10 WWE Careers That Ended Too Soon Due To Injury

10. Shawn Michaels

At the close of the 2000s, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker had two matches that are considered by many to be two of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time, but ten years earlier they had a match that for a while ended The Heartbreak Kid's career. 

From 1997 into '98, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels had a rivalry that intensified following Bret Hart's dramatic departure at Survivor Series, and culminated in a casket match at Royal Rumble 1998.

During this match, Shawn Michaels took a back body drop over the  top rope and landed awkwardly on the corner of the casket, which herniated two discs in his back and crushed a third. Michaels would make it a few more months to WrestleMania where he dropped the WWF Championship to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, ushering in the Austin era.

Shawn Michaels immediately disappeared from WWF television after WrestleMania, retiring from wrestling seemingly forever, as HBK continued to struggle with his personal demons. Unlike everyone else on this list, Michaels got a second lease on life four years later and returned to the ring without missing a step, staying an active wrestler for another eight years.