Shawn Michaels Discusses WWE Going Head-To-Head With AEW Again

With NXT Battleground and AEW Double Or Nothing on the same day, Shawn Michaels has discussed whether the decision was intentional.

It was announced on 30th March 2023 that NXT Battleground would take place on 28th May, at the Tsongas Center on Lowell, Massachusetts. This clashes directly with AEW Double Or Nothing, which has been a Memorial Day tradition since 2019.

However, when asked by Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Shawn Michaels downplayed the head-to-head nature of the two shows being on the same day. Instead, he commented on it making good business sense to run an event on a holiday.

No, no. Look, I’ll say this, from a holiday standpoint, that’s the thing. In the past, we’ve done well on the holidays. It’s my understanding that’s why we did that. It’s not different than, we used to do stuff back in the day on Christmas and on Thanksgiving. Holidays are always big days. That’s what this is for us. We’re live on Peacock. Basically, sort of free. From my standpoint, it’s just the date was available. The holiday does really well for us.

What was head-to-head was the announcement of the NXT show, as Shawn Michaels did so during an unannounced press conference at the same time as AEW head honcho Tony Khan was running a media call for Supercard Of Honor.

With thanks to Fightful for the transcription.