WWE has canceled two of the next set of NXT UK television tapings, which has led to “a lot of uneasiness” among the crew.
Dave Meltzer reported the news in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. BT Sport Studios is said to have been unavailable for the tapings due to football/soccer coverage.
“There is a lot of uneasiness within the NXT U.K. crew. The next two sets of television tapings were canceled on 8/9,” Meltzer wrote.
“The reason given was that BT Sports Studios, where they tape, had to be used for football/soccer coverage. But as you can imagine with the talent how the reaction is, given you could tape somewhere else and shutting down tapings is never a good sign. Nobody really has been told anything”
NXT UK Future Uncertain
Since the NXT UK relaunch after being on a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the brand has held tapings at the BT Sports Studios.
WWE will keep some NXT UK wrestlers busy as there are talents slated to travel to Florida to participate in NXT programming shortly. Joe & Mark Coffey and Charlie Dempsey (son of William Regal) are expected to make the trip.
WWE has been using regular NXT stars for the NXT UK brand in recent months, including Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen, who are the current NXT UK Tag Team Champions.
You can check out the complete NXT UK roster on our WWE Roster page.
When WWE relaunched NXT 2.0 last September, it was reported that Bruce Prichard worked with the NXT creative team while Vince McMahon had the final say on the product and Shawn Michaels was in charge of the day-to-day operations.
Although it may have seemed like McMahon had his fingerprints over the reimagining of NXT, Michaels suggested that McMahon didn’t play much of a role.
While speaking with Graham “GSM” Matthews of Bleacher Report, Michaels discussed the development of NXT 2.0.
“When Hunter first left, it became all me, and certainly from a television standpoint. Matt Bloom is the head coach and takes care of everything from the PC training standpoint, but when it came to NXT 2.0 television, that’s something myself and my team took over creatively. I know a lot of people thought Vince and Bruce were doing that. I can promise you, they did not have the time to do NXT television. If it’s good or if it’s bad, that’s on me.”
Michaels continued by stating it’s been a huge joy to run the show and work with the young wrestlers. He said the show always goes on, and it’s trial by fire for many of them. Michaels added that “it’s been an absolutely fantastic experience.”
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels has apparently been tasked with bringing the former NXT champion Johnny Gargano back in the company.
The former DIY member has been in news lately with speculations about his next move. He teased a return to the industry just recently.
Fightful Select provided some update on his potential return to WWE. They noted that shortly after the change in WWE management, Michaels was tasked with reaching out to Johnny Gargano.
There is no word on how the conversation between the wrestling veteran and the former NXT star went, but it’s clear HBK was the one who was to be in contact with him.
Johnny Gargano was one of the top stars of NXT during its rise to popularity. He first made his name as part of the DIY tag team with Tommaso Ciampa and later went on to become a successful singles star.
During his 6 year long run with the development brand, the former WWE star became a one time tag team champion, a three-time North American champion and one time NXT champion. These accolades are proof of how highly Triple H thinks of him.
Gargano took a break from wrestling last December after the birth of his son. With recent returns such as Dexter Lumis and Karrion Kross, it seems to be the perfect time for the former champion to make his comeback as well.
It appears that with Triple H’s new role as Head of Creative, we will see the old NXT make a return.
Transition To NXT 2.0
In September, WWE changed several things with NXT, from their branding to the on-screen talent. The show was once focused on in-ring action and storylines and featured some of the best wrestlers in the world. However, now NXT 2.0 is focused on promos and character creation while developing young, home-grown talent.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque was away due to his cardiac event when WWE rebranded NXT as NXT 2.0. WWE stopped signing independent wrestlers and focused on younger athletes with no pro wrestling background.
Black & Gold NXT To Return?
Now that Triple H is serving as Head of Creative and Head of Talent Relations, fans may see NXT slowly return to Triple H’s vision.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that “in NXT, the belief was that the product will revert back somewhat to Levesque’s previous vision of it.”
Melter also noted the belief was that while they will continue to heavily recruit top-tier athletes, WWE would be open to using more experienced wrestling talent, and going forward, “the door would be more open to better wrestlers who weren’t as big or as good looking as [Vince] McMahon wanted on the roster.”
Since Triple H’s heart issues, Shawn Michaels has been in charge of the day-to-day running of NXT. However, Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard had the final say on NXT’s booking.
“The Heartbreak Kid” recently spoke on “The Bump” and reflected on his role at the WWE Performance Center and how much it means to him. Michaels admits he had the time of his life competing inside of the ring during his day.
