DENISE SALCEDO INTERVIEWS WWE ICON SHAWN MICHAELS ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF NXT
Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo interviewed 'The Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Michaels about the changes in NXT, the new direction, the new talent and so much more including his recent conversations with Triple H, his goals for NXT and much more.
Shawn Michaels Talks About His Initial Thoughts When He Found Out About NXT 2.0 and Mentions It Would Have Been Easier with Triple H Around
I think the biggest thing was that I didn't know I was gonna be the one having to do everything {laughs}. I was going to hopefully assist Hunter and put into place what he wanted us to put into place. It came a bit quick obviously. For the last 35 years that I've been with the WWE when they make a decision it's done, it's quick. They are so efficient, so quick and they just don't sit and wait around. I think that was probably the biggest adjustment. I think we had probably three weeks, and we didn't have a whole lot of information. By the time we got the information it was coming down by the last week and we went ahead and applied everything that we could. It's fun, it's a nervous excitement. You don't really know what to expect but you're looking at something where there's no roadmap to doing it so you have to try and figure it out. I still enjoy that kind of stuff, Hunter and I, much like the DX days, we went out there not having any idea what we were gonna do, we were just gonna go out there and have fun and enjoy doing it. That's how this kind of started from the get go. It would have been a lot easier had he been there the entire time to assist that's for sure.
Shawn Michaels Talks About How Triple H Is Doing, Says He Calls Him A Lot
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; 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 {laughs} to be perfectly honest it's a well deserved break for him, for sure.
Shawn Michaels Says One Of The Biggest Challenges In Changing NXT Was Dealing with The Reaction From Fans About The Change
It's dealing with the reaction from that change. To be perfectly honest it's like ripping a band-aid off, it was very sudden and to your fanbase that's very tough. It's like anything, change isn't easy, when it's your normal and you're comfortable with it and then there's an abrupt change that's difficult. For me that was the hardest part, to at least let your fanbase know 'we're going to do everything we can to make this your NXT again, it's just we're having to do it all over and different.'And look I will say, I have to be honest. I think a lot of the blowback is because I feel like people are angry, {laughs}, people are angry at us sometimes and there's not much we can do about that. I understand that. It's a very emotional type business and we have that sincerity with our fanbase. There is a closeness there and you get comfortable with things the way they are and then going about a change that you're not prepared for and you don't know if you like it, I think they took it out, they don't mean to, but I think they took it out on the brand, and then of course the new and young talent. They are just sitting there going like 'hey we just want to be in this line of work too, is that so bad?' {laughs}. That was the hardest thing, is having to help everybody through that. I've had a lot of people say a lot of bad stuff about me for a long time {laughs} but for this brand to have to go through that was new and I think that was the one thing that at least having me steering the boat in the respect is something I can help everybody understand, not take it personally.... I've been fortunate enough to be part of this fanbase for a long time and they just want to know that they can count on you and that once again you will try to take pride in the product, go out there and give them the best. That's what these young men and women are doing, as you've seen, 10-12 weeks in they are starting to embrace these young men and women.... That abrupt change was a little rough at first but it's settling in now and it really is, at the heart, it's still the same people behind the scenes, that care about giving our fanbase the best that we can give them.
Shawn Michaels Talks About The Advantages of Working with Athletes and Discusses The Character Development Process
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. 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's competitor, I wasn't given a cookie cutter 'this is your character, this is what you're gonna do,' 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. 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. It's all of the stuff that I feel like people loved about NXT is that we're not forcing things on people, we're having them find it themselves.... We really got a nice little system, a nice little organization going on to where we are allowed to go through these different steps. But then it comes to getting them ready, in-ring ready, and sometimes it's trial by fire, I have to be honest but the fact that they are former athletes that have been challenged before that have to worry about discipline, focus, going in there on game time, pressure situations, that is something that at least they come into the WWE having done a little bit...even at a young age they've had opportunities doing that so it's amazing how disciplined and focused they can be and the athlete in them doesn't like to fail. People like Hunter and I, we're sort of the same way {laughs} we love being put in the toughest spot possible and see if we can succeed.
