Shawn Michaels Opens Up On Running NXT In Triple H’s Absence & Change To NXT 2.0

Triple H has been absent from the NXT brand since he suffered a cardiac event back in September. In his place, Shawn Michaels, who is now officially titled as NXT’s Vice President of Talent Development, has been running things at the shows.

Michaels recently spoke to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, where he talked about how he is filling in for Triple H’s absence from the shows. Michaels said:

“Trying to step in and fill his role is impossible to do, everybody here misses him unbelievably, especially me. But I always go back to this—everything in real life takes precedence over everything else. This was a situation where my best friend needed my help and needed me to step in, so I look at this as an opportunity, in a small way, to thank him for everything he did for me earlier in my career. Taking over the responsibilities here is a drop in the bucket compared to what he did for me all those years back. I’m honored to at least have the opportunity to pay him back a little bit and be there for him. That’s what this whole company does—this whole relaunch has been everyone pulling together, and I’m energized and inspired to keep this NXT territory going strong during his absence.”

The NXT brand rebranded back on September 14, trading in their former trademark black and gold colour scheme for a more brightly coloured ‘2.0’ version of the show. Michaels has been at the helm of this change in the absence of Triple H, and recently spoke about the change to NXT 2.0, he said:

“Doing this now for 35 years, I’ve seen constant change, and change is certainly not new to us in WWE. It’s constantly evolving and changing. I’ve heard people call this a refresh, but it’s still the same crew, which is great because they’re so damn talented. It reminds me of he Attitude Era. We had the same roster the day before he Attitude Era started, and I still remember Vince coming into the locker room and making that speech, inspiring us and making us hungry for the future. That’s what this is—turning over a new leaf, restructuring a few things and putting a brand-new coat of paint on a dominant and incredible brand. It’s chummed the waters, so to speak, and that’s fun to be around.”

NXT 2.0 is set to run it’s Halloween Havoc special show tonight (October 26), with the main event seeing Tommaso Ciampa defend his championship against Bron Breakker. A potential major spoiler for that match has been revealed, which you can see here.

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• Triple H
• NXT 2.0
• shawn michaels
• nxt

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