WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels on his retirement and his return following a four-year hiatus

WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels was asked by Phil Strum whether he's enjoying retirement in a Poughkeepsie Journal interview. "I’m enjoying it immensely," Michaels said. "It works for me. I’m a lazy person by nature, so retirement is right up my alley. I would have done it sooner, obviously, but apparently you have to work before you retire, so it would have been in my best interest to get that out of the way. I’m enjoying it very much."

Michaels was also asked about his comeback after a four-year hiatus. "It was a gift," he said. "The first — I never said I retired the first time. I guess, in my mind, retirement is when you leave on your own terms. The first one, being told I was never going to wrestle again as the result of a back injury, obviously that’s not the way you envision your career ending.

"Having dealt with that and gone through it and having the opportunity for a second chance, and that the second chance, as you say, being almost a decade, was at first, honestly as much of a shock to me as it was to everybody else. The genuine intention was to come back for one match and sort of see how everything did.

"To honestly feel like, holy cow, I feel like I can do what I used to do. I went with that until I felt that the peace within me that I could walk away again and it would be on my terms, my timing and all those things you wish and you envision being like. I got the opportunity to do that." To read the full interview, visit PoughkeepsieJournal.com.

Powell's POV: HBK also spoke about his WrestleMania matches with Undertaker, and how the business has changed for aspiring wrestlers.