However, now, the biggest thing he appreciates is the trust he earns from the young talents he works with today.
“It’s so much more meaningful to me outside of the ring. Again, I got a great deal of joy from performing in my day. Working with these young men and women, I guess the biggest thing is appreciating their trust, and I don’t wanna mess that up.
“I can get emotional about that because they come in here, they’re not sure, they’re hungry, they wanna know the way to get to WrestleMania. I take that trust so incredibly seriously, I don’t wanna betray that. I love coming here to work, it is not hard for me to do this job.”
Michaels certainly has a wealth of knowledge to pass along to the next generation of WWE Superstars. He’s a two-time WWE Hall Of Famer, and for good reason. Michaels has recorded four WWE World Titles, three Intercontinental Titles, two Royal Rumble wins, and so much more.
He’s also part of one of the most famous factions in professional wrestling history, D-Generation X. Shawn Michaels is regarded as one of the best in-ring workers of all time. Now, he’ll pass on his knowledge to tomorrow’s WWE Superstars.
Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels is one of the most infamous rivalries of the wrestling world. What started as a kayfabe feud between two of WWE’s top stars, quickly turned into a shoot. It ultimately led to the Montreal Screwjob, which is still talked about to this day.
Michaels recently had an interview with 98.7 ESPN where he opened up about his feud with The Hitman. HBK first claimed that it was not fun for him before admitting that he was very immature at the time:
“Oh, well, I will say this. Going through it was absolutely no fun. Because even in the world of sports entertainment, there’s real life rivalries. Certainly Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels was real both on and off the screen. I was very young and very stupid, very immature. [I] was as cocky as the day is long and that did not get over well. Let’s just put it that way.”
‘Working Ourselves Into A Shoot’: Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels then explained how this on-screen feud led to real-life tensions between him and his greatest rival. The former world champion claimed that they were friendly at first. When they started feuding, they decided to make it feel real. However, before they knew it, Michaels and Hart had worked themselves into a shoot:
“So honestly, we started out I would say friendly. We never hung out. But when we were in tag teams, we worked really well with each other, admired one another. Bret and I both felt that one day that we would be able to go singles. I can remember Bret went singles, and I went singles shortly after that. I can remember him telling me one time. He’s like, ‘look, I see you being the guy that I could eventually drop this title to.’
I just think it came sooner than maybe he expected and certainly sooner than I expected. That’s honestly when it happened. It first started out as just sincerely us talking about just trying to make it feel real. It just slowly got to be that way to where I don’t know, I guess both of us were taking jabs that were real but we then started to really be offended by it. It’s a hard thing to describe, we call it working ourselves into a shoot.”
For years there has been a group of fans who believe the Montreal Screwjob could’ve actually been a work, and WWE Hall Of Famer Road Dogg might be a part of that group.
In 1997 at Survivor Series, Vince McMahon decided to “screw” WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart, smartening referee Earl Hebner up prior to his match with Shawn Michaels for the WWF Title to call for the bell while Michaels had Hart in his own signature sharpshooter submission hold.
This was in effort to force the title off Hart as he was on his way to WCW. McMahon didn’t want Hart showing up on WCW with the WWF Title, similar to how Madusa did with the WWF Women’s Title, throwing it in the trash on an episode of WCW Nitro a few years prior.
Road Dogg recently took to his podcast, “Oh…You Didn’t Know” to reflect on Survivor Series ’97 and what he remembers from that day. The DX member said he remembers seeing everyone rush to the monitors once everything went down inside the ring. He then recalled the “loogie” Hart hawked at Vince McMahon, and seeing McMahon come out of the locker room with a red/purple eye after taking a punch from Hart.
The former WWE Tag Team Champ added that, from what he heard, McMahon let Hart swing on him because he deserved it. However, he noted that he’s still not 100 percent sure if the entire thing wasn’t a big work or not.
“I’m still not 100% sure it was all real and that’s just me being honest with you, I know I’m cynical because I’m a wrestler and I’m one of the boys and I think everything’s a work.”
If the entire ordeal was a work, nobody involved has cracked and revealed the truth yet, from what Road Dogg has heard. Despite the fact that everyone involved is adamant that it was real, Dogg is still skeptical.
“I’m still not 100% sure it was all real and that’s just me being honest with you, I know I’m cynical because I’m a wrestler and I’m one of the boys and I think everything’s a work.”
