Shawn Michaels Reflects On NXT’s Big Weekend

– Shawn Michaels spoke to Sports Illustrated about NXT’s big weekend and more. Highlights are below.

On NXT: “I’d rather stay behind the scenes and let the stars of tomorrow take their rightful place. My time has come and gone. This is all about them. NXT is wrestling at its best. We’re going to continue on that track, and that’s showing people the best talent in WWE, which is in NXT. When Triple H asked me about working there, I didn’t know everything that the job entailed. Once I got to interact with so much of the talent, it got a hold of me. They were a very inspiring group of young men and women, and it reinvigorated my desire and passion to be back in the wrestling business. It was all in the very pure, hungry, wanting to make it to the very top state that NXT has always been. It got a hold of me right away.”

On Keith Lee, Adam Cole, And Shayna Baszler: “You could have said beforehand, ‘Well, he’s never done this before.’ But you’d never know that from watching. They deliver every single time they’re out there. All three of them all embrace and adapt to big situations. I’ve never seen one of them not look cool, calm or collected when they go out into high impact, highly visible matches. There hasn’t been a time for any of them where the situation was too big or got the better of them, and that gives us a great deal of confidence moving forward. These are all big-time performers.”

On The Performance Center: “The wrestling business has advanced so much since I broke in. I broke in during the territory days, and no one knew the global entity that the WWE would become. The Performance Center has tried to be symbolic of every aspect of the wrestling business, from promos to television to production. It just about replicates every aspect of the WWE and life in the wrestling business you can cover, and that’s what sets it apart from any other place.”

On The Wednesday Night Wars: “We’re going to do what we always do. And that’s put on the best show we can and let the chips fall where they may.”