On February 4th, Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer reported that WWE would begin allowing NXT stars to appear for select independent promotions.
This seemed to be confirmed later that day when Booker T’s promotion, Reality of Wrestling, announced that Ivy Nile would be making her debut with company on February 11th.
“Reality of Wrestling is taking the roster to the NEXT Level! We are proud to announce that we’ll be working with NXT to bring our fans incredible match ups they can’t see anywhere else.
Don’t miss the chance to see NXT’s @ivynile_wwe in action on Sat, Feb 11th in Texas City.”
However, ROW also pushed back on the original report, implying that they were the only indie company WWE would be sending talent to.
Shawn Michaels denies NXT stars can appear at indie shows
Now, Shawn Michaels has quashed the reports even further at the post-show press conference.
The man in charge of the developmental brand told Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful that there is “no talk” of their talent working indie dates and that Ivy Nile’s appearance with ROW is a one-off.
“Shawn Michaels tells me there is no talk of NXT talent working select indie dates.
“Booker T asked them if he could have Ivy Nile for ROW, and she’s going to Reality of Wrestling for a one-shot date.”
Shawn Michaels tells me there is no talk of NXT talent working select indie dates.
Booker T asked them if he could have Ivy Nile for ROW, and she's going to Reality of Wrestling for a one-shot date.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) February 5, 2023
Although NXT wrestlers won’t be appearing on the indie scene at this time, WWE has appeared to loosen their restrictions on wrestlers appearing outside of the company in recent months.
Most notably, Shinsuke Nakamura was allowed to appear for Pro Wrestling NOAH where he defeated The Great Muta in the final singles outing for the demonic alter-ego of Keiji Muto. Interestingly, this deal was initially rejected while Vince McMahon was in charge of creative, and was only approved after Triple H took on the role of Chief Content Officer.