Shawn Michaels Shares Some of The New NXT 2.0 Talent He Has Been Impressed By
Bron, Tony, all the WarGames guys, Carmello and Grayson, the guys that we threw into the deep end right away and have performed so well. Of course it's a huge testament to our 1point0ers, they have been faithful, they have been patient, they have been understanding but at the same time those young talents have gone out there and done an amazing job. Gigi and Jacy, again being thrust into a very prominent role right away, when they came in they had some experience but I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them, it was just a matter of being able to find the right person and then all of a sudden Mandy became available... Bron and Tony have done phenomenal. The Creed Brothers, those boys they are bad, they are all bad, they are legit just bad dudes but to have them come to the back and just be so excited, hugging you and just being so jazzed about what they are doing out there at such an early time it's infectious and so we're having more and more of those people coming along. When it's that fun for them, it's fun for us as well. Even if it doesn't go perfectly they are doing such an amazing job. Tony D' Angelo has probably had 6 matches, live on television, everything else has been reps in the warehouse that's staggering. To be in a main event, to have to understand commercial breaks, the end of the show and going off, that is a lot to put on young men and women. They are doing it because they rise to the challenge, they like that pressure situation because again that's why they got into sports for.
Shawn Michaels Shares His Thoughts On Bron Breakker and Discusses Why He Was The One Selected To Be In The Main Title Picture
He's a wonderful combination of his dad and his uncle, but there is a purity there, he's still an innocent, excited, enthusiastic young man and that energy again is infectious. There is believability, he's not playing a part, he's being who he is. I have been crushed by that young man coming back and hugging me in the back because he is really excited and just enthused about doing this. {laughs} It's just off the charts, but again this just comes from family. I am just speculating, but I think they've helped him to understand that if you're smart this could be an unbelievable life, have a real future for yourself and the family that you might want to have, all of those things and he understands that it's all right here before him. At the same time while he's being fun and excited and enjoying what he's doing, I think he understands that at the same time he is a professional, he's an athlete that wants to be good at the job he chose to do. He really does put in the time to not just rest on his laurels, I mean let's face it I think at this point he can easily coast or not try as hard but instead he takes the responsibility of 'I appreciate this role you guys are putting me in, I wanna make the most of it and I want more.' He tries to lead in the locker room as well, and I think that is a fantastic thing and that comes from guys like Pete Dunne, Tommaso Ciampa, telling him about that as he's going on this journey.
Shawn Michaels Talks About How On NXT 2.0 You Are Seeing The Stars of Tomorrow with The Stars of Today
You can only get better being in the ring with people that are better than you, so as good as the black and gold brand was there was also right now, out there in the world right now, it's young on young. You're not in the ring with people so much better than you, that's one of the things we are able to do here in NXT 2.0 which again is the same way I started and where Hunter learned, Taker and Steve-- we were all in the ring with people who were better than us and could lift us up. We're doing it in real-time, we're doing it on live TV, you really are seeing right there first hand the development of young men and women and in this case our women develop; you're seeing the stars of tomorrow with the stars of today. That is something that hasn't been consistent in the wrestling business for a long time because there were so many young talents just working with each other out in the indie scene and I don't mean that to hurt or in any way discredit the indie scene but it was really difficult when you don't have a veteran in there that knows what they are doing.
Shawn Michaels On Guys Who Have Left NXT Like Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Kyle O' Reilly Etc.
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. 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.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. One of the things I always try to instill on all of them is 'Your happiness, your contempt, your peace, is the most important thing to me.' Because I learned that, yes mine all happened in the WWE but when everything was set and done that's why I think that leaving and walking away was so much easier for me than it was for everybody else. I got all the answers to the questions that I had coming into this line of work and as long as they are at peace with that, that's cool. At the very least, I tell them 'if you're not gonna be at peace with it atleast have a big bank account." {laughs} at least it makes you feel better a little bit {laughs}. I do, I miss them, but I am very happy for them. Some things gotta be real life, Hunter and I, we love this stuff, same thing our real lives take precedence over everything else and it's the same whether its Johnny, Adam, Kyle and whoever else, he's now Malakai but Aleister, all of those guys I want them to be happy. Do I miss them? Yes. Would I prefer they be with us? Absolutely. But again you're getting the opportunity to establish new relationships with Bron and Tony, The Creed Brothers, Carmello and Trick; have just been a joy to work with. Gigi and Jacy, I absolutely adore. It's an ever evolving thing and that's what this job is but it doesn't mean that you can't still have good relationships in the meantime.
