Shawn Michaels 2002 WWE return: The greatest comeback story in history

Shawn Michaels’ WWE legacy was already assured at the time of his forced retirement in 1998 but his 2002 return brought it to new heights, marking it down as the greatest comeback in history.

The Heartbreak Kid (HBK) was never meant to wrestle again. He had after all herniated two disks in his back taking a bad bump during a Casket match with The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble 1998.

He would muster up the strength to make it to WrestleMania 14 where he dropped the WWE Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin, in what was a passing of the torch in every sense of the word. He was then knocked into retirement by main-event enforcer, Mike Tyson. Attitude Era ‘n’ all.

And with that, he disappeared from WWE television outside of intermittent appearances as the kayfabe commissioner of the company. Michaels missed the boom period of WWE that he had helped build, and such was the breakneck speed of storylines and the evolution of performers like The Rock and old buddy Triple H, he was quickly left in the rear-view mirror.

Fans had also consigned themselves to the fact that they would never see The Showstopper back in action, and by the time the summer of 2002 he had not been seen on-screen in 18 months. There was little talk of any form of a return, let alone an in-ring comeback for one of the most exciting performers of the 1990s.

In his time away from the ring, and particularly in those final 18 months, HBK set about cleaning up his act – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In the process of this Michaels became a born-again Christian, and a changed and better man.

His full-time return to WWE TV came in June 2002, shockingly as a member of the New World Order, alongside his Kliq pals Kevin Nash and X-Pac. In his