Why Shawn Michaels Didn’t Get Final WWE Title Run Before Retiring

Despite retiring in 2010, Shawn Michaels’ last run with the WWE Championship came way back in 1997, when he defeated Bret Hart with the Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series.

Granted, he took a lengthy hiatus in between that time, but many fans are surprised that Shawn Michaels didn’t get another run with the WWE Championship after returning to the ring in 2002.

One of the times to put the WWE Championship on Shawn Michaels could have been during his WrestleMania 23 match with John Cena, but former WWE referee Mike Chioda has explained why John Cena had to win that match.

Mike Chioda told Lucha Libre Online that due to the fact John Cena was the best merch seller, which made WWE a lot of money, the company’s top championship had to stay on Cena. Chioda said:

“To me, John Cena, and Shawn Michaels is phenomenal, don’t get me wrong, but that time John Cena was on top for quite some time and busted his ass for the company and stuff like that. So, was I surprised they didn’t give it back to Shawn? Shawn’s not going to run around for another year or six months with the title, I don’t think he wanted to travel that much anymore at that time, you know?

“So it had to stay on John Cena, because he was the number one selling merch, they pushed his merch tremendously. The company was making money. You’ve got to go with… who’s the guy that’s making you money from merch, and stuff like that, down the line. You know what I’m saying? It’s a decision that comes from the top, from Cesar, Vince.”

What are your thoughts on the above story? Let us know in the comments on Twitter or Facebook.

Thanks to Ringside News for the transcription.

• John Cena
• shawn michaels
• wwe championship
• wwe

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