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Shawn Michaels Breaks Silence On Drafted NXT Stars

By John Canton • Published 29th April 2023
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Shawn Michaels has given his reaction to the 2023 WWE Draft that saw three talented NXT women champions get drafted to the WWE main roster.

The rules set out by WWE’s Chief Content Officer Triple H going into the 2023 WWE Draft on the April 28th edition of Smackdown were that everybody was eligible to be drafted on the main roster (minus a few that have been absent due to injuries) along “select NXT superstars.”

In his role as the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative for WWE, two-time WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels is in charge of developing talent for the company’s NXT brand. The traditional name for his job is the booker meaning he’s the Head of Creative in NXT.

During the WWE Draft, Michaels and fellow D-Generation X member Road Dogg appeared to announce the 15th and 16th draft picks. Shawn was announcing for Smackdown and he named the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Isla Dawn & Alba Fyre. Smackdown announcer Michael Cole pronounced Isla incorrectly multiple times (the “s” is silent) while the champions were excited.

Road Dogg had a funny line with the 16th pick for Raw saying if Shawn didn’t like that pick then he might lose his smile again (a 1997 reference) with this pick: NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell to Raw.

On television, Shawn Michaels reacted by throwing his card as if he was frustrated that he lost three women’s champions in NXT. In reality, he likely knew it was coming and was just putting on a show for the cameras.

Late on Friday evening, Michaels tweeted about it with enthusiasm.

“What an amazing night for the #WWEDraft and the #WWENXT roster! I’m so excited for our #WWENXT superstars as they move forward and forge their own path on #WWERAW & #SmackDown

Congratulations to our champs @indi_hartwell ,@wwe_alba, and @IslaDawn!”

There were more picks announced on Saturday morning including NXT stars Apollo Crews, Zoey Stark & JD McDonagh going to Raw while Von Wagner is a free agent. No word on if Shawn Michaels threw any objects when those decisions were announced.