WWE President Nick Khan addressed concerns about the company's aging top stars and explained how a conversation with Shawn Michaels led to NXT hitting the road, directly accelerating the rise of Oba Femi, Trick Williams, and Je'Von Evans.
Speaking on the Bill Simmons Podcast, Khan said the issue came into focus shortly after WrestleMania last year.
A year ago, right after WrestleMania last year, Triple H and I got together and we said, 'Let's take a look at the future, let's look at our top male superstars,'" Khan explained.
He laid out the reality of WWE's current top tier.
Cena, it was obviously his retirement year. We have, in some order, Roman, Cody, Punk, Seth, Brock. They're all 40 years or older. So we said, 'Alright, we've gotta make sure we're preparing for the future here.'
Shawn Michaels Identified the Problem
Khan said the answer came from a visit to the WWE Performance Center, where Michaels and Matt Bloom run NXT day-to-day.
The key issue was that performing in a studio environment denied young talent the authentic crowd feedback they needed to grow.
Doing it from the studio every week, you don't get the authentic fan response that young wrestlers need to know if their work is working or not," Khan said, paraphrasing Michaels. "Randy Orton shows up in St. Louis, he's getting all the cheers in the world, he shows up in a different city, he doesn't. You need to know how to react to that.
Michaels made the ask simple: take NXT on the road. Khan said WWE delivered within a month.
We came back to Shawn, 'Let's take it on the road starting in a month,' or whatever it was.
Immediate Results on the Main Roster
Khan directly connected that decision to the fast-track promotions that followed.
Then you saw the quick acceleration of Oba Femi, Trick Williams, Je'Von Evans, soon to be others coming up from NXT.
All three have since been called up to the main roster and are booked for WrestleMania 42.
Femi faces Brock Lesnar, Williams challenges Sami Zayn for the United States Championship, and Evans competes in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Title.
Michaels has spoken openly about the NXT pipeline as well. He recently revealed he actually pushed back against Evans' call-up, saying he wanted to keep the high-flyer in NXT for at least another six months before WWE pulled him to the main roster ahead of schedule.
