If there’s one thing that’s certain in a business that’s all “Never say ‘Never'” it’s that wrestlers don’t tend to stay retired. 

The last time the WWE Royal Rumble was in San Antonio, Texas (which happens to be his hometown), “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels successfully defended his World Heavyweight Title against Sycho Sid. The following Thursday, he famously vacated the Championship citing that he’d “lost his smile.” 

Well, if you saw HBK on last night’s WWE Monday Night Raw, you saw that the man is definitely smiling a lot these days. With the Rumble being back in San Antonio, and with him showing up to deliver some Sweet Chin Music to Rusev last night, Michaels was asked if there’s a chance he could be one of this year’s “Surprise Entrants” into the Royal Rumble match.

Here’s what HBK said:

“Well, I certainly may come by and visit. But, you know- again- Listen: If I have done nothing in the last seven years, I’ve done my best to show people how you actually retire from this line of work. And- as flattering as it is- seven years later, people still saying ‘One more match‘ and ‘He’s gonna come in,’ I’d like to continue to show people how to be retired.”

Hear that, Ric Flair?

But, as I eluded to earlier, professional wrestling always falls back onto that “Never say ‘Never'” mantra. So did HBK just leave it there? No. He just had to add a little tease for fans:

“Of course, I guess…you know, in the WWE you just never know what’s going to happen. Right? Crazy line of work.”

I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, Shawn Michaels is my #1 all-time favorite wrestler and his return would actually get me to watch WWE again (something I haven’t really done in years). On the other, I kind of like that he’s made himself the exception to the rule by actually making his retirement stick. 

But back to that first hand…he’s still in great shape, and can you imagine a match between HBK and AJ Styles?!?!

Anyway…I’ll leave you with this clip of Shawn hitting Rusev with the Sweet Chin Music last night.

SOURCE: WWE