5 career turning moments for Shawn Michaels

#4 Summerslam 2002

Rising from the ashes.

It is a cruel irony of WWE history that one of its greatest in-ring performers and innovators of its much-needed change of direction in the late 90s was not around to enjoy the fruits of its most successful era. Shawn Michaels was forced to take time off due to an injury suffered at the Royal Rumble 1998 which was exacerbated by his Wrestlemania 14 main event against Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Many feared the worst, that Shawn's time in the ring was over for good. Year after year passed by with fans slowly forgetting the contributions he had made. But in 2002, despite making several returns in backstage, supporting roles, Shawn and the WWE made the highly welcomed announcement that he would be returning to the ring.

In kayfabe terms, a heated rivalry had formed between Shawn and his old DX partner Triple H, who had enjoyed huge success in HBK's absence. Triple H was the ideal opponent for Shawn, somebody who knew how to be a true ring general when the situation called for it and understood the extent to his Michaels's injuries.

Despite such a long time away, HBK's first match back went down as one of the greatest Summerslam bouts of all time. It was as if Shawn had never been away and now that the WWE was beginning to settle down after a chaotic Attitude Era, Shawn's wrestling abilities were exactly what they needed to go forward into the new century.

This match could have easily gone the wrong way, perhaps resulting in further injury or maybe an underwhelming response from the crowd. Luckily for us, neither of these things happened and Shawn was allowed to pick up where he left off.