Shawn Michaels Receives New Promotion From WWE

The Heartbreak Kid is moving up in WWE once again. Shawn Michaels, one of the biggest stars in WWE’s history, has been running things for NXT for some time now, taking over after the departure of Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Now, Triple H is running creative for all of WWE, and he’s handing more responsibility to Michaels moving forward into this new era of the entire company, as well as NXT.

According to CBS Sports, Michaels has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative. Michaels was previously listed as Vice President of Talent Development Creative in an August press release. The report from CBS states that Michaels will continue to oversee the creative direction of NXT 2.0, and will also be in charge of the development of talent in the brand. 

Part of those development and creative responsibilities include the expansion of NXT into Europe next year. NXT UK was folded into NXT 2.0 at the start of the month, with the talent from the United Kingdom either coming to the brand flagship in Florida or being released. The plan now is to launch NXT Europe in 2023.

“It’s just a natural expansion of things because that brand, since 2016, has been fantastic,” Michaels told of the NXT Europe launch next year. “Yes, it’s been quiet and underneath the radar, but I don’t think you’ll find anybody that wouldn’t argue that it’s been a real quality product from its existence.” 

“This has been a goal of Hunter’s for quite some time, and I think clearly with what has gone on recently with him taking on creative, he felt that now would be a great time to have the ability to do that,” he continued. “NXT UK was one of the first steps in that process.”

There isn’t a firm launch date for NXT Europe just yet, but WWE does plan to begin the new brand in 2023, covering the entire continent rather than just sticking to the United Kingdom. NXT UK effectively ended on September 4th with the Worlds Collide event, which saw the NXT 2.0 Championships unified with the NXT UK Championships.