Shawn Michaels Addresses NXT Coaching Style

The boss of NXT, Shawn Michaels, has spoken.

During a recent interview with ComicBook, WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative and head of the NXT developmental brand, Shawn Michaels, was asked about the coaching and training of wrestlers and how much things have changed from back in the 90’s when Michaels taught at his Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy to now in NXT.

“I’ll say this, most of the overall coaching aspects lie with Matt Bloom, who is a phenomenal head coach at the Performance Center. But the great thing that Hunter set up many, many years ago is that we cover everything. You’ve got people from a number of different eras, a number of different styles, and we’re continuing to build on that. I think all of us would admit that the business, like every sports or entertainment genre, continues to change and grow, and we have to continue to change and grow with it.

I will say that one thing that I know we do have in common, what I know we do at the Performance Center and we definitely did at the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy is we don’t put anybody in a box. The one thing that we like to do is make it a collaboration between ourselves and the individual talent. That’s something that we are obviously implementing in great, a great success.

…Obviously, we teach the basics, we teach the fundamentals, but then you’re allowed to grow into the style of the superstar you want to become. We don’t want to paint you as this of how you just have to stay in that box. We want them to be able to find who they are, experiment, take chances, take risks, and that’s what NXT is for.”

NXT Halloween Havoc takes place this Saturday, October 24th on Peacock and WWE Network.