Kevin Nash Recalls Time When WWE Legend Shawn Michaels Thought He Might Be Jobless

In the late days of summer 2021, "WWE NXT" underwent a revamp, with Paul "Triple H" Levesque initially set to lead it. In early September, however, Levesque suffered a cardiac event, later revealed to be heart failure, that required surgery. As a result, Levesque remained on the sidelines during the "NXT" brand transition, with Vice President of Talent Development Shawn Michaels stepping up in his place. Still, WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash attests that Michaels was afraid the opposite might happen at one point.

"I remember the SummerSlam [weekend in 2015] when Bayley and Sasha Banks were the main event for NXT in Brooklyn. That whole NXT card, it was a better show top to bottom than SummerSlam was," Nash said on "Kliq This." "From a standpoint of just watching it and crowd inner reaction, NXT became kind of the hip promotion. When Paul [Levesque] had that health scare, it was two seconds later and [former WWE Executive Producer] Kevin Dunn was down there. They were dismantling NXT and trying to make it Nickelodeon.

"They were f***ing with that immediately," Nash continued. "Shawn [Michaels] didn't know if he was gonna have a job [with the potential of Levesque not coming back to work]. If you've ever watched the interview with [Stephen A.] Smith, it was bad.

While overseeing "NXT 2.0," Michaels admittedly struggled with balancing the vision that Levesque had crafted for "NXT" as well as the one held by WWE higher-ups working under Vince McMahon. The "NXT 2.0" era spanned one year, with WWE dropping the multi-colored branding in favor of a gold one mirroring that of the original "NXT." Around the same time, WWE elevated Michaels' role to Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative, meaning the image of "NXT" now falls on him.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Kliq This" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.