28 Days of 'Mania: Why Triple H & Shawn Michaels are On-Screen Gold

Disclaimer: This will be an ongoing series for the next 28 days leading up to the biggest event in sports entertainment, WrestleMania 28.The idea behind the piece is to build more momentum for the event and give you, the Bleacher Report fan, a chance to read, comment and weigh in with opinions about the WWE, the business and the event. It is my hope this becomes something positive and we all enjoy the ride for the next four weeks to Miami and the biggest event of the wrestling year. Enjoy.

When you want something that works in business, in many cases you fall back on past experience. You research the data, look at spread sheets, analyze the market and see what makes sense and "good business" for the company. And no matter how many times you may go back to that well for success, you still use your best options.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels are the best option for WrestleMania; they are on-screen gold in terms of delivery.

Triple H was right, there are some things in the WWE—like it or not—that are "good for business." In this case, fans LOVE the idea of two aging superstars who can still bring it every night are getting in the ring to showcase talent with The Dead Man in "Hell in a Cell."

The only thing that concerns me now is whether the match, with an Undertaker we haven't seen in the ring in a year, and Triple H, who had his last match with a slow and deliberate Kevin Nash, must prove last year's "showstopper" (yes, sorry for the pun) can reach another height in professional wrestling.

I am one who is banking it will meet those demands and maybe more. The wrestling may not be the best in the company (although, have you ever really seen Michaels have a bad match?), but the drama and the storyline may make up for it in droves.

Now, while there is a 19-0 streak on the line, there is also a mystique surrounding this match about who is the best of a dying breed of wrestler. The "streak" is now almost secondary to the match.

With may be the exception of Kane, Triple H, along with Undertaker and Michaels, are the last of their generation—make that my generation. And while skills erode and muscles hurt and injuries make you older than you are, there is something to be said for chemistry and the ability to give the fans what they want.

Because of its cyclic nature, wrestling always comes full circle. Wrestlers find their way back to each other. They understand how to give and take. They know this is a show and demand is high. For everything these two men are (and Undertaker, who is a distant third now in this match), they are more about the business than anything else.

If Triple H is as "corporate" as he claims to be, then he gets it. If Michaels is still "Mr. WrestleMania," then he gets it.

As a fan, I love the give-and-take of an interview and the sweet fluid motion of the "arc" and build of the match from conception to closure. Eric Bischoff (I cannot believe I am saying this) did something right in the business by developing angles backward. He knew where he wanted things to end and how to get there was back-pedaling.

It works in many cases, and it all "starts" with the exchange of words then actions.

Roddy Piper and Ric Flair were masters of the "arc" when they were in Jim Crockett Promotions and they would ad lib all their interviews with each other. Dusty Rhodes was as charismatic as anyone ever in this business and he used that to make magic with the likes of Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and Harley Race.

The Rock and Steve Austin also had that kind of magic and, of course, Triple H and Shawn Michaels—the two remaining elephants in the room and friends in and out of the ring—have it.

You cannot put a price on that because we as fans demand it. It is the reason we spend money on PPV events, merchandise, magazines and, of course, website analysis.

And for that brief moment, the on-screen magic makes all feel that what they say "could be real."

Triple H and Michaels have developed that sweet science.