With NXT 2.0 now being a year old, Shawn Michaels has given his two cents on which NXT Superstars have grown the most over the past twelve months.
Premiering on 14 September 2021, NXT 2.0 drew a mixed reaction throughout its one-year run, effectively ending on 13 September 2022 when, at the end of the brand’s one-year anniversary special, a new logo was unveiled that harked back to the glory days of black-and-gold.
Throughout this period, a number of new talents burst onto the scene who, again, were met with a mixed reception from the audience. Among them were top NXT stars like Bron Breakker, The Creed Brothers, and Cora Jade, alongside yet-to-be established prospects in Von Wagner, Malik Blade and Edris Enofe, and Lash Legend.
If you ask Shawn Michaels, who’s currently WWE’s Senior Vice President, Talent Development Creative, certain NXT acts are more cut out for it than others. ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ revealed to San Antonio Express-News the names of the NXT stars he believes have grown the most:
“I think Bron [Breakker], obviously, it is in his blood. Some think he has cheated. He gets a free pass, but you take someone like Tony D’Angelo or The Creed Brothers, who have done tremendous work, and I will say this, I am a little biased, but Tiffany Stratton is someone who you see visibly get better each time she is out there.”
Of the names mentioned by the two-time WWE Hall of Famer, they’ve all been in the headlines over the last twelve months. In terms of measuring success, Breakker is in his second reign as NXT Champion, while Brutus and Julius Creed held the NXT Tag Team Championships after winning the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
NXT is expected to revert fully back to a black-and-gold NXT under the creative direction of new WWE Chief Content Officer, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.