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WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels appeared on ESPN Radio in NYC this afternoon,'
Michaels opened up by announcing Peter Rosenberg will be doing the play by play for the WWE EVOLVE series when it debuts this Wednesday. He said it was big for them to have Rosenberg in WWE. He said Rosenberg was a big deal and they are very fortunate to have him being a part of EVOLVE.
Michaels said EVOLVE will be WWE's newest show and will focus on the talents who are making their way to NXT. It's the next, next generation of talents who are training in The Performance Center.. They will be mixed with the WWE ID talents to be the competitors for the show. This will be where WWE talents of the future will come from in the years and decades to come. These talents will grow into the NXT stars and hopefully the Raw and Smackdown talents of the future.
In talking about what they are looking for in these talents, Michaels said that people now have an understanding of the athleticism that it takes to do what they do in WWE. Then, you are looking for a charisma or a presence. You either have it or you don't. Some they can it immediately and some develop it in front of them over time. There's a few boxes they are looking to check. He put over the legends who comes down on a regular basis like Mickie James, Booker T and The Undertaker, among others. These talents get the chance to show them what they have and when you have legends like that helping you, you improve ten-fold.
Michaels was asked how much he actually misses being physically in the ring at this point. He said it's a transfer of emotions in that he gets that same level of satisfaction he used to get in the ring helping others learning and succeeding. He's so comfortable backstage now that he actually is more nervous now going out in front of the crowd than ever before. He said when the light bulb goes off for talents, it means the world. He said that the match where it all clicked for Roxanne Perez and then seeing her be on fire as a talent is such a great feeling. Watching Oba Femi and Trick Williams become true stars is a great moment.
Michaels was asked when his moment was. He said that every five years, you'd think you had a handle on things and then five years later, you'd feel the same. He said one moment was being in the ring with The Brainbusters, guys who was comfortable with who they were and seeing who he wanted to be. Another example was being the Intercontinental Champion in the ring with Bret Hart at Survivor Series 1992 and knowing what he wanted. Sometimes in the 35-40 year old range, you get to the point in the business where you get it. You become more mature as an athlete and everything in the game slows down so you can figure it out. You never stop learning as the game keeps changing.
Michaels was asking about how much he called matches with those he was familiar with. He said very little. He and Undertaker were watching back their Wrestlemania 25 match. He said they spent so much time in the locker room together and you were always watching each other's matches. They had little "sign posts" of what they wanted to do but the rest was just being there. He said it was the same with HHH. You could almost sense or feel where they were going to be at a certain time. You've either been in there so long or have watched each other for so long, you could know what and where things would go.
Michaels said it was the same with he and Bret Hart, even when they didn't get along. What was most important to them was the match. They all watched each other's moves and movements. There isn't anyone who doesn't want to go out there and not have a good match, no match how you might feel about each other. They were asked if they could still do that today if they were physically able to return to the ring. Michaels said they might talk about the focus of the specific story but they'd be there for each other in the ring no matter what.
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