When he’s not starring in new movies or making the occasional WWE television appearance, Shawn Michaels has been enjoying his retirement from the ring as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center. For nearly three years “The Heartbreak Kid” has been working with WWE’s developmental talent as they rise up the ranks of NXT in the hopes of being called-up to the main roster. And based on NXTs consistently outstanding quality and the number of wrestlers who have managed to find a solid spot on the main roster, it’s clear Michaels and the rest of the trainers are doing something right.
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In a recent interview with Comicbook.com, Michaels talked about how much he enjoys the job.
“It’s a blast,” Michaels said. “I pinch myself every day that I’m 53 and never had to grow up a day in my life. The talent that we get to work with and I get to work with on a daily basis is phenomenal.
“Everybody at the PC is just a phenomenal group,” he added. “[Triple H] has created great culture there and a mindset that is just beyond any possible imagination that I think people would believe that the wrestling business could become. It’s an absolute joy to go to work every day, and that speaks to Matt Bloom and Sara Amato and Terry Taylor and all the other coaches there, and of course all the talent. Everybody comes in and everybody pulls the rope in the same direction and it’s hard not to enjoy that.”
As a coach, one challenge Michaels faces when working with the wrestlers is dealing with each of their individual levels of experience. Some walk in with a decade or more of wrestling under their belt on the independent scene, while others are stepping into the ring for the first time.
But regardless of how much in-ring time each wrestler has, Michaels said the one mental stumbling block almost every single one of them fall into is the idea that the WWE will try to change them before they step in front of a camera.
“I think if there’s a common [problem], it is just that [their] guard sort of being up and being worried about maybe perhaps trying too hard or thinking that we’re going to change you. The terms ‘coaching’ and ‘developmental,’ … they can come off and have a negative connotation to it, to imply that you’re in need of something or what you were doing wasn’t right.
“One of the first things I tell them is, ‘Look, chill, the reason you’re here is because clearly whatever it was you were doing was working, or worked in a way that certainly caught someone’s eye. So the last thing I want to do is to get you to change stuff.’”
Michaels mentioned some wrestlers he has worked closely with recently include Adam Cole, Velveteen Drean, Kyle O’Reilly and Matt Riddle. Cole will challenge Johnny Gargano for the vacated NXT Championship in the main event of NXT TakeOver: New York on April 5, while Riddle and Dream will wrestle each other on the same card for the NXT North American Championship.
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