WWE Hall of Fame legend Shawn Michaels thinks AEW has a good roster of talent.
The WWE NXT Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative took part in a pre-show press conference on Friday to promote the WrestleMania XL Weekend premium live event for WWE NXT, as WWE NXT Stand & Deliver 2024 goes down on Saturday, April 6, 2024, from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
During the press conference, “The Heartbreak Kid” was asked if there are any talents in AEW that he would like to see find their way to his roster of talent in WWE NXT some day.
“Well, look, I guess I always go back to — I would take darn near anybody,” Michaels said. “I’ll say this: I can’t say specifically because I think there’s so much talent there. I never know where I’m supposed to list names. I don’t know everybody’s situation. The last thing I want to do is get anyone in trouble. A lot of guys that used to be in NXT are up there that I’ve always loved. I don’t get the opportunity to watch as much as I would like to.”
Michaels continued, “But I know that I love working with young talent, especially when I get to know them and I understand their passion. Until I know what your desire is in this business, it’s hard for me to say whether you are the one that I’m gonna work really hard for. I don’t know – it’s become so personal to me on that level. There’s certainly people that I see from just a talent standpoint that you go, ‘Oh my goodness, they’ve got a great deal of ability. Boy, if we ever got a chance to work with them, I think we could really do something special with them.'”
From there, the WWE NXT executive spoke about working with Shawn Spears since he made the move back to WWE in the WWE NXT brand after recently parting way with AEW.
“The person we got, Shawn Spears, he was a guy that I worked with a little bit here in NXT before he got called up and eventually left,” he said. “But I always liked him because I just always thought he was a formidable, secure, professional dude that could give you anything you asked for. I’ll say this, we enjoy working with darn near anybody and trying to make them better than whatever they were doing before. Whether it’s coming out of college or you were with another promotion.”
He continued, “I do know that if you’ll give us at NXT the opportunity to work with you, I think we can get you at least closer, a hell of a lot closer, to your goals and what you want to accomplish out of this business than anybody else. Because that’s what we do, and we work really hard at doing that. So we’re more than happy – whether it’s AEW, whether it’s Japan, TNA, go around the globe – I’m really excited about NXT having the opportunity to make anybody’s career better than what it is they’re currently doing and allow them to have the opportunity to enjoy weekends like the one we’re about to have.”
Check out the complete pre-show press conference for WWE NXT Stand & Deliver 2024 featuring WWE NXT Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to F4WOnline.com for transcribing the above quotes.
