Shawn Michaels “first retirement”?
By Scott Keith on 1 February 2019
When Shawn Michaels was away from the WWE, ring-wise, from 1998-2002 was he supposed to have been retired at that point, or was he not cleared to return to action by doctors? I thought I remember reading at the time that he was supposed to have returned to the ring in 2001 right after W.M., but something happened and it was delayed by about a year.
It was a bit different than today. He was told by doctors to retire at the end of 1998 and had spinal fusion surgery that was supposed to end his career. That being said, getting cleared by doctors is not something that came about until the Wellness Policy. Had he wanted to come back early at the time, Vince was the only one stopping him.