FINALLY! I never thought it'd happen.

Shawn Michaels is, by far, my all-time favorite wrestler. And yet...I've never seen him live and in person in any way, shape, or form. I remember going to shows as a kid and the two things I wanted to see more than anything?

1) Hulk Hogan
2) The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty)

Everytime, though, every FUCKING time they'd announce before the match that Shawn was injured so instead of the Rockers vs. the Nasty Boys, I got to see Marty vs. Jerry Sags. Anyway, granted, I only sparsely attended shows as a kid...and from 1994 until 1999, I didn't attend a SINGLE show of any kind. So part of this "never seeing HBK" thing is my fault.

Anyway, I went to RAW in Aug. '99 in Ames, Iowa. Triple H defeated Mankind in the main event to win the WWF Title for the first time in his career. The next night, they taped the DEBUT episode of SmackDown and Triple H successfully defended his Title against The Rock in a match that had a special guest referee...that referee?

The HeartBreak Kid himself.

Since then, I've attended a couple more RAWs (two or three of them occurred prior to 2002, when HBK returned to the ring from his retirement/back injury; one of them happened after the return, if my timing is correct, but it was in a period of time where...well, he still took time off) and I've been to several house shows...and he's never been there.

Well, with Michaels now a full-time wrestler again, he's almost always on RAW, I thought this was finally my chance to see him live. Then, last week (10/18), it happened.

Shawn got hurt during the main event of RAW. The following night, at Taboo Tuesday, he was voted in by the fans, to wrestle in the World Heavyweight Title Match...and he wrestled, in an extreme amount of pain, and he lost to Triple H (that was expected). I figured that'd be it for him and I thought I would, once again, be fucked.

But Jesus Christ Superkick had finally blessed me. He might not have wrestled. He might not have done anything fancy. But he showed up at RAW and gave a speech to the crowd. And he finally fulfilled my wish of seeing him live.

The wrestling gods shined down upon me this week... =o)