10 WWE Superstars Who Went AWOL After WrestleMania

1. Shawn Michaels

Shawn Michaels Wrestlemania 25
WWE.com

Generally speaking, wrestlers are not permitted to bask in the glory of their finest moments, with professional triumphs being given little breathing space before the story requires a push forward onto the next

However, upon completion of their WrestleMania 25 classic, both Shawn Michaels and Undertaker exited the show entirely, creating yet another other-worldly glow around their unbelievable encounter.

For The Undertaker, it had become par for the course to vacate for months on end, but Shawn's disappearance foreshadowed his eventual retirement a year later.

Revealing in an interview shortly after his retirement that he'd decided to hang up his tights after a 2009 discussion with a colleague inferred his 9-year-old son was 'halfway gone', Michaels knew shortly before the legendary first Undertaker match that his time was coming to an end.

Embracing farce upon his Autumn return, it turned out Michaels had been working as a cafeteria chef (?) since the climactic Undertaker defeat, requiring some coaxing out of the hairnet to return.

Taking the summer months off to recuperate, Michaels only came back to aid D-Generation-X comrade Triple H in conflicts with Legacy and Jeri-Show before refocussing on 'The Deadman' to build to his final night, retiring in another world class effort at WrestleMania 26.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett