Despite an epic SummerSlam return and some enjoyable Raw segments that followed, the jury was remarkably still out on Shawn Michaels' surprising return. Older heads were cynical towards his transformation, his part-time schedule and the potential political permutations, whilst those simply glad to have him back were willing to overlook dull duds such as his Three Stages Of Hell stinker with Triple H the prior December.
Then, 'Mr WrestleMania' made good on that self-proclaimed moniker.
'HBK' and Chris Jericho had a glorious pro wrestling classic, littered with countless callbacks to the mirror-man story that fuelled the build and just enough fire from Shawn himself to suggest that he'd opened himself back up fully to the one thing he did better than almost anybody else. 'Y2J' was more than a supporting player too - his nuanced heel work in the match foreshadowed the boot to the b*llocks at the very end.
He cut the catharsis off at the end as he had during the contest himself, and perhaps took with him the arrogance his opponent used to have. During his 1990s pomp Michaels' used to wail "TOP THAT!" backstage after one of his belters. Reborn Shawn simply let his work do the talking.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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