Shawn Michaels has taken the time to reflect on his friendship with the late Scott Hall.
Hall, also known as Razor Ramon in his WWF days, developed a bond with the likes of “HBK,” Kevin Nash, Triple H, and Sean Waltman. Together, they became known as “The Kliq.”
Scott Hall passed away on March 14, 2022. Hall suffered from complications after undergoing hip replacement surgery. It’s been reported that a blood clot got loose and Hall suffered three heart attacks. He had been on life support but Hall’s family made the decision to take him off.
Shawn Michaels & Scott Hall: Friends 4 Life
Shawn Michaels spoke to Sports Illustrated and detailed his close relationship with “The Bad Guy.”
“We had this incredible bond,” Michaels says. “We’d bare our souls to each other. And we didn’t care what anyone else thought. The five of us, we knew we had each other.
“I was 19-just-turning-20 when I met Scott,” Michaels says. “And the first time we met was when we were in the ring together.”
Michaels went on to say that Hall couldn’t get enough of the way he sold for him.
“Scott got such a kick out of me selling for him. He’d been working with Bulldog Bob Brown and Rufus R. Jones, and I mean no disrespect to those men, but Scott hadn’t worked with many smaller, underneath, selling babyfaces. He just thought that was the neatest thing in the world. That’s when we realized, holy cow, this stuff can be really easy if I just get beat up, and then I finally beat him up when I get the chance later on.”
“HBK” and Hall had great chemistry inside the ring. Their ladder match at WrestleMania X back in 1994 is one that few can forget. Of course, it made Ryan Droste’s list of “7 Must-See Matches From Scott Hall’s Career.”
Dax Harwood of FTR has reflected on the time Shawn Michaels went from a mentor to a bully.
At WWE Raw 25 back in 2018, Harwood teamed with Cash Wheeler and they were on the receiving end of a beating inside the ring at the hands of DX and Scott Hall. The segment was done for a nostalgic moment and did no favors for FTR, who were called “The Revival” at the time.
Dax Harwood Blindsided
During an appearance on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Harwood recalled having a conversation with “HBK” about dealing with a bicep injury and depression. At first, Michaels sounded relatable.
“I talked to Shawn and that was the first time we talked since the PC days and I told him, I was like, ‘Man, this happened, tore my bicep, I went through a really dark period. I thought I was gonna quit but thankfully, just like I’ve told you, I have the greatest wife in the world and she has supported me and she’s brought me out of this funk. She brought me out of a dark place and I’m here now and I’m super happy.’
“He said, ‘I was the same way. I was in this very dark spot that my wife, she’s beautiful, she pulled me out of this dark spot too.’ I was like, ‘Ah, that’s so awesome.’ He said, ‘Look, you and your partner are way too talented to be doing what you’re doing tonight. You’re way too talented to stay at this point. Just keep your nose to the ground and keep grinding and you’re gonna get over it.'”
Dax Harwood was appreciative of Michaels’ advice but what happened next changed everything.
“I was like, ‘Oh man, Shawn thank you so much.’ So, we had this bonding moment and then we got in front of his friends. X-Pac and Billy and Road Dogg and Scott, and as soon as we got in front of his friends, he started making fun of me and making fun of my situation and what happened with my bicep.
“I was like, ‘Man, I just poured my heart out to you, and as soon as we get in front of your friends, cause we’re going over what — they’re gonna beat the sh*t out of us, you decide to take that stuff and make fun of it.’
“I’ve never ever forgotten it and as soon as we were done with the business at Raw one person said, ‘Thank you’ to us and that was Sean Waltman. Everyone else was so cold to us and treated us like we were just the sh*t on the bottom of their shoes except for Sean Waltman.”
Shawn Michaels has long had the reputation of being a trouble maker during the WWE’s New Generation Era. There have been several reports over the years claiming that Michaels tried to play the political game even after his first retirement during the Attitude Era in order for Triple H to maintain a top spot in the company.
While “HBK” became a born-again Christian in 2002, stories have surfaced claiming that he still had a knack for rubbing people the wrong way.
Reports claimed that back in 2007 when WWE was in Iraq for Tribute to the Troops, Randy Orton stood up for Umaga as Shawn Michaels was allegedly berating him for wearing attire that had the same color as HHH’s gear.
Please H/T SEScoops with a link if you use any quotes from this article
Kyle O’Riley credits WWE legend Shawn Michaels for teaching him how to structure a main event wrestling match.
