WWE Hall Of Famer, Shawn Michaels recently spoke with Inside The Ropes regarding his career, including his retirement angle with The Undertaker. Below are some highlights from the interview.

On first considering retiring:

“I wasn’t thinking about retiring after the match (against The Undertaker), it was after the drive home. It was one of those times where you go “that was pretty special.” I said to my wife, “maybe I should have ended it on that one.” It’s one of those things, you say it, the next day it’s gone.”

How the retirement angle started:

“Midway through the summer Michale Hayes called me and as always, he was thinking about next year as he is always trying to think of something special for HBK at WrestleMania. He said “I am just going to throw this out there, what do you think about putting your career on the line. If you don’t want to walk away, we can figure out something.” I said it’s pretty cool so let me think about it, but once again, it was gone.”

“I was coming back for Slammy Awards time and we are winning for match of the year and it pops into my head and I think I am ready to wrap it up. I am about to go out and accept this award so I am running around thinking if we are going to do this thing, wouldn’t this be a great time to challenge The Undertaker. The show is going on and Vince is up in guerrilla so we are all talking about it and I eventually said, “Look, let’s just do it.”

Why he won’t return:

“For me, I look at the arch of my career, it’s the heartbreak kid, he can’t go out on a winning note it has to be heartbreak and suffering. I couldn’t choose a better way, a better guy, a better story, with the history of Taker and I, even the arch of our relationship over the years, for me I get the luxury of looking at it with totality. You can’t write it better than that so that’s why it is honestly so easy to stay away and not do it again, because I look at that and it’s beautiful.”

If any of the above transcriptions are used, please H/T ProWrestling.com and check out the full interview below.