An appearance from WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels is rare these days. The Heartbreak Kid now spends a good amount of time as a coach at NXT, but he mostly keeps himself out of the camera lens.
That will change next month, as Michaels has been confirmed to appear at June’s WWE U.K. tournament special at the Royal Albert Hall. He’s advertised as appearing side by side with Triple H, his former partner. The show will air on the WWE Network.
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The WWE UK Twitter page officially revealed the news.
BREAKING: @ShawnMichaels returns to the @RoyalAlbertHall on 18 June for the @WWEUKCT! https://t.co/xAwAbMJXjk pic.twitter.com/wbRCGBOKKT
— WWE UK (@WWEUK) May 25, 2018
The Royal Albert Hall show will be big for a number of reasons, but one big reason the eyes of the wrestling world will turn to England is WWE‘s reported plans to finally launch their U.K. brand in the coming months. There’s also talk that PROGRESS and ICW, two of the most popular wrestling promotions in the U.K., could be coming to the WWE Network very soon.
A tournament will be held on June 18 to determine a new number one contender for the WWE U.K. championship. The next day, June 19th, that challenger will face U.K. champion Pete Dunne for the title.
The June 19 show has also turned into kind of a defacto NXT event, as the NXT North American Title, NXT Women’s Title, and NXT Tag Team Championships will also be defended on the show. Plus, Velveteen Dream and EC3 will take on Aleister Black and Ricochet.
This will not be the first time Michaels has appeared at the legendary Royal Albert Hall. In fact, the WWE Hall of Famer was involved in the very first match at the WWE’s 1991 Royal Albert Hall event, their first show at the venue. That night, Michaels and partner Marty Jannetty (The Rockers) lost to the Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags).
WWE’s official release announcing Michaels’ appearance next month notes that the 1991 Royal Albert Hall show was the start of a 27 year streak of WWE holding years shows in the U.K. which continues to this day.
As mentioned, Michaels has been an elusive figure since his retirement from in-ring competition in 2010. Despite numerous overtures from WWE to try to lure him back into the ring, including recently for the Greatest Royal Rumble, Michaels remains steadfast to his commitment to never wrestle inside the squared circle again.