Before his departure for All Elite Wrestling, O’Riley had singles run as a main event talent in NXT. At the time, the WWE wanted to give him a push while his partner Bobby Fish dealt with an injury. NXT had him feud against his former Undisputed Era leader Adam Cole and Finn Balor.
O’Riley had experience as a singles wrestler in other promotions, like Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. However, he thanks Michaels for learning new skills on how to compete in the main event. On the All Elite Wrestling Unrestricted Podcast the new signee explained how the legend help him.
“I learned alot about structuring like a main event match and you know there’s that age old adage of pro wrestling listen to the people, listen to the people, ane never really got what the meant,” said O’Riley.
He continued, “…Shawn really kind of taught us just to instead of going up and down with the crowd reaction you try and just keep it at a level. So like on a double down just don’t move and like until they start to die and, then you can move and, then you can bring them back up and, it’s just little things like that you don’t really think of and, it’s really hard to learn on your own until someone just kind of explains it to you and, then a light bulb goes off and just helps take your game to next level.”
Shawn Michaels Current Role in NXT
O’Riley isn’t the only former NXT talent to praise Michaels for his help. Adam Cole and Johnny Garagno have also credited the WWE legend for his coaching and appreciates their time working with him.
While NXT has changed to NXT 2.0, he continues to work closely with younger talent to succeed. His job as a coach helped Michaels get promoted to NXT 2.0 Vice President of Talent Development.
In AEW, he’s reformed ReDragon with Bobby Fish and hope to become AEW Tag Team Champions. Although he is back in a tag team, it’s still possible to see O’Riley compete in one on one matches.
It’s unclear if AEW fans will see him compete in the main event as a singles star.
Shawn Michaels is in charge of NXT creative at the moment. WWE rebranded NXT to NXT 2.0 back in September. This is when Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard were said to have taken a larger role backstage in NXT. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, however, McMahon and Prichard do not play a major role in creative in the same way they do for RAW and Smackdown.
“We are told that even with the perception that Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard are running NXT, it’s really not the case. When it comes to creative, the guy basically in charge is Shawn Michaels,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
Vince McMahon is said to be more involved than he used to be in NXT, however. While he will look at run sheets, he does not change the show last-minute as he often does with RAW and Smackdown.
There are some directions that come from the top that Michaels has to follow. One of those directives is said to be the pushing of Joe Gacy. McMahon apparently believes that Gacy’s gimmick will earn the company mainstream publicity.
Also, there are several NXT talents who could be called up to the main roster shortly. LA Knight is slotted to get called up after WrestleMania, but that may have gotten pushed up. The Creed Brothers have reportedly earned praise as well, with Julius getting some Kurt Angle comparisons.
Currently, there are no plans for Triple H to return to creative for either WWE or NXT due to health issues. WWE officials are pleased with the job Shawn Michaels has been doing in his absence. Michaels is being praised for turning guys like Bron Breakker, Carmela Hayes, Knight, Grayson Waller and Tony D’Angelo into stars.
Shawn Michaels didn’t anticipate the Royal Rumble event to be as popular as it’s become.
The man known as “HBK” made his Royal Rumble debut back in 1989. At the time, he couldn’t have imagined the event becoming a huge pit stop on the road to WrestleMania. The event has become its own massive weekend for wrestling fans to the point where it’s being held in stadiums.
Shawn Michaels Talks Growth Of Royal Rumble
Serving as a guest on WWE’s The Bump, Shawn Michaels admitted he didn’t anticipate the Royal Rumble event becoming so big.
“No. So, gosh the first time you — I don’t know. You hear about it, it’s a battle royale essentially. I had no idea that it would become — look, as everybody knows now the Royal Rumble comes and it has so many implications now towards WrestleMania and that’s where you start thinking about it.
“So, no I gotta be honest, I didn’t know that the event would be such the landmark that it is now. It was an unbelievable concept but at the same time, I don’t know I guess you always feel to have almost 30-plus years of longevity in this line of work, pretty tough to do.
“But again, it’s something that to me I feel like once the Rumble comes that’s when everybody gets excited and the road to WrestleMania is right around the corner. As I say, I don’t know that that does justice to just how big that event’s become.”
Shawn Michaels recently discussed his new role in NXT during an interview with Denise Salcedo. Previously, Michaels had been in a coaching role for the brand. Since Triple H has been absent, however, Michaels has stepped up and is now involved more on the television and creative side of things.
