Shawn Michaels On What Keeps Him From A Comeback Match

While touring with NXT in the UK, Shawn Michaels spoke with the Daily Star and gave more insight to his hesitation on working another match at the age of 52.

"I am guilty of not really wanting to work for a living. To put me in a singles match at [WrestleMania] it's a very strenuous and anxious process, once you get in there it's phenomenal," Michaels said. "But to get ready for it is 100% work, and I don't want to put myself or my family through that to go out and try and steal the show at 52 for God's sakes."

Instead of going the singles match route, Michaels noted how it would be cool to be in a legends versus younger wrestlers match, both in the present and earlier in his career.

"If you take the younger version of me and put me in with [the younger guys] course it would be a blast," Michaels said. "But at the same time I would like to be the younger version of me and be the ring with Harley Race and Buddy Rodgers. That's something that can't happen in real life. ... Fans want me to nip up and have everything look like it's 1996 or 1997, that's never gonna happen as Father Time waits on no man."

After losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI, Michaels retired and was then inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011. Michaels is currently one of the trainers at the WWE Performance Center. Earlier this month in an interview with Sky Sports, Michaels had left the door open for a one-off return, but has seemingly stepped back from those comments.

"I've been retired for eight years now and when it got to the five-year mark I thought people would start asking me but they just kind of stopped," Michaels told Sky Sports. "I think it's one of those that you would never say never about and if it was just for a one-off then it's something that I would take a look at. It would have to be done the right way and just for one match rather than something that ran for longer. It could be possible but people would have to accept they wouldn't be getting the Showstopper, Mr. WrestleMania, and that I'm 52 years old now."