20 all-time great WWE SummerSlam matches

#5 Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - SummerSlam 2002

#SummerSlam 2002: Shawn Michaels defeats Triple H in one of the greatest SummerSlam matches of all-time! pic.twitter.com/VAU1QYAyJY

— WrestlingMemories (@WrestleMemories) August 20, 2016

As I'd mentioned before, SummerSlam 2002 may be one of the best events in the pay-per-view's long history, and it's thanks to matches like this one. When Shawn Michaels returned to the ring for the first time after four years in 2002, it was a moment to be remembered. Michaels had joined Triple H on WWE RAW when the Game betrayed him, putting his face through the glass of a car window.

He admitted to the same and said that it was hit time to be the one that everyone talked about. Shawn Michaels retired thanks to a crippling injury in 1998 and it had been assumed he would never wrestle again. Thus, fans were taken aback when Shawn Michaels not only returned, but did so in an unsanctioned street fight against his best friend at SummerSlam 2002.

The two of them had the match of a lifetime.

It didn’t look like Shawn Michaels had not wrestled in a WWE ring for the better part of the last four years. Instead, he picked up just where he left off, at times appearing to be even better than before at SummerSlam.

At #SummerSlam 2002, @ShawnMichaels returned to the ring to battle @TripleH...and it was everything we wanted it to be. pic.twitter.com/JB4KQEOd45

— WWE (@WWE) August 8, 2019

Be it using weapons of all kinds or jumping off a ladder, he did it all in the match. In the end, he got the win and Triple H, furious at losing, broke his sledgehammer on his back, seemingly “crippling” him all over again.

From beginning to end, the match was a masterpiece, telling the story WWE wanted told.