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A quick wrestling post. Back in June, I ranted about false retirements and Ric Flair wrestling after he got a fantastic retirement match at Wrestlemania XXIV.
Last night, Shawn Michaels gave his own retirement speech on Raw, and while I’m sad that he won’t be in the ring anymore, I have nothing but respect for Shawn. Specifically, here’s a quote from ShawnMichaelsWeb.com:
Michaels said that he appreciates the sentiment and he knows that people are skeptical of career-ending matches, but he was going to do everything in his power to make sure “one more match” doesn’t happen. “I don’t want to break my word to you and I don’t want to break my word to The Undertaker,” he said.
Thank you, HBK.
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Should be no surprise there were lots of tears when I finally got to see WrestleMania tonight. Shawn Michaels is my favorite wrestler and I have every faith that this secure, mature, heartfelt man means his farewell. I just went back and read your rant on false retirements and I couldn't agree with you more. I'd say more but I'm watching Monday Night RAW now and Triple H's music just started playing.
Miss you, by the way.
I'm not surprised that Shawn is being utterly classy about his retirement. I just hope that other wrestlers will look to this as an example. I don't think that will happen, but I can hope.
And you should write more often.
You’re right, I should write more often. I haven’t really been paying attention to standard blogging tools lately. I’m trying to correct that.
I’m also not surprised that Shawn is approaching his retirement on his own terms, with class and dignity. He’s going out when he can still go as the best in-ring performer. That’s an awesome thing that is rarely seen in the business.
I’ve seen a billion and one comments out there of skepticism that Shawn is done. I think that the previous examples set have really had a toll on this moment. That’s too bad, because it was genuine and emotional. I’m just glad I got to see Shawn perform live more than once and in a couple of spectacular matches.
I use Google Reader to keep up on all my friends' blogs. It's much nicer than having to flip through my LJ friends list.
Of course there's a lot of skepticism about Shawn leaving — wrestling has trained us to not believe it anymore, especially after Flair's reversal. That's sad, but I'm with you — I'm glad I got to see some of his best matches live.