, Kurt Angle was one of the best wrestlers on the planet, while Shawn Michaels had finally drawn a line under his never-ending feud with Triple H.
The build for this match was simple but perfect. A Royal Rumble elimination at the hands of Shawn Michaels would drive Kurt Angle into a rage, with the Olympic gold medalist returning to the ring later that night to cost HBK his place in the match-up.
This would set off a series of events that would all culminate at WrestleMania 21. Placed in the middle of the card, these two men put on a wrestling clinic, one that stole the show and made the whole world realise just how lucky they were to have both of these men performing at the same time.
The exchanges in this match are about as fluid as you will ever see from a wrestling match, and the closing stretch, which saw Angle force Michaels to tap to the ankle lock is absolute perfection.
