Before or After: Shawn Michaels

[Emperor Smeat]

Before his injury or 1st retirement.

He had some great matches and feuds when he came back but his feud with Bret that managed to expand into an international feud involving Canada vs the US was amazing. It also helped that he was pushed as being different than the typical big man wrestler in the main event and played a big role in both the rise of DX and final push to stardom for Austin.

His promos after coming back were much better especially the war of the words between him and the Undertaker that lasted for 2 Mania matches and provided some of the best moments involving The Streak.

[TheChamp]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball Before his injury or 1st retirement. He had some great matches and feuds when he came back but his feud with Bret that managed to expand into an international feud involving Canada vs the US was amazing. It also helped that he was pushed as being different than the typical big man wrestler in the main event and played a big role in both the rise of DX and final push to stardom for Austin. His promos after coming back were much better especially the war of the words between him and the Undertaker that lasted for 2 Mania matches and provided some of the best moments involving The Streak.

I agree. It is unfortunate that HBK had to retire when he did. I don't think that he got enough credit for helping usher in the attitude era. When he was the WWF champ, Nitro was winning the ratings battle. Like you said, HBK was, IMO, the catalyst in two of the main reasons that the WWF closed the gap in '98: DX and Austin's championship run.

On a side note, he put on 5-star matches before AND after the injury.