NXT Vengeance Day 2023 Media Call: Royal Rumble, Meiko Satomura & Ilya Dragunov, Mandy Rose, Vince McMahon

Shawn Michaels held a media call on Thursday to promote this Saturday’s NXT Vengeance Day 2023 event at WWE’s Performance Center in Charlotte North Carolina.

Some of the notable highlights included Michaels stating that WWE is currently expecting an attendance of around 5,000 for this weekend’s NXT event, which he stated would be close to the capacity. Michaels stated that everyone in NXT is both excited and nervous about this upcoming event and there will be a new crew running this event.

On the topic of William Regal’s return to WWE, Michaels stated that he feels it is great that Regal is back in the company although he has not visited WWE’s Performance Center that much since his return due to his current backstage work for WWE’s main roster.

On the topic of NXT talent being involved in this past January’s Royal Rumble 2023 event, Michaels stated that those decisions were made by WWE officials running the main roster brands. He also stated that he did give some recommendations for certain talent with the focus from WWE officials being on female NXT talent for this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble match.

On the topic of main roster talent making appearances in NXT, Michaels stated that the process has been him making requests that have been granted most of the time by WWE officials.

On the topic of the comparisons between Grayson Walker and himself, Michaels stated that he can relate to those comparisons and he has given him advice for the attitude of his current character. In regards to actual comparisons, Michaels stated that Carmello Hayes would be the most similar to himself and someone he saw as a potential big star and given a big push as quickly as possible.

On the topic of the current status of Meiko Satomura and Ilya Dragunov, Michaels stated:

“Much like several months ago, we want them here and love having them here. A lot of it is availability, a lot of it is, as you said, visa issues. A lot of it, also, that is a big career move and life difference. Those are all things we want people to consider before they make that move. Nothing would thrill me more than to have Ilja and Meiko here on a regular basis. They are phenomenal talent. We’re thrilled about Gallus being back and Tyler (Bate) being back. As far as who is to come in the future, a lot of that is up to the talent themselves and, also, there are visa issues, but we’re waiting on a long-term commitment from some people and we understand that’s not an easy decision to make.”

On the topic of the current status of NXT Europe, Michaels stated that they are currently working on setting up its infrastructure and seeking venues and dates to hold tapings and events. Michaels stated that he hopes to have a new announcement regarding the status of the brand within the next few months.

On the topic of Mandy Rose’s release from WWE this past December, Michaels stated:

“Obviously, not the ideal situation. I will say, if I’m allowed to say it for the record, I didn’t fire her. I can’t fire anybody. Only thing correct about any of that is that I handle creative. It was unfortunate. I think Mandy was fantastic for us. I absolutely enjoyed working with her. She was a phenomenal champion. