50 Absolute Worst Things WWE Has Done In The 21st Century

Or should that subtitle be, 'Let HBK Chip Away At His Own Legacy'?

Money talks, and Shawn Michaels had ears like Roald Dahl's BFG once WWE began talking terms heading into Crown Jewel 2018. The legend had retired from the ring in 2010, and he vowed never to come back. In fact, Shawn even reportedly knocked back potential bouts vs. Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles. That made it hard to forgive his return over in Saudi Arabia.

Listen, everybody knew Michaels was doing this for the payday, but people could live with someone running towards a staggering pot of cash. What fans struggled with what the dearth of quality once HBK stepped between the ropes for a tag-team bout with Triple H vs. Kane and The Undertaker. They had a shocking match that everyone involved would come to regret.

Hunter tore his pec mere minutes in, Kane's wig and mask combo slipped off his head, the quartet stumbled through more uncoordinated spots that anyone would care to admit, and Michaels just looked like a pale shadow of his former self. He hadn't wrestled in 8 years and had visibly aged, so fair enough, but no-one was prepared for something this outrageously crap.

It's just as well Shawn has restored some of his honour by working his socks off as chief of NXT, because leaving WWE life on this sour note would've been ghastly. A super-worker like Michaels was across multiple stints in the company needed a better send off than this, but he became everything he hated during his peak in the biz.

Unlike Kurt Angle's own crummy curtain call the next year, this was self-inflicted.