Instant Feedback: The Heartbreak Kid Has Left the Building

I was never the biggest Shawn Michaels fan. I openly admit that. I've always admired his work, but there were things about him that always rubbed me the wrong way.

That being said, tonight, the WWE has lost one of its all-time greats. The world of wrestling lost one of its all-time greats. Sure, HBK isn't going to go away completely. I don't doubt for a second that he'll be back on the microphone to put Triple H over or to be a guest referee, a guest host or something in an announcing or promotional capacity in the future. But the Shawn Michaels I saw in the last three months, starting with his heartfelt and seemingly genuine reconciliation with Bret Hart made me realize that maybe he's a changed man, that maybe all the bullshit, the Montreal screwjob, the primadonna antics, the rumor that Undertaker had to threaten him with glass glued to his fists to put over Steve Austin... none of that really matters right now. Here's a guy who turned his life around, legit, and poured his entire being into the ring after coming back from career-threatening injury.

Yeah, there are guys who are more mobile than he is right now. Guys more athletic, more charismatic, but is there a guy in the WWE right now who knows how to rise to the occasion? I mean, his moniker of Mr. WrestleMania is not undeserved. From the ladder match against Razor Ramon, the IronMan match, losing the title to Austin, the classic against Chris Jericho and against Kurt Angle, the emotional match with Ric Flair, the passing of the ring general torch to John Cena and these last two years against Undertaker... That's not a commodity that's easily replaced.

I was set to come on here and rant about how Rob Corddry's comedic charm doesn't work in a PG setting or tell you how happy I was to see the Hart Dynasty getting a meaningful angle or wax about how amazingly over Randy Orton is as a face with such little effort from creative, but really, after seeing that final segment, after seeing Shawn Michaels pour his heart out one last time for people who've happily paid his salary and given him their undivided devotion over the years, I can't. Tonight was all about Michaels for a reason. He may not be the greatest of all-time to me, but there's no denying that the WWF/E wouldn't have been the same without him, and it was a richer company for having employed him.

Godspeed, Shawn. Good luck, God bless and Godspeed.