Shawn Michaels expresses admiration for the talent within the AEW roster.
During a press conference ahead of NXT Stand & Deliver, Michaels was asked about potential AEW talent he’d welcome in NXT.
While cautious not to name names or cause any trouble, Michaels acknowledged the abundance of talent in AEW, stating he’d consider recruiting “darn near anybody.”
In particular, Michaels praised Shawn Spears, a former AEW wrestler who returned to NXT in February.
Describing Spears as a “formidable, secure, professional dude,” Michaels highlighted his positive experience working with him previously in NXT.
Michaels elaborated:
“Well, look, I guess I always go back to – I would take darn near anybody. 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.
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.’
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.
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. 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.”
Spears is scheduled to face Joe Gacy on the NXT Stand & Deliver pre-show this Saturday, with the event kicking off at 11 a.m. Eastern on Peacock/WWE Network.
Michaels has been involved with NXT since 2016 and currently holds the position of Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative within WWE.
