Shawn Michaels reflects on recent WWE signings
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels recently opened up about signing new talent to his NXT brand. Names such as former AEW star Ethan Page, Shawn Spears, and Je'Von Evans made their way to the white and gold brand.
This week on NXT, All Ego made a statement after the main event by taking out champion Trick Williams and posed with the latter's title. Page also revealed he assaulted Meta-Four members Noam Dar and Oro Mensah.
Following Je'Von Evans' debut in February 2024, the young star caught fans' attention as he went on to challenge the former NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov. Spears is one of the names released from WWE in 2019, returned to The Heartbreak Kid's brand earlier this year, and attacked Ridge Holland.
During an interview with Adrian Hernandez, the 58-year-old WWE legend was asked about signing stars such as Ethan Page, Shawn Spears, and Evans who are not from the NIL (Next In Line) program. Shawn Michaels said:
"For us, here in NXT, it's always been about finding the best performers, the best wrestlers that we can find. But also cultivating a great many of our own. I guess I go back to no different than, even though it put me sometimes at odds with people when I was younger, this business there's little something for everybody."
The former WWE World Champion also noted that he and Triple H are not a fan of doing business with narrow settings. Both HBK and The Game are recruiting talents with different backgrounds to have a variety of superstars on the roster.
"It's certainly the philosophy that I've always had, I know Hunter's had...we just want to bring the best sports entertainment we can to everybody that's watching. We want to put on banger after banger fantastic wrestling matches," Michaels added. [4:58 - 6:03]
Check out the full interview below:
Shawn Michaels reveals backstage WWE workings with himself and Triple H
During the same conversation, The Heartbreak Kid discussed WWE's partnership with TNA Wrestling which saw Jordynne Grace's appearance on NXT. The 28-year-old female star also appeared at the 2024 Women's Royal Rumble.
Shawn Michaels revealed he has been a big fan of Grace since her Rumble appearance. The WWE Hall of Famer shared that Triple H owed him a big time with the TNA Knockouts Champion's presence on the NXT brand.
"I've been very public about being a fan of Jordynne Grace. I expressed to Hunter privately that I was very jealous that he had her for the Rumble. He owed me one. He owed me a big one... To one up ourselves like we always try to do, we have TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace contend for the NXT Women's Championship fighting Roxanne Perez. It's going to be really, really big," he said.
Jordynne Grace has challenged Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Championship. The two women will collide for the title at the Battleground Premium Live Event on June 9 at UFC Apex, Las Vegas.
Please credit Adrian Hernandez's YouTube channel and provide a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.