11 WWE WrestleMania Headliners Who Didn't Make The Following SummerSlam

4. Shawn Michaels - WrestleManias XIV, XX, 23 & XXVI

Shawn Michaels WrestleMania 26
wwe.com

Those among you with eagle eyes and elephant memories may have noticed some holes in this list to date.

It seems to be going in chronological order, but there was one guy who headlined two WrestleManias up to where we are and didn't make the SummerSlams that followed. Well, you are correct, and that same man did the same another two times before retiring in 2010.

Shawn Michaels appeared in the main event of WrestleMania on five occasions, but only once did he appear at the SummerSlam that followed the Show of Shows.

In fact, the only time Michaels headlined WrestleMania and then made it to SummerSlam was the first time he did so, in 1996. Michaels defeated Bret Hart in the main event of WrestleMania XII, before beating Vader at SummerSlam later that year.

After headlining WrestleMania XIV in a losing effort to Stone Cold Steve Austin, Michaels was immediately forced into temporary retirement by a serious back injury. He would make a miraculous return in 2002, headlining 'Mania once again in 2004 against Triple H and Chris Benoit.

Michaels missed SummerSlam 2004 due to a couple of minor injuries (and returned the month after at Unforgiven), but three years later he found himself in the headline match at WrestleMania once again. He came up short once more, losing to John Cena, before missing SummerSlam due to knee surgery.

Michaels' final WrestleMania came in 2010, where he lost to The Undertaker in one of the greatest matches of all time. This match acted as Shawn's final match, something that stands true to this day.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.