During a recent appearance on the “Instinct Culture with Denise Salcedo” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels revealed which WWE NXT 2.0 talents have impressed him the most, how it’s been working with Bron Breakker, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On which WWE NXT 2.0 talents that have impressed him: “Bron (Breakker), Tony (D’Angelo), all the WarGames guys, Carmello (Hayes) and Grayson (Waller), the guys that we threw into the deep end right away and have performed so well. Of course, it’s a huge testament to our 1.0ers, they have been faithful, they have been patient, they have been understanding but at the same time, those young talents have gone out there and done an amazing job. Gigi (Dolin) and Jacy (Jayne), again being thrust into a very prominent role right away, when they came in they had some experience but I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them, it was just a matter of being able to find the right person and then all of a sudden Mandy became available.
“Bron and Tony have done phenomenally. The Creed Brothers, those boys they are bad, they are all bad, they are legit just bad dudes but to have them come to the back and just be so excited, hugging you and just being so jazzed about what they are doing out there at such an early time it’s infectious and so we’re having more and more of those people coming along. When it’s that fun for them, it’s fun for us as well. Even if it doesn’t go perfectly they are doing such an amazing job. Tony D’Angelo has probably had 6 matches, live on television, everything else has been reps in the warehouse, that’s staggering. To be in the main event, to have to understand commercial breaks, the end of the show, and going off, that is a lot to put on young men and women. They are doing it because they rise to the challenge, they like that pressure situation because, again, that’s why they got into sports for.”
On working with Bron Breakker: “He’s a wonderful combination of his dad and his uncle, but there is a purity there, he’s still an innocent, excited, enthusiastic young man and that energy again is infectious. There is believability, he’s not playing a part, he’s being who he is. I have been crushed by that young man coming back and hugging me in the back because he is really excited and just enthused about doing this. It’s just off the charts, but again this just comes from family. I am just speculating, but I think they’ve helped him to understand that if you’re smart this could be an unbelievable life, have a real future for yourself and the family that you might want to have, all of those things and he understands that it’s all right here before him.
“At the same time, while he’s being fun and excited and enjoying what he’s doing, I think he understands that at the same time he is a professional, he’s an athlete that wants to be good at the job he chose to do. He really does put in the time to not just rest on his laurels, I mean let’s face it I think at this point he can easily coast or not try as hard but instead, he takes the responsibility of ‘I appreciate this role you guys are putting me in, I wanna make the most of it and I want more.’ He tries to lead in the locker room as well, and I think that is a fantastic thing and that comes from guys like Pete Dunne, Tommaso Ciampa, telling him about that as he’s going on this journey.”
