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My first memories of wrestling was during the "Boyhood Dream" angle of 1996. I started watching shortly after the Royal Rumble, and followed up to WM. I still remember being yelled at by my 'rents for having "that wrestling crap" on the night after WM12 - and jumping up and down and marking out like crazy when I heard that Shawn had won (I was 7 years old at the time). His first title reign hooked me into wrestling.
When he left after WM14, I knew he was in bad shape. Even being way too young to know the extent of his problems, I knew he wasn't coming back for a long time - if ever. When he made his return in 2002, I was stunned. I was stunned not only because he was back, but because he was just as good as he had ever been. The past 8 years have been a renaissance for the wrestling mark inside me, and it's been a joy to watch him perform. WM26 was the first PPV I've ordered in 5 years, but I did it because I knew there was some chance of this being his last match. Even if it was not, it was worth it.
There is a sizeable portion of me that wants to see him come back and wrestle a couple more. But my heart of hearts wants this to be it. It would do the ending justice - the emotion of that end made it tough to watch, yet I was hooked as HBK walked up the ramp, perhaps for the final time. Only time will tell, but he is the only reason I got hooked on WWF back in the day, and has been (for quite some time) the only reason I've kept up with the WWE in its current incarnation.
HBK 4 Life. Can't go in the HOF soon enough.
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