If He Wins, We Lose

There is a reason they call him “The Showstopper”. Shawn Michaels repeatedly gives the best performance in every WrestleMania in which he has a match. He has had his triumphs, but many times, he has come up with the short end of the stick. Despite his great performances, he has lost his matches in WrestleMania X, XIV, XX and 23. Shawn is due for a win at WrestleMania. That’s where the conflict comes in.

The Heart Break Kid has a match with the legendary Rick Flair at WrestleMania XXIV. The stipulation for this match is that the next match Rick Flair loses, he will be forced to retire.

Let’s think about the ramifications of a Shawn Michaels’ win at WM24. The first and most obvious is he will be forever be known as “The Man Who Forced Rick Flair Out of the Business”. This would put Shawn’s “face” status at risk because everybody reveres The Nature Boy. This could also organically grow into a feud with Triple H because of the bond H and Natch’ share.

If Shawn Michaels loses, Rick Flair lives to wrestle another day and no conflict would come from the match.

Since HBK has had more than his share of conflict during his fantastic career and since Flair is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, there is only one outcome for this match… Shawn Michaels will end Rick Flair’s in-ring career. But as we have seen before, anything can happen.