Shawn Michaels Talks Trying To Help Talent Find The "It" Factor
As seen in the video above, Shawn Michaels was at the new WWE UK Performance Center and spoke with Iain Chambers about his experience developing NXT talent as a coach. Michaels has been training NXT talent with WWE since late 2016, first beginning at the PC in Orlando, Florida but now assisting the NXT UK roster at the PC in London. Michaels explained how it's sometimes a challenge to receive fair, objective criticism in the competitive pro wrestling business but the NXT coaches aim to keep the playing field fair.
"Honestly, you go through a lot of trial and error – a lot of wandering around in the dark with no direction – and we were hoping to eliminate a lot of that," Michaels explained. "I don't think through any fault of the wrestling business, so to speak. It's an industry we're all sort of competing with one another. It's sorta tough to get objective, fair direction here and there. I'm not doing it anymore, I'm not your competition. None of us coaches are your competition. You're all going to compete against each other but we're here to give you all the same directions."
With an unparalleled career behind him, "The Showstopper," Shawn Michaels is hoping to take the decades of experience he's received in the WWE and repackage them in to lessons for his pupils. Michaels believes that you first have to help a performer feel more comfortable with what they bring to the table before you're able to access their full potential. Only then can you truly see if that performer has the indescribable "it" factor.
"That's the one thing I feel like we don't have here, is somebody that can, again, show them – or maybe find in them – what's going to be able to get them to that main event at WrestleMania," Michaels said. "I don't really know what it is that I do, I just try to go around and I try to find that diamond.
"I think there are sometimes they don't really know what their fullest potential is," Michaels continued, "and you've got to get in there and you've got to find out who they are and understand, and help them be understanding and be comfortable with the fact that, it may be your normal, but to us it's going to be a special story or there might be something there. So, a lot of it is just, again, doing whatever I can to – I don't know – that's why they call it the 'it' factor because nobody can take describe it."
Michaels first match in eight years was last November at WWE Crown Jewel, where he reunited with long-time tag team partner, Triple H, to reform D-Generation X and compete against The Brothers of Destruction, Kane and The Undertaker. Michaels recently had an interview with Sky Sports and he revealed to them that he no longer wants to wrestle.
You can listen to the full interview in the tweet above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Iain Chambers with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.