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Shawn Michaels Says Nikkita Lyons Has ‘It Factor’, Talks NXT Announce Team
During a media call to promote tonight’s NXT Deadline PPV, Shawn Michaels spoke about the return of Nikkita Lyons and praised the current NXT announce team. Here are highlights, via PWInsider:
On Vic Joseph and Booker T on commentary: “I love them both. First of all, I’m a huge fan of Vic Joseph. I think he is absolutely one of the best play by plays guys in this business, and I mean that. Vic is absolutely fantastic at his job, and I don’t know a young man that works harder at that job than Vic does. Booker T, again, we are on a regular basis in the back, again, laughing out loud with their chemistry every Tuesday night. Again it’s, I still watch as a fan as we’re back there doing this, and the fact that, again, It may not always be the right thing, but if I enjoy it and it’s making me laugh, I always feel like we’re going to keep going with it. So I love the chemistry. I love what it is. ]What] they put together, I think there’s a good yin and yang that goes on there. Booker can be so far out to lunch sometimes and watching and listening to Vic having to reel him back in is some of my most enjoyable times during the week. I can’t speak more highly of our announce team. But I, if I could say on a serious note, I don’t ever want to lose Vic, but he is absolutely the best. He’s a dude that is incredibly gifted and really good at his job.”
On Nikkita Lyons and the NXT women’s division: “I think everybody saw a lot of potential in Nikita before she went down with the injury from Blair Davenport. [Her return] adds to what is already a, unbelievably stacked women’s division, as we talked about earlier. But I’ll say this. I think anyone with, two eyes in their head can see that she’s an extremely talented young lady. She does have something special. Again, as people say that ‘it’ factor, I think that’s something she possesses, but one of the downsides of having a stacked women’s division is there is a lot of competition. There are a lot of ladies scratching and clawing to get to the top and she’s just not going to [have it] handed to her. She’s come back certainly with an intensity and a fire. She looks ready. She looks like she’s in shape. Looks like she’s going after Blair Davenport, obviously, but look, I’ll say this…our women are hungry. We’ve got a bunch of extremely talented women. They’re not just gonna bend over backwards and let Nikita Lyons walk all over them. So she’s gonna have to earn it. I think she’s a special individual. I think she’s, again, she has a unique look. She’s got a certain, I don’t know, a quality, I think that a lot of our fans like. She’s got ability, but like I said, she’s gonna have to earn it, when she gets back in that ring and we’ll find out here, I’m sure in the very near future how that all pans out.”