HBK Shawn Michaels Shares Excitement For WWE NXT Women's Title Match At Vengeance Day

The NXT Vengeance Day PLE is set to take place this Sunday, and "NXT" head of creative Shawn Michaels is very excited about the show. So much so that he couldn't stop talking about how excited he, and the rest of the "NXT" roster, is when he stopped by the "Battleground Podcast" to promote the PLE. And perhaps the match he's most looking forward to is Lyra Valkyria's NXT Women's Title defense against Roxanne Perez, in some part due to how far Michaels feels Valkyria has come since winning the title last year.

"I think Lyra Valkyria, I think she's been an impressive champion," Michaels said. "I think it's somebody who I think came in from the UK, sort of...it's like a slow burn with Lyra. Over time, people began to really appreciate her ability, her skill, and I think, obviously, her running across Becky Lynch was huge for her and her career...When you come in and you have a time when you're trying to come into your own, but you're also sort of dealing with people that you looked up to, it's a different dynamic than what you're used to. 

"You have a respect, and you also...whether you're fanboying or fangirling, you have this admiration that you had when you were younger for these people. But now you believe it's your time. And I think that it's been a great growth process to watch in Lyra as she's gone through that with Becky, and now coming in the road as champion."

As for Perez, Michaels noted that the former NXT Women's Champion had undergone her own journey to this match that saw her attitude change from her initial persona in "NXT." The respective journeys, particularly by two talents who are still in the beginning stages of their careers, sums up the current "NXT" for Michaels and makes him that much more excited to see Valkyria and Perez go at it.

"I think, when everything is said and done, one of the things I really enjoy and fascinates me about 'NXT' is you're talking about incredibly young people," Michaels said. "Maybe an average age of 24 years old sometimes. And again, so many of the ups and downs, the wins and the losses, the heartbreaks and the victories that they have to do deal with, the longness and how they manage that on a national level, and a global level very early on in their careers. It's a great deal of pressure to be under as you're going out there.

"That's something that Roxanne has faced a great deal of here, in the last year. You can see it coming out of her Tuesday night on the USA Network on our show. Roxanne, she's starting to show a different side of herself, a side that's getting a little less patient, not so much the girl, the sweet girl next door. So again, for me, that's what I'm excited for Sunday at Vengeance Day, to watch these two."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Battleground Podcast" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription