Shawn Michaels hasn’t wrestled since 2010, but the WWE Hall of Famer has evidently discovered how to feel young again in the wrestling industry.
Michaels has become more and more involved with the WWE Performance Center in Florida over the last year, and the subject of HBK as a coach with the young talent came up during an interview that Triple H conducted with USA Today this week.
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Regarding Michaels, Triple H said, “”He kind of came into the picture like ‘Yeah, let me see, maybe I’ll come by and stick my nose in.’ And he’s all in now.”
Rumors started circulating last year that Michaels was interested in getting involved at the WWE Performance Center, perhaps even moving his family to Florida to do so. He now has an official role at the center, teaching the final class (of four) alongside Terry Taylor to WWE’s developmental talent.
Triple H continued, “These kids, I say it all the time, especially for the guys who have been around the business a long time. Going to the Performance Center is like going to the fountain of youth. It’s inspiring.”
“There’s 100 talent down there that are hungry and busting their ass and in the gym and in the ring. Shawn went down there, and I think like many people do, they go down there, they see it, and it’s infectious. He got bit by the bug again. And he’s like ‘man, I love this, I want to be involved more.’ Then it was ‘Hey, I think I might go on the live event this weekend.’ And then ‘I think I’m going to go on this out-of-state tour.’ Now he’s doing all kinds of stuff,” Triple H said.
Michaels recently has been hitting the road with the NXT brand, and he will be featured tomorrow night during NXT Takeover in his hometown of San Antonio. Michaels and Gargano will reportedly be having an “ab-off” during the show, though it’s not known if it will be in front of the crowd or backstage.
Either way, there’s no doubt the future of WWE at the performance center are in good hands being trained by one of the greatest of all time. Though Michaels doesn’t get to actively compete any longer, he still gets to be around the business. And who knows, perhaps the proximity to the ring will convince Michaels at some point that he should have another match.
We can dream, can’t we?
