8 Best Second Act WWE Careers Ever

Despite being the premier wrestler of the 1990's, Shawn Michaels' career came to a screeching halt in 1998 due to a bad landing on a ringside casket that herniated two discs and crushed a third. He withdrew from competition after putting over Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV, and ran through the standard roles for retired wrestlers: color commentary, authority figure, occasional guest referee. In 2000 he left television and started his own wrestling school, signaling to all that he was ready to withdraw from the public eye altogether. 

Shawn returned at SummerSlam 2002 to face HHH in what was supposed to be a one-off hardcore match, probably originally conceived as the sort of match Bret Hart would have with Vince years later. To literally everyone's surprise, Shawn was better than he had been before his injury. Age and maturity negated the impatience and ill temper that had once made him difficult to work with, and his inability to contort his body the way he once had allowed him to show off his psychology rather than his athleticism.

As a more polished performer, HBK turned in performance after legendary performance. His legacy, once one of wasted potential, became that of an all-time great. When HBK did finally ride off into the sunset, it was on his own terms, with not a thing left to prove.