Shawn Michaels has finally spoken out about his controversial in-ring return, revealing why he decided to come back for one more match.

Retirement is a funny word in wrestling. There are very few wrestlers who actually stick to it once they have supposedly hung up their boots for good. There are a variety of reasons for that. An injury that was once assumed to be career-ending can later be treated. Or someone comes along and offers them an amount of money that it would simply be stupid to refuse.

One man we always assumed would stick to his word when it came to staying retired was Shawn Michaels. However, last year, at Crown Jewel, HBK came back. He and Triple H did battle with The Undertaker and Kane. To put it bluntly, the match was terrible. Despite Michaels being the only one of the four who had officially retired, he was easily the best on that night, in that match.

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It's common knowledge that wrestlers are being offered big bucks to compete at WWE's Saudi Arabia events. We didn't think HBK could be tempted out of retirement by money, though. Almost a year later, the Hall of Famer has finally spoken out about his return and claims that it had nothing to do with the money he was paid.

During an appearance on the State Of Combat podcast, Michaels revealed it was the opportunity to wrestle one last time alongside Triple H which brought him back. "The most important thing to me was being in there with Hunter, more than any reason at all, that is why I did it," he revealed. HBK goes on to describe the match as his "last ride" and that he feels privileged to have taken that ride alongside his best friend.

Before returning at Crown Jewel, HBK was continually asked what would be the match that would tempt him out of retirement. The one answer he gave was Triple H's own retirement match. He's on record as saying that would be the only reason he would wrestle again. Perhaps his age, and The Game possibly explaining he has no intention to retire any time soon is why he came back for a tag match instead. Rather than being opposite his best friend, he went for the next best thing and took the opportunity to compete with him one last time.

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