10 Awful Injuries Which Led To Amazing WWE Matches
9. Shawn Michaels Crushes His Back, Takes Four Years Off, Returns For His Best Run - Royal Rumble '98
Shawn Michaels holds Legend status for a reason. Over two runs, the Heartbreak Kid showed the world why he is one of the best ever. Those runs were split, however, by four years of injury.
At Royal Rumble 1998, Michaels fought The Undertaker in a casket match for the WWF title. During the match, 'Taker slammed Michaels against the casket with such force that it herniated two discs and crushed a third in Michaels' back.
Although he finished the match, the injuries were substantial, which led to Michaels abusing painkillers and ultimately calling it quits after losing to Stone Cold at that year's Wrestlemania, truly ushering in the Attitude Era.
Michaels, however, would be back.
In 2002, he returned to wrestling for eight more years, during which time he changed his style to focus more on story-telling and emotion then being a high-flying 'sexy boy.' He had several of the best matches of his career during this run, including 'retiring' Ric Flair, hard-fought personal battles with Triple H, and two legendary WrestleMania matches with The Undertaker.
Were it not for this injury and Michael's dedication to not only healing but getting clean and sober, we may never have seen these incredible matches.