Shawn Michaels: WWE NXT 2.0 Rebrand Would Have Been Easier If Triple H Was Around

Shawn Michaels has admitted WWE's relaunch of NXT 2.0 would have been easier had Triple H been available to oversee it.

Triple H underwent a successful procedure following a cardiac event in September, just weeks before NXT was due to re-debut as NXT 2.0, with Michaels stepping in to lead the WWE developmental brand in The Game's absence.

Michaels has now spoken on the process behind NXT 2.0 and admits he didn't realise he would be the guy responsible, having only initially joined NXT to help put his old friend.

Speaking with Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo, Michaels said: "I think the biggest thing was that I didn't know I was gonna be the one having to do everything. I was going to hopefully assist Hunter and put into place what he wanted us to put into place.

"It came a bit quick obviously. For the last 35 years that I've been with the WWE when they make a decision, it's done, it's quick. They are so efficient, so quick and they just don't sit and wait around. I think that was probably the biggest adjustment. I think we had probably three weeks, and we didn't have a whole lot of information. By the time we got the information it was coming down by the last week and we went ahead and applied everything that we could.

"It's fun, it's a nervous excitement. You don't really know what to expect but you're looking at something where there's no roadmap to doing it so you have to try and figure it out. I still enjoy that kind of stuff, Hunter and I, much like the DX days, went out there not having any idea what we were gonna do, we were just gonna go out there and have fun and enjoy doing it. That's how this kind of started from the get-go.

"It would have been a lot easier had he been there the entire time to assist that's for sure."

Michaels would also provide an update on Triple H's condition, joking that his best friend has probably started to enjoy his 'well-deserved break' after years of non-stop work.

"Most of it is me bothering him to be perfectly honest. He has worked so much over the last several years and I don't think he understood that it becomes your normal. For him to step away for a little bit, look, that takes getting used to. I went through it obviously, I am one of the rare people that was ready to do it and embrace it. But when it just happens out of the blue and you're not expecting it; for him to go a hundred miles per hour to nothing was an adjustment.

"But I think he is, especially around this time of year, he's now starting to realize like 'hey this isn't too bad.' I think he's bordering enjoying himself now! To be perfectly honest it's a well-deserved break for him, for sure."

With thanks to Denise Salcedo for providing the transcribed quotes!