WWE Hall of Famer and NXT executive Shawn Michaels spoke with the San Antonio Express-News about various topics, including the strength and depth of the NXT women’s division.
Michaels said, “Well, one it honestly wasn’t a focus, to be perfectly honest. It was just something — and again, that’s what I think we’re so proud of is. The reality is, we didn’t try to have the best women’s roster and the deepest deepest women’s roster in all of wrestling. It is just something that kind of just naturally happened. As we began in NXT and WWE to to reach out to all of these D1 athletes — I don’t know. It was just something that over time, you could just see how quickly that some of the young ladies were adapting to this and understanding it and quite honestly becoming very good very quickly. And I think as you see the success of people like Tiffany Stratton, who came in and was a part of of NXT, and then how successful she’s been on the main roster. I think that encouraged a lot of our young ladies. Obviously they’re hungry, they’re passionate, they’re extremely competitive as well. And look, NXT has just been a huge beneficiary of this women’s division just being so strong. But I can honestly say it wasn’t something we set out to do. It is just something that the women have kind of taken over and controlled for the last year and a half. But I will tell you this, it has certainly inspired uh the men’s side of our division. So now there’s an incredibly healthy competition going on in NXT to see who can have the strongest division coming up in in 2026.”
On the decision to call someone up to the main roster:
“Well again, obviously, as we’ve talked about numerous times. NXT really is the only wrestling brand out there that whose job really it is to do everything they can to get talent over, but then lose them. Not have the ability to create stars and then have them help you — to be able to monetize that in a rating standpoint, and in a financial standpoint. Our job is to is to feed the main roster, Raw and Smackdown. That is the the juggernaut of the WWE. Our main brands, Raw and Smackdown. So NXT’s role again is like the NCAA. It’s honestly to get um our athletes as ready and as clean and as and as polished as we can before going up to the main roster. And all that list of people. That list of superstars that you mentioned are all people who I think anybody could argue are kind of main roster ready, as they say. And that’s just proof of how successful NXT has been just in the past, as you see the Raw and Smackdown rosters with 95% of the people coming from NXT. You can see it’s going to continue to be filled with NXT people in the future. Because um it’s just producing like gangbusters right now.”
On Wren Sinclair:
“We were just actually talking about her the other day. Wren is one of those people that, from a creative standpoint, is a joy to get to work with. Because there isn’t anything that she can’t do. Wren is somebody who has really understood the entertainment aspect of this job while also doing a wonderful job of mastering the inside the ring work, and having credibility and a belief in one’s ability, But then she can go back and do backstages, and she can be serious one minute and then just incredibly funny in the next. So we’re very excited about what we have here coming up in the very near future for Wren and a number of other people. Because she’s been somebody who’s kind of been on the wings there, just right behind that next wave of young ladies coming up. And now in 2026, I can tell you Wren Sinclair I think is going to have a breakout year. We’re very excited about that.”
On whether he imagined he would have this kind of impact outside the ring:
“Yeah, no. No. Again, it’s something that — there are times here and there when my wife and I can sit down and talk. And you know, we we liken it to a story we used to read our kids called The Three Trees. But you kind of have this idea for the second half of your life. In mine, it had something to do with the wrestling school and San Antonio. You do it for a little bit, but then that season is gone. And then 20 some-odd years later it happens, but it’s in a different way, in a different place, and on a much bigger scale than you ever possibly imagined. And that’s where I’m at today, is in a place that I never thought I could possibly be. I will say that it’s something that I love, something that I enjoy, but something that I understand. That’s very important that I’m — I don’t know, good at my job, responsible. You’re talking about the future of this business, and you’re talking about a number of young men and young women that pass through our doors at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. And making sure just like John [Cena] wants to do on his retirement tour, is leave this business better than when you got into it. That’s something that I want to do as well. And having the opportunity to do that at the Performance Center and with NXT and with these superstars of the future. It’s a role that I take very seriously, and something that I appreciate very much. And hopefully, you know, will do a good job for many years to come.”
You can check out Michaels’ comments in the video below.
