A back body drop bump over the top rope that ended with his back crashing into the edge of a casket threatened to rob wrestling fans of one of the greatest careers in the industry’s long history in 1998, when Shawn Michaels suffered a debilitating back injury.
After dropping the WWE Championship to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at WrestleMania 14, he went home for four years, battled the injury and an addiction to pain medication, and found religion.
Upon his return to the industry in 2002, Michaels was a changed man, both spiritually and physically. The result was the greatest second act in pro wrestling history.
Not only did Michaels build on the legacy he had already established for himself, but he also one-upped it, delivering all-time great matches against the likes of Triple H, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, John Cena, Ric Flair, and Edge.
Working with a new generation of WWE stars, he elevated expectations for his matches to a level few could only imagine meeting, yet he did so more often than not.
By the time he retired in 2010 following a WrestleMania main event loss to The Undertaker, he had put an exclamation point on his argument for recognition as the greatest professional wrestler of all time.
