Shawn Michaels Was Begging For WWE Star To Stay In NXT Longer – “Another 6 Months?”
Shawn Michaels admits he wanted one of WWE’s rising young stars to stay in NXT for a longer run.
The main event of WWE NXT Stand & Deliver 2025 was a triple threat match between former NXT Champion Oba Femi, Trick Williams (also a former NXT Champion), and Je’Von Evans, who is a WWE superstar with a very bright future at 21 years old.
One year later, Femi is in one of the biggest WrestleMania 42 matches against Brock Lesnar. Meanwhile, Trick Williams is going for his first title on the main roster as he challenges Sami Zayn for the US Title at WrestleMania 42.
Je’Von Evans is also part of a 6-man Intercontinental Title Ladder Match with champion Penta, along with Rey Mysterio, Rusev, JD McDonagh, and Dragon Lee.
Since Femi, Williams, and Evans are all doing very well on the main roster after just four months as Raw and SmackDown wrestlers, it’s a testament to how well Shawn Michaels and the NXT creative team are doing at developing young talent.
In his role as Senior Vice President of Talent Development, Creative, and 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, Shawn Michaels essentially serves as the booker of NXT, overseeing the brand from a creative standpoint.
During an interview with the Ringer Wrestling podcast, Shawn Michaels spoke about how he wanted more time with Je’Von Evans, who turns 22 on April 29th, in NXT. Michaels even claimed he begged (perhaps in a joking way) for Evans to stay in NXT longer.
“Certainly, Je’Von obviously was somebody I had—you know, we—you know, I was begging for like, ‘Can we keep him for another six months?’ if not, you know, because we had every intention—he was kind of one of the last ones that they—you know—they were like, ‘Oh.’ I mean, because we, you know, from an NXT standpoint, we were in our minds going to obviously build around Je’Von for the next year, and that was kind of the model.”
Michaels went on to talk about what he as told by WWE’s main roster creative team, which is led by Shawn’s best friend and fellow WWE Hall of Famer, Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
“And they’re like, ‘Oh no, no, no. We’re taking him, too.’ Like, ‘Oh, oh,’ you know, and I pushed back a little bit, you know, and was like, ‘You know, should we—just six months?’ Like, ‘No.’ And like three? Like, ‘No.’ And I’m like, ‘All right, so fair enough.’”
Shawn Michaels Tries To See The Positives Of Losing NXT Wrestlers To WWE Main Roster
In addition to Femi, Williams, and Evans, other NXT wrestlers got called up to the main roster as well, like former TNA Knockouts Champion, Jordynne Grace. More NXT talent will likely be called up to the main roster post-WrestleMania as well.
As he continued talking about NXT wrestlers moving to the WWE main roster, Michaels made the point that it’s not a terrible thing because it shows that he and his team are doing a good job of developing talent.
“And then, you know, come on—that’s—you know, if that’s the worst news you have to have, is that they’re taking too many of your people, that means we’re doing a pretty good job. And that’s something that we always have to remember. And that’s part of my job as well, is trying to remind people that, hey, this is what we do.”
Michaels also compared the NXT system to college sports – the NCAA – in the US, which is used to develop talent for pro sports leagues.
“Yes, in many respects, yes, we’re like the NCAA. We’re a brand, but at the same time, they’re not meant to stay here. We can’t—we’re not going to build around these people for years and years. It’s just not the reality of NXT.”
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