7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE WrestleMania XIX
4. Showstoppers
Despite an epic SummerSlam return and some enjoyable Raw segments that followed, the jury was remarkably still out on Shawn Michaels' surprising return. Older heads were cynical towards his transformation, his part-time schedule and the potential political permutations, whilst those simply glad to have him back were willing to overlook dull duds such as his Three Stages Of Hell stinker with Triple H the prior December.
Then, 'Mr WrestleMania' made good on that self-proclaimed moniker.
'HBK' and Chris Jericho had a glorious pro wrestling classic, littered with countless callbacks to the mirror-man story that fuelled the build and just enough fire from Shawn himself to suggest that he'd opened himself back up fully to the one thing he did better than almost anybody else. 'Y2J' was more than a supporting player too - his nuanced heel work in the match foreshadowed the boot to the b*llocks at the very end.
He cut the catharsis off at the end as he had during the contest himself, and perhaps took with him the arrogance his opponent used to have. During his 1990s pomp Michaels' used to wail "TOP THAT!" backstage after one of his belters. Reborn Shawn simply let his work do the talking.