“I’ve now stepped out of the physical coaching aspect and into the Vice President of Talent Development and focusing more on television, the live show, and creative,” Michaels said. “The talent pool has gotten very big. To me, the biggest advantage of all of that is the freshness, the newness. When I went from a tag team to a single competitor, I wasn’t given a cookie-cutter ‘this is your character, this is what you’re gonna do.’ “
Shawn Michaels On Helping Characters Evolve In NXT
Michaels continued to talk about needing some time to find his “Heartbreak Kid” character and how in NXT they work to allow characters to evolve. He also spoke about working in collaboration with new talent to find out who they are.
“I was able to have some time to find ‘The Heartbreak Kid.’ I didn’t know who he was at the time but I had an opportunity to evolve this character and make it mine,” he continued. “That’s the one thing we’re allowed to do now with these new athletes coming in, is have time to sit down, to talk with them, to find out who they are, to get their insight, it really is a collaboration.”
The full interview with Michaels can be seen in the player below:
NXT will be live tonight from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. 2 matches have been officially confirmed for the show. Cora Jade & Raquel Gonzalez will team up to take on the Toxic Attraction team of Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne. Also tonight, Dexter Lumis and Grayson Waller will meet in singles action.
H/T To Wrestling Inc. for the above transcriptions.
After working non-stop for many years, Triple H has had to take an extended break from WWE recently due to his health scare in September. According to his best friend Shawn Michaels, the game has finally started to embrace the time off and he has started realizing that it’s not such a bad thing. Michaels recently had an interview with Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture.
During the talk, HBK was asked if he has been keeping in touch with the WWE vice president and how he has been doing. Replying to it, Shawn discussed how Triple H has worked so much over the last several years and explained that it takes a while to get used to the free time:
“Most of it is me bothering him to be perfectly honest, he has worked so much over the last several years and I don’t think he understood that it becomes your normal. For him to step away for a little bit, look, that takes getting used to. I went through it obviously; I am one of the rare people that was ready to do it and embrace it. But when it just happens out of the blue and you’re not expecting it”
Shawn Michaels Says Triple H Is Adjusting To New Schedule
Shawn Michaels & Triple H at WWE Crown Jewel
Shawn Michaels continued to explain how going from a lot of work to nothing is an adjustment. Though according to him, the holidays have helped Triple H realize that the time off is not that bad:
“For him to go a hundred miles per hour to nothing was an adjustment. But I think he is, especially around this time of year, he’s now starting to realize like ‘hey this isn’t too bad.’ I think he’s bordering enjoying himself now to be perfectly honest. It’s a well-deserved break for him, for sure.”
Apart from this, Shawn Michaels also talked about the talents that have left NXT in recent times such as Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and more. He revealed how he feels about their departure. You can check out his comments on the matter here.
Shawn Michaels recently commented on the NXT departures of Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, & Kyle O’Reilly. Now that they are gone, Michaels admits they are the reason he fell back in love with sports entertainment.
“We still keep in contact, but yeah it is bittersweet, those young men were a big part of my life, they were a lot of the reason that I sort of got back into this line of work,” Michaels said during an interview with Denise Salcedo. “I was happily retired.”
“When it came to Johnny, Tommaso, Adam, those guys, even way back, the Revival Boys, Shawn Spears who was Tye Dellinger at the time, all those young men sitting in a room with them; their passion, their excitement, their desire to be better was just hard not to love,” he continued.
In November of 2018, it was revealed that Michaels was now working as a writer and producer for NXT. This was shortly after he had returned for one match at the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.
“They are the reason that I came back, and fell back in love with Sports Entertainment, with this line of work. As you’ve heard and everyone has numerous times, in NXT at the Performance Center, is where it’s still pure, it’s still all the reasons we get into it before it becomes business, and money and negotiations and things of that nature. To fast forward your question, I miss them.”
I’m still amazed that we were able to reunite @AdamColePro + @theBobbyFish + @KORcombat tonight on #AEWDynamite; it doesn’t seem like it should’ve been possible, still doesn’t feel real. The only reason it was possible was because of you great fans supporting @AEWonTNT! Thank you
Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish Unite In AEW
Adam Cole debuted for AEW this fall at the All Out PPV in Chicago. He aligned with the Young Bucks and they re-created their Super Kliq team. Then on this week’s Dynamite show from the Greensboro Coliseum, Kyle O’Reilly debuted for AEW as well. O’Reilly helped Adam Cole defeat Orange Cassidy. Then him, Cole, and Bobby Fish all left together, leaving the Young Bucks alone in the ring. After being at the top of NXT since 2017 as the Undisputed Era, they now appear to have re-aligned in AEW.
