WWE Missed Opportunities: Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Savage

Shawn Michaels and Randy Savage were two of the most decorated Superstars in WWE history. Their list of accomplishments can be stacked up against anyone who has competed for the company.

WWE has always been good about acknowledging the fact that they have Superstars who could put on great matches together and have great feuds, but a program between Michaels and Savage never materialized.

That could be due to a number of factors, but taking a look at what could have been almost makes you shake your head.

After Michaels left his days in the tag team ranks as a member of The Rockers behind him, he quickly shot up the ladder in WWE. But as he started to climb toward the upper echelon of the roster, Savage's days in WWE as an active competitor were winding down.

He was placed in the role of an announcer, something he didn't exactly relish. Instead of being in the ring working with the upcoming talent, like Michaels, Savage was relegated to watching from the sideline.

Though Savage and Michaels did have a match at the UK Rampage event in 1992, few people saw it then, and a lot of people probably haven't seen it to this day.

It was a very good match, however.

That match gives a glimpse of the magic these two could have created. Michaels and Savage are two of the greatest competitors of all time for a reason, and a young Michaels would have gotten the best out of the crafty Macho Man.

If you were to list all of the top names of the last 30 years in the wrestling business, Michaels has been in the ring with just about every one of them. He even had a SummerSlam match with Hulk Hogan and an unforgettable match with Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24.

A big match with Savage may be the one thing he never had.

You have to figure that if Savage had stayed in WWE and not left for WCW, a match between the two would have been inevitable. But that decision by Savage earned him a place on Vince McMahon's no-contact list and, thus, shut the door on a match between the two legends forever.

Lanny Poffo, formerly known as "The Genius" and the real life brother of Savage, detailed a plan that Savage gave to those in charge at WWE in this video clip. According to this plan, a major feud would have developed between Savage and Michaels.

You can hear Poffo start to talk about this around the 9:30 mark.

WrestleMania 9 would have been a great place for a match between Savage and Michaels. At that event, Michaels defended the intercontinental title against Tatanka while Savage called the match.

Rather than be in a main event or anywhere near it, Michaels was in the opening match. That match ended in a count-out.

Wouldn't a match between Savage and Michaels have been so much better? Apparently, McMahon didn't think it so.

WrestleMania 9 didn't have a single match that people look back on fondly. Michaels and Savage would have easily stolen the show.

Whether the program should have continued all the way until WrestleMania 10 is another story, but it's a shame that Savage's proposed idea wasn't accepted.

On top of being two of the best workers in WWE history, the two men were both connected to Sensational Sherri. Right there, WWE had a storyline that would have written itself. At the very least, they had an excellent starting point.

An excellent, well-worked match with Sherri in the middle would have been a match and a feud that wrestling fans would still be talking about today. Instead, it will always be at or near the top of WWE matches that should have happened but never did.