Shawn Michaels Talks His Return To The Ring In Saudi Arabia, Why He Didn't Face Dolph Ziggler

The legendary, two-time WWE Hall of Famer, Shawn Michaels, recently caught up with the State Of Combat Podcast to discuss his involvement in Dolph Ziggler's recent feud against Goldberg that culminated at the SumerSlam 2019 pay-per-view. HBK explained how the plan was always for the match to end up as Ziggler one-on-one with Goldberg.

"I never know when the phone call is going to come and I'm going to jump on a plane," Shawn explained. "I was just sort of doing what I was asked to do. If nothing else, with all these years later, after 30 years, I'm a pretty good employee. I just do what I am told, so to speak. It was fun to do but there was absolutely no thought of me and Dolph or anything like that. It was always going to be Bill Goldberg, but perhaps they needed somebody to light the fuse for Dolph Ziggler in that respect and I was the guy to do it as best as I could."

Shawn did make a short-lived return to the ring when he joined forces with his fellow D-Generation X member, Triple H, to face The Brothers Of Destruction, Kane and The Undertaker, at WWE Super Showdown in November 2018. HBK believes that this involvement in the tag team match is what finally got fans to settle down about a big return to WWE action.

"I guess it was because it was a totally different situation. At that point in that match, it was a special request from my boss. And again, I guess I always felt that if I am not doing WrestleMania, that was the one that anybody – I guess if I was going to come back, [going to Saudi Arabia] was the one I was going to come back to," HBK said. "I just feel like if you are in a tag match, it's not the same thing. I know it's not right to say it. I don't mean it in a negative way, but to me, it just felt like a house show that somebody asked you to make. And I went ahead and did it in a tag match, and got it over with.

"It's one of those things that it's funny because for 10 years, you think it's going to go away," Shawn continued. "But after a decade where people are going to keep asking, sometimes the best way to have people to stop doing it is to just do it, but do it only kinda, which is what I did. And now nobody talks about [me returning], which is nice."

Shawn noted how when all was said and done at Super Showdown, his goal was to have one last, final outing with his best friend, Triple H. Michaels doesn't know when his natural abilities inside the squared circle will finally fade away, but for now, he says he can still do a nip up and elbow drop like it's still the 90's.

"The most important thing to me was being in there with Hunter," Shawn said. "More than any reason at all, that is why I did it. As silly as it sounds, I am so fortunate to have the last ride with your best friend in the sunset, which is what I wanted to do with him. I was pretty certain. I know me, but I have always been a bit concerned saying it out loud for fear that it was the one time that I can't. I have always felt confident about doing my parts, to be perfectly honest.

"There's just isn't going to come a day where I can't nip up, I can't drop an elbow, when I can't move a little bit across that ring," HBK added. "That's just something that I don't think is ever going to leave my system unless, of course, when I am really old. But even now, I still run across the ring and nip up. It'll be a few years where I can't do that kind of stuff, but I am always confident that I can always do that. The unknown is that you don't know when the wheels can come off, which is why I always stay out of the ring. Better safe than sorry."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the State Of Comba with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Peter Bahi contributed to this article.