10 times an injury actually helped a wrestler's career

#7 Shawn Michaels retires and then returns 4 years later

HBK returned after a 4-year absence and it was like he was a completely different person

Shawn Michaels suffered a debilitating back injury in 1998 following a botched landing on a casket. That injury ended up sidelining him four years, leading many people to think that his career was over and that he’d never return.

Then, in 2002, Shawn returned to a WWE ring after such an extensive time away from the ring and proceeded to have an outstanding run, and looked as if he hadn’t missed a single day. But what makes this injury interesting is that it changed Michaels as a person.

The Shawn Michaels that left WWE in 1998 was widely reported to have been a terrible person backstage, prone to hissy fits and prima donna behaviour. The Shawn Michaels that returned in 2002 was born again, humbled, and clean of his previous substance abuse problems.

Had this injury never happened, who knows how Shawn’s career (and the Attitude Era, for that matter) would’ve gone, especially given Shawn’s state of mind at the time.