Shawn Michaels recently spoke with Adrian Hernandez of Unlikely for an interview this week to promote his new Peacock documentary.
During the discussion, the WWE NXT executive spoke about the pressure that came with following the black and gold era with NXT 2.0 and the criticism that came with it.
“Sure, oh yeah,” Michaels responded. “It’s no different than trying to follow the Attitude Era and things of that nature. You’re always going to have people that look at the past through a lens in rose colored fashion. You’re always going to have people comparing eras, time, or talent.”
Michaels continued, “One of the things we try to tell everybody is, ‘comparison is the death of progress.’ It’s something that you keenly have to be aware of, but at the same time, I was very proud of all of those individuals because they understood what they were going up against, they heard the criticism, and the one really positive things, whether it was Bron (Breakker), Trick (Williams), Melo [Carmelo Hayes], Lash (Legend), they are all former athletes. Even from Carmelo and Je’Von’s standpoint, who are Indie guys, it put a chip on their shoulder and made them want to work harder to prove people wrong.”
From there, he went on to explain how it actually turned out to be an advantage from their standpoint.
“That’s kind of an advantage from our standpoint,” he continued. “Everybody is a fighter if you get into this line of work. They understand that they are always going to be compared to somebody else and they have to withstand that. That’s one of the ways to build character in this line of work. Everybody has to face a little adversity in their careers, and those young men and women faced a lot of it early on and I think they’re better for it.”
“The Heartbreak Kid: Becoming Shawn Michaels” is available now for subscribers of Peacock.