The full interview with Shawn Michaels can be heard in the player below:
When Shawn Michaels originally started working behind the scenes in NXT, he only intended to help out the talents improve their presentation. However, HBK has not only found himself doing much more than he originally thought, but he has had to practically run things in the absence of Triple H. If the added responsibilities weren’t enough alone, Michaels has had to lead the brand in one of the toughest times, as it tries to forge a new identity for itself after the rebranding.
Shawn opened up about his newfound responsibilities during a chat with TVinsider. He disputed the notion that NXT 2.0 is a Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard production:
“I started out doing two hours a day, three days a week. Now I’m doing it about 23 hours a day, seven days a week. People out there thinking it’s all Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard type of production. They just are the ones who gave us the direction of what it is they wanted from NXT going into the future. It is still all the team Hunter [Triple H] put in place doing it here.”
Shawn Michaels Has Learned Things He Never Thought He Would
Shawn Michaels greeted Kyle O’Reilly and Johnny Gargano after NXT
Shawn Michaels also discussed how he has had to take over the responsibilities of Triple H. The game underwent a heart procedure in September and he has been focusing on his health since then. The former world champion explained how he has found a greater appreciation for everything his DX partner did as the in-charge of NXT:
“I love learning and growing in the different aspects of WWE, but I have a greater appreciation for everything he took on. I now understand how you cannot return a text when you get it. I’ve never had so many emails, learning computer stuff. Things I swore I would never want to do. But have since learned to do that. It has been a blast. To be able to step in for my friend is my honor to do.”
Shawn Michaels has been a mentor for many NXT stars that have gotten through the brand over the last few years, including Johnny Gargano and Kyle O’Reilly.
The close bond among these stars was visible when they greeted each other after this week’s episode of the show went off air.
The show ended with Gargano delivering an emotional speech about his future. After the cameras stopped rolling, Michaels came out and shared a moment with both Gargano and O’Reilly as seen below:
Both Johnny Gargano and Kyle O’Reilly’s WWE contracts expire this month. There has been a lot of speculation on what’s next for these stars.
They were brought to a SmackDown episode last month. Latest reports suggest that the officials have offered them multi-year deals to stay with the promotion.
Though like the other recent NXT departures such Adam Cole and Bobby Fish, many believe that Johnny Gargano and Kyle O’Reilly are both likely to be heading to AEW once done with their WWE obligations.
Now this emotional greeting with Shawn Michaels has added another layer to the belief that Gargano and O’Reilly are leaving and it’s only a matter of time before we see them on AEW TV.
Xyon Quin is one of the rising stars of the rebranded NXT. He has delivered some impressive performances in recent weeks and he paid tribute to Shawn Michaels with one such performance.
The NXT star had a confrontation with Robert Stone where the two competed to see who can do a better singing and dancing performance.
Quin chose Michaels’ theme song for his act. During a recent interview with SportingNews, he revealed how the people backstage reacted to the segment:
“I got a bit of a standing ovation when I came back through the curtain, so that was pretty cool, it was a group effort, we all came together and had a meeting about it and talked about it.”
Xyon Quin On How Shawn Michaels Reacted To His Performance
Xyon Quin then claimed that it was about bringing something different to the table before revealing how the heartbreak kid himself reacted to it:
“That was a bit interesting. Shawn Michaels was happy with it, he said he forgot how good his song was, so it was pretty cool to hear that from a legend such as himself.”
Xyon also discussed how it feels on having people like Shawn Michaels and Triple H providing guidance. He said that you don’t get used to such an experience and he still has to pinch himself sometimes.
Shawn Michaels has been filling in for Triple H while running things backstage at the events. The WWE Hall of Famer spoke to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote the Halloween Havoc edition of NXT 2.0 on Tuesday night and during it, spoke about it.
Michaels views it as a situation to step in for his best friend as a way to pay him back for years of friendship.
“Trying to step in and fill his role is impossible to do. Everybody here misses him unbelievably, especially me. But I always go back to this—everything in real life takes precedence over everything else. This was a situation where my best friend needed my help and needed me to step in, so I look at this as an opportunity, in a small way, to thank him for everything he did for me earlier in my career.
