10 Biggest "What If" Moments In WWE SummerSlam History
7. What If Shawn Michaels Had Held Back? - 2002
Of all the improbable stories in WWE, Shawn Michaels' latter-day comeback still ranks amongst the most unlikely. Written out of the company completely after handing the main-event torch over to Steve Austin, injures forced a permanent-looking retirement on a man right before the company was about to explode into the mainstream.
He hung around, did the occasional guest spot, but that was it. Until it wasn't.
His comeback match against best pal Triple H had all the trappings of two friends gently coaxing each other through a match designed more as a vanity project than a serious wrestling endeavor. Hunter would do the bumping, put his ring-rusty bessie over, and that would quietly be that. Except, no, they absolutely battered each other.
The hard-to-watch barbarism of SummerSlam's unsanctioned match was a statement that he wasn't only back, but could cope with the rigors of a full-time run. This impressed fans so much that the narrative shifted from 'Let's Hope He's Ok After This' to 'Put The World Championship On Him Immediately.
Two months later the company had done exactly that, and his critically-acclaimed second spell with them ran on into 2010. Without that punishing return though, and the praise it drew, he'd likely have remained part-time for the majority.