Shawn Michaels On How This WWE NXT Era Should Be Defined

"WWE NXT" has undergone a number of changes to its presentation over the past couple of months, and current Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels has a unique perspective on the show's evolution.

"I don't know that it's a new era where there's a big change," Michaels told Comicbook.com. "Certainly, there was the Black and Gold, there was 2.0 and now we have, I think what I guess is a hybrid. I mean, we don't want this NXT to really have to be defined as anything other than your NXT, to be perfectly honest. I don't want this to be Hunter's or Vince's or even mine for that matter."

Founded by Paul "Triple H" Levesque, "NXT" was originally reimagined in 2012 as WWE's developmental program, before a steady influx of top-level talent from the independent scene, resulting in critically acclaimed matches and storylines, essentially elevated it to being a third brand alongside "Raw" and "SmackDown." In 2021, however, "NXT" underwent a major revamp, becoming "NXT 2.0" and reverting to its previous developmental mandate. Michaels began working at the Performance Center in 2016 as a trainer before transitioning to working as a producer and writer for "NXT" in 2018, and was promoted to his current role earlier this year after Levesque was named WWE Chief Content Officer following the sudden retirement of Vince McMahon — "2.0" has since been dropped from the show's title.

"This line of work, the WWE and the wrestling business as a whole was always about fun and enjoyment and entertainment, and that's what it's going to get back to," Michaels said. "I don't know if that's a catchphrase or if that's a mission statement, but this is just an NXT that's excited about developing the young men and women that are going to be the superstars, the Raw and SmackDown superstars of tomorrow."