Shawn Michaels Comments On Tom Brady's On-Again-Off-Again NFL Retirement

The act of going back on retirement may have become an art form to the likes of Ric Flair, but two-time WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels knows all about it as well. Forced to retire due to a serious back injury, he would eventually come back to solidify his legacy and retire on his own terms following a loss to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26.

Of course, HBK did unretire once more to take on Undertaker and Kane at WWE's Crown Jewel event in November 2018 alongside Paul "Triple H" Levesque. In short, it was a disaster, and HBK still regrets it. Yet unretiring isn't exclusive to professional wrestling, and in a recent interview with "Sports Illustrated", he took a moment to address 45-year-old NFL quarterback Tom Brady and his ongoing battle to walk away for good.

"I don't know if I'm the one to give advice to Tom Brady unless he wants to step into the Performance Center," Michaels started. "But it's not the worst thing for him to hear a reminder. He just needs to remember he's Tom Brady. Even if he walks off that field never to win another game, he's still Tom fricking Brady. That's never going to change."

Athletes are often seeking out that perfect, almost fairytale ending, but Michaels has learned by now that a career isn't solely defined by how it ends.

"In the moment, Brady may not be happy," he continued. "But there is more to your career than how it ends. If it doesn't end great, that's not a reflection of who you are. You need to look at the entire picture. And when people do that for Tom Brady, they better make sure to count his rings and MVPs. He's still the greatest of all time."