Shawn Michaels has a simple philosophy driving his work at the WWE Performance Center, and it has very little to do with what happens inside the ring. Speaking with Big Gold Belt Media, the NXT head of creative explained that his primary goal when working with talent is not to produce the best wrestlers in the world but to develop good people first.
"You're not trying to make people into the best pro wrestlers in the world. You're making them into good people," Michaels said.
Much of his day-to-day work, he explained, centers on the personal challenges that come with being young, uprooted, and under pressure in an unfamiliar environment. The NXT roster is full of people navigating far more than what appears on screen each week.
"A lot of these people are very young. They're moving from home, making a new life. It's more about just trying to help them navigate those struggles," Michaels said.
He pointed to Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes as examples he uses to illustrate that career paths in wrestling are rarely straight lines, and that leaving the company does not mean a story is over. "Not everybody has the road I had, which is in the WWE from the time you're 23 and growing up in there. You may have to go away, but that doesn't mean it's over. There's a lot of different ways to get to the same destination," Michaels said.
The WWE Hall of Famer also addressed how his Christian faith factors into his leadership style, making clear that he leads by example rather than by preaching.
"I simply try to live it and not talk about it that much," he said. He was equally clear about the limits of his role. "Not focusing on their salvation. I'm not the one that's going to save them. Jesus is the salvation, not Shawn Michaels. I can barely save myself from stumbling over myself."
His goal for NXT as a workplace is straightforward. "If they struggle in areas of their life, I want them, if they're comfortable, to be able to allow me to help them with it. Or if I can't help them, get them to people who can, who are far more skilled than I am at it."
