3-time WWE Champion reveals he decided to retire one year before he actually did

One of the hardest things to do for some WWE legends over the years is to know when to call it quits. However, it wasn't a hard decision for a three-time WWE Champion who knew he was done a year before his final match.

Shawn Michaels is one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time. He started as a tag team wrestler before betraying Marty Jannetty and turning into a singles star. He thrived in the midcard and eventually achieved his boyhood dream of winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 12.

After a back injury forced him to retire in 1998, The Heartbreak Kid made a miraculous comeback four years later and had some of the best matches of his career. He retired in 2010 after losing to The Undertaker in a Career vs. Streak match at WrestleMania 26.

On a recent episode of WWE Playback, Michaels and The Undertaker rewatched their legendary WrestleMania 25 match. The two-time Hall of Famer also revealed that he felt so fulfilled after the match that he thought he was done and would never wrestle again.

"I don't know about you. Like I said, but at the beginning, this was talking about, cause it was in Houston. So we were driving home, we're back, the kids were in the car, and I can remember driving down the road and just sitting there quietly, and I looked over at my wife and I was like, ‘That might be it. Honey, I don’t know if it gets any better than what happened last night.' … I've never felt the peace that I had after any show for the last 25 years at that time I was doing this that I had after that," Michaels said. [From 22:17 to 23:17]

Check out the video below:

Shawn Michales called his match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 the "greatest gift" he has ever received from a fellow legend.

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Shawn Michaels came out of retirement in 2018 for one more WWE match

While Shawn Michaels officially retired in 2010, he would come out of retirement in 2018 to team up with Triple H and take on The Brothers of Destruction at Crown Jewel. It was a poorly executed match, with all four legends showing their age.

Michaels would then become part of the NXT creative team as a writer and producer. His official title is Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative, taking over the entirety of the developmental system in September 2022.

While using any quotes from this article, please credit WWE and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.