WWE Hall of Famer & Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels hosted a media call after Saturday’s WWE NXT Vengeance Day event. Below are highlights:
* Michaels said they put on a phenomenal show in Charlotte with Vengeance Day, the roster and everyone enjoyed being there. For this being this first stand-alone show in three years and the first major show outside of the Performance Center for many people, they are very happy with how it went. Vengeance Day made big strides in the development of several stars
* Michaels was asked about The New Day’s future after dropping the NXT Tag Team Titles to Gallus. He said they have an open invitation to come to NXT and they enjoyed their time with the brand, and they seemed open to returning, depending on their schedules. Michaels hopes they will be back. Michaels felt like The New Day realized how much knowledge and wisdom they can bring to the NXT roster
* Regarding potential injuries, Michaels said everyone was good and Dijak underwent x-rays on his finger but it was not broken. The finger was already set back in place but it’s a miracle he didn’t break it
* Michaels was asked about reports of NXT changing the policy on Superstars being able to work indie events when Ivy Nile was announced for a ROW show, the promotion owned by WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. He said this was a one-shot deal to help Booker’s promotion and nothing else to it as far as he knew, at least for now. Shawn said Booker has been very good to them and they wanted to help him out with the show. Booker’s announcement did indicate that there will be more NXT talents working ROW shows
* Michaels said they are hoping to take the weekly NXT TV show on the road one day, especially if they could get the reaction and attendance they had for Vengeance Day, which exceeded all expectations. He loves the idea but the “bean counters” have to analyze everything to make it happen and it will probably be aa while before they have live event tours outside of Florida
* Michaels was asked about Carmelo Hayes vs. NXT Champion Bron Breakker headlining Stand & Deliver. He praised them both as top leading stallions of the clubhouse and talked about how they’ve kept them apart but a year later it’s time for what they realize is a big match. They knew this would be a big match going back 1.5 years or more. These are two top shelf guys of NXT and he has no doubt it will com to fruition very soon
* He mentioned how new NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Fallon Henley and Kiana James had very little experience past the indies, but they have improved during their time with NXT. He said they noticed James and Henley had chemistry against each other, so they put them in a team to see how it worked, they explore that and see how it goes, and it looks like it was one of those things that worked. He recalled WWE Vice President of Global Talent Development William Regal saying that tonight it felt like Henley and James were homegrown NXT stars. Michaels praised former champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter as one of the most consistent tag teams in all of WWE, and he looks forward to them chasing James and Henley, adding that Chance and Carter have very bright futures in WWE
* Earlier in the call they did an angle where Grayson Waller stormed in and confronted Michaels about why he wasn’t “the guy” in NXT. WWE Head Coach Matt Bloom escorted Waller away. Michaels was asked what just happened, and he said there was an an incident coming back from the Gorilla Position between he and Waller, and that Waller is just “a bit perturbed” at him and it’s something that has been festering. Michaels said he loves Waller but he’s just upset about some things they will talk over later. Michaels said Waller isn’t much different on TV vs. in real life
You can see the video below:
Here’s the clip of Grayson Waller interrupting Shawn Michaels’ NXT #VengeanceDay Media Call! pic.twitter.com/JndBaJL9n5
— Menace Wrestling (@MenaceWrestling) February 5, 2023
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