Shawn Michaels Dives Into His Booking Philosophy After Promotion In WWE

Due to health issues in September 2021, Triple H took a step back from his duties and put his best friend Shawn Michaels in charge of running NXT. Now with Triple H taking over creative from Vince McMahon, Michaels was named Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative.

This has given the WWE Hall of Famer a new set of responsibilities, where it looks like he will be shaping the growth and career of NXT’s young roster. Speaking on The Ringer Wrestling Show, Shawn Michaels said that he’s thrilled to be the new face of NXT, although the role has been challenging.

“Usually Hunter’s the one that’s out there in front of the cameras and doing all the talking for NXT. But obviously, as you know, his responsibilities have grown, and it also means that clearly mine have grown. The image of NXT still needs to be represented, that falls on me. Clearly, I’m thrilled to be able to do that and be out there supporting NXT and trying to get it the recognition that it deserves.

But it is a new role for me. I usually am more comfortable behind the scenes and doing my job. But look, this is an exciting new time. I love the men and women in NXT. I love helping them out, love producing the television show. We’re excited about Halloween Havoc. I’m thrilled to have this kind of responsibility.”

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Shawn Michaels also explained that he plans on focusing more on the development aspect of the job by placing these young performers in situations they may face on the main roster.

“From my standpoint, I look at, we have to combine putting on obviously a two-hour entertaining wrestling show every week, but at the forefront of all of that, to me, I usually try to focus on the development aspect. It is my job and our job collectively at NXT to bring these young men and women growth and experience and help them to encounter things that they may encounter on the main roster. So honestly that’s what I put at the forefront is repetition in those types of things, from s television standpoint, whether it be storylines, promos, just television time, certain spots. I don’t mean spots in a match.

I mean spots on the card, so to speak. Opening the show, the middle of the show, a personal storyline, a championship storyline, being on top and understanding the pressures and the dedication and the lack of time off that one may to go through. So there are a number of different aspects that we try to bring to this. But for me, I always try to put development at the forefront. Look, sometimes that makes it challenging to put on the absolute best wrestling show that you can.”

In the past few weeks, NXT has transitioned out of it’s 2.0 phase with the introduction of a new black and gold logo reminiscent of the old logo. Shawn Michaels is set to reunite with DX on the October 10 episode of RAW.

How do you feel HBK has performed in his new role? Let us know in the comments section.