WWE Hall of Famer and Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Rick Ucchino on a number of topics, including the rise of NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez on the brand.
Michaels said, “You wanna give people the opportunity to really let themselves go, and a lot of times, for that to happen with young talent, being a bad guy is one of those things that is just more freeing. It gives you an opportunity to, in your own mind, at least do things you might not do as a good guy, even though they might translate later on down the road to be the perfect attribute for you to have as a good guy, you weren’t able to find that until you walked on the dark side, if that makes any sense. The matches that she has had on the last several PLE’s have been arguably the best matches on the show, and that’s because Roxanne Perez is in what they call the zone, she’s confident in what she’s doing, she feels comfortable and she’s somebody that’s focused and ready to go, I couldn’t be more proud of her.”