Taking over the responsibilities here is a drop in the bucket compared to what he did for me all those years back. I’m honored to at least have the opportunity to pay him back a little bit and be there for him. That’s what this whole company does—this whole relaunch has been everyone pulling together, and I’m energized and inspired to keep this NXT territory going strong during his absence.”
For the last few years, Michaels has been the right-hand man of Triple H, who had been overseeing the creative process of the brand, in addition to being a coach and Producer.
WWE NXT 2.0 North American Champion Carmelo Hayes recently appeared on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. The Champion discussed several topics during his time on the show, including how he revealed his ‘top guy’ intentions to Shawn Michaels backstage at the Performance Center.
“I had a conversation earlier with Shawn (Michaels) about how I want to be a top guy eventually,” Carmelo Hayes began. “He was like, ‘alright, we’ll give you the ball and you can run with it. We’ll get you where we need to get you.’”
“I told Shawn that I see myself as a top guy” Hayes continued. “I told him, ‘take me there.’ And I think that (conversation) is what gave him the belief that, ‘OK, this kid is a little different.’
“And on top of that, my mindset is every time I step out, it is WrestleMania” the new North American Champion revealed. “I’m not one of those guys who’s just happy to be here. I truly, truly want to be great – through my work, actions, attitude, and training. I’m just trying to work harder than everybody else, and I think it’s showing.”
Carmelo Hayes on Creative Freedom
Carmelo Hayes would also reveal that he has some leeway when it comes to his promos in the NXT 2.0 format alongside Trick Williams.
“They give us bullet points” Hayes noted. “But I’m big on trying to say stuff that I would truly say. So a lot of the stuff you’re hearing is 100 percent from me – with their direction.
“I’ve been lucky enough to where they’ve trusted me, to say what I want. That’s really the direction they’re going in now, they are trusting guys, especially down here in NXT 2.0. They are trusting guys to be authentic” Hayes concluded.
The person tasked with running the debut episode of NXT 2.0 has reportedly been revealed.
NXT aired live on Sept. 14 and it was a special edition. This was the revamp episode that had been reported for weeks. It’s a new era of NXT that will focus on younger and bigger talent.
WWE showcased the exact type of talent that had been in reports by PW Insider and WOR but the result of the NXT Title match surprised many. Tommaso Ciampa ended up winning the gold in a fatal four-way match that saw Kyle O’Reilly removed in favor of the debuting Von Wagner.
We also saw the debut of Rick Steiner’s son, who is being called Bron Breakker. He had quite the debut, defeating LA Knight in the opening match and then ending the show by staring down Ciampa backstage.
Dave Meltzer has reported that Shawn Michaels was in charge of the NXT 2.0 debut show. He also said that Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard weren’t present for the taping. Meltzer’s co-worker, Bryan Alvarez, was told that McMahon and Prichard would be producing NXT 2.0 but the Wrestling Observer Newsletter updated this saying that is actually not the case.
Meltzer notes that McMahon did look over the script for the show and had a hand in creative. With that said, his role doesn’t appear to be as prominent as once believed. It’s clear, however, that his vision for the NXT brand becoming a developmental hub again is in full effect.
Michaels’ role in leading the charge for NXT 2.0’s debut episode came to be after Triple H needed to take care of a cardiac event.
Shawn Michaels made a surprise appearance once cameras stopped rolling for NXT 2.0.
The revamp of NXT got underway this past Tuesday night (Sept. 14). The show featured a fatal four-way match to determine the new NXT Champion as well as the wedding of Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis.
The show also featured a slew of debuts. One of them was Rick Steiner’s son, Bronson Rechsteiner. His ring name is Bron Breakker. He opened the show by getting an upset win over LA Knight. Breakker then closed the show by confronting newly-minted NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa.
Once the show went off the air, fans in attendance were in for a treat. WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels appeared.
After the show went off the air, Johnny Gargano talked up the future of NXT and put over the rest of the locker room, with help from LeRae, Grimes and a surprise Shawn Michaels sighting #WWENXTpic.twitter.com/J1U1nbbyBC
Michaels has played a pivotal role behind the scenes in NXT. After the revamp episode, Michaels helped Johnny Gargano put over the NXT talent. Gargano said the future is bright for NXT. Gargano had appeared at the wedding of Hartwell and Lumis.
