Triple H and Shawn Michael On The Importance of the NXT Women’s Title, NXT’s Women Raising the Bar

Triple H and Shawn Michaels spoke with Sports Illustrated for a new interview discussing the importance of the NXT women’s division and the NXT Women’s Championship.

Triple H on the NXT Women’s Championship: “The NXT Women’s Title is one of the most meaningful ones in the business. That is a testament to all the women who played a role in that. The women in NXT, they’ve got something to prove. They’re really going out of their way to make a name for themselves.”

Triple H on the NXT women’s roster: “NXT is the place where people come when they have something to prove. That’s been embedded in the women’s division since its creation. The floodgates opened with Charlotte, Becky, Sasha, Bayley, Paige and that entire crew, they took it to another level. Ever since, it’s moved up the line. There was a period of time a few years ago when those women all got called up to Raw and SmackDown, and it started over. The women in NXT have been hell bent on proving they belong.”

Michaels on the NXT Women’s Championship standing out among other titles: “There are no definites in this business, but I’d argue it’s pretty close. The women of the past helped develop this division, and it still operates at the highest level. I can still remember visiting NXT before I was working in the Performance Center, and I watched Sasha and Charlotte. I can remember watching a match and thinking, ‘My goodness, these two are incredible. If I were going to Monday Night Raw, I would want to steal all of that.’ I was just so impressed by what they were doing in the ring.”

Truple H on NXT’s women changing the way women are seen as wrestling stars: “This isn’t to negate the effort from our men because the guys work hard, but more often than not in the past few months at the Performance Center, the people I would see grinding, whether it was in the gym or the ring, were the women. I don’t mean sometimes, I mean always. The way the women work in NXT, it’s awe-inspiring to me. That work ethic, that desire to take it to a whole other level, they have something more to prove. There are big shoes to follow, so there is even more to prove now.”