WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels recently spoke with ESPN at this link. Below are highlights from the interview:
What he enjoys most about being a Coach at the WWE Performance Center:
“For me to have a huge influence or impact on anybody is probably not a healthy thing. It’s 30 years later and I still have no idea why this company still has me employed, or is letting me talk or instruct or coach younger talent, because it’s obvious that it’s not good for the wrestling business in any way shape or form. They’re all going to be incredibly bad influences — and hopefully, that’ll all be because of me.”
“I always wondered, after wrestling for 30 years, and in a sense never having to have a real job or really have to work a day in my life, what I would do after I was done doing that. Then I get to stumble into this job at the PC, and clearly I still do not have to grow up, which is phenomenal. You get to coach a bunch of other young men who you are encouraging not to ever have to grow up, and you can’t beat it.”
The future of WWE:
“I know, on one hand, us old guys are always getting asked to come back and do stuff. But I really am one of those guys that want [to let the young guys take the spotlight]. I’m thrilled with the direction of the WWE and NXT, and I want the business to move on into the future.”
He and Triple H working to shape the future with WWE NXT, the evolution of their friendship:
“It’s great. For he and I, other than the fact that he’s in a suit all the time… it’s very much the same relationship we had all those years on the road, that we sort of did in the car. Now we get to do it, in some form, in a much bigger, corporate setting. It’s honestly still the same guys, sitting around and driving up and down the road — that’s what we do. It’s just that now, somebody is actually driving us, because he doesn’t actually drive himself anymore.
“We’re sitting in the back, throwing out ideas, writing shows, coming up with creative things of that nature. Look, you cannot beat it — honestly. I get paid to hang out with my buddy, and it is extremely tough to complain about that. I still have absolutely no idea how I’ve stumbled into the unbelievably blessed life that I have, but I try not think about it too much, for fear I might wake up one day.”