While Triple H has been known to make surprise appearances for the NXT audience, he had been dealing with a cardiac event. The good news is, “The Game” is expected to make a full recovery. Triple H serves as the WWE Executive Vice President, Global Talent Strategy & Development.
Here are more photos of Shawn Michaels appearing after NXT 2.0:
Ring entrances are shorter in NXT than on other WWE brands. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Shawn Michaels feels that longer ring entrances were giving fans a chance to switch over to AEW during the Wednesday Night Wars.
“One of the reasons the ring entrances have been cut back on as far as time on the NXT TV show is Shawn Michaels felt that long ring entrances gave the viewers more time to check out AEW,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
The brand has continued to run with that idea even since moving to Tuesday nights with the belief that it gives them more time for angles and matches. Although this has not been confirmed, there is also a rumour that it was HBK’s wife Rebecca who first suggested this.
“Whether this is true or not, within the company the story that has gone around is that it was Rebecca, Shawn’s wife, who was watching the show and told him she thought the ring entrances were too long and giving people too much time to switch stations, and he brought that up to Levesque,” Meltzer continued.
4 matches have been confirmed for NXT next week. KUSHDIA will face Kyle O’Reilly, while Adam Cole will face an opponent of his own choosing. Hit Row will take on Ever Rise and Franky Monet will be in singles action.
Last night at NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Tian Sha (aka Mei Ying) rose from her seat and attacked Mercedes Martinez. The character is, or at least believes herself to be thousands of years old and trained by dragons. Triple H and Shawn Michaels were asked recently about their approach to supernatural characters on the NXT media call.
“So, I’m a big fan of a variety within the shows and having things that are different. You know, different characters, when you can get them, different characters, different personalities, different sides of performers, all of that, but also different characters in general,” Triple H said when asked by Gary Cassidy of Inside the Ropes.
Triple H then continued to talk about supernatural characters using Tian Sha as an example.
“To have characters like Tian Sha, I think you have to handle them slightly differently so that you can make them sort of make sense in your world, right?”
He continued to say what it takes to make a character make sense in NXT is different than RAW and Smackdown.
“All the shows are slightly different. I feel like even there’s a slight difference between even just RAW and SmackDown as to what works on one show, what doesn’t on others. I feel the same way. So having that good mix is great, but also how you handle them and making sure that they fit within the sort of the universe that you’re existing in.”
Triple H then used Marvel as an example of a company that does this particularly well.
“Marvel does a really good job with it of having serious, almost dramatic movies and then having moments where, you know, this guy’s a god and the other guy’s a robot and this guy’s from outer space.”
Shawn Michaels then spoke about the Undertaker and how the supernatural character felt larger than life.
“For me, I guess I always looked at it is there are some people and some characters, or some groups, that have the ability to look larger than life,” HBK said. “I’d argue that about me. Taker was somebody who was a little bit more larger than life, so it was a much bigger production when he was coming out, as opposed to the Heartbreak Kid who was just music and silly dancing, you know what I mean?”
Bray Wyatt, Alexa Bliss and her doll Lilly are all current examples of supernatural style characters on the main roster. Undertaker, Kane, Papa Shango, Gangrel and many others have had such powers in the past. The Ultimate Warrior also demonstrated some supernatural abilities during his WCW run as well.
Learn more about the Tian Sha origin story with the below video:
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels says the wrestlers in NXT are passionate and inspired. The Hearbreak Kid recently spoke with Brandon Walker for his Rasslin’ podcast and had nothing but positive things to say about NXT’s backstage culture.
“I think it’s great. I think it will continue to grow,” said Michaels. NXT has a deep roster. In addition to headliners like Karrion Kross, Finn Balor and Adam Cole, the black and gold brand has performers like Cameron Grimes and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott fighting to climb the ranks. “There are so many people coming from underneath and there’s a whole other group of young talent that are underneath that,” he added.
Shawn Michaels has been working behind the scenes in NXT since late 2018. The brand has undergone a significant transformation during his time there. He’s proud of the culture they’ve cultivated in NXT.
“That’s what I enjoy about this,” Michaels continued. “We never get out of that fun and enjoyable stage when wrestling is at its purest and you’re doing it for the sheer passion and love of doing it, and that’s what I like about it.”
He added, “We’re still at the stage where they’re very inspired and very passionate. It really is a hell of a group down here, and there’s a hell of culture down here that everyone enjoys and buys into.”
NXT Takeover: In Your House takes place next Sunday, June 13th.
