Shawn Michaels Reflects On Decision To Launch WWE NXT 2.0

Two time WWE Hall of Famer and Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels reflected on NXT's past year in an interview with MySanAntonio.com. "It was all very sudden for all of us," said Michaels of the shift from NXT Black and Gold to NXT 2.0. "It was an event where we had to quickly make a lot of changes and get a lot of things accomplished ... It was a good opportunity for us to come together as a team, and learn and grow together. I will say one of the greatest things I had is the phenomenal team that Hunter put together previously, and I have a lot of great people around me, Matt Bloom, Johnny Russo and numerous others."

One of the biggest changes for NXT 2.0 was having lesser known and inexperienced talent featured each week on USA Network. "We had 75 percent of the roster who had just graduated college the year before and had never stepped foot inside a wrestling ring," explained Michaels. "These are young men and women who had to learn on live television for the last 12 months and that is unheard of in any generation. They all stepped up to the challenge and took a lot of hits on the way. A lot of us did."

Through all the growing pains of the last year, both in-ring and production wise, Michaels sees the hard work paying off and is excited for the future of both NXT and WWE. In addition, Michaels is beyond proud of how talents like Bron Breakker, Tony D'Angelo, Tiffany Stratton and others responded to being expected to swim when tossed into the deep end of the pool. "What we have accomplished here in the last year is nothing short of a miracle in my opinion," said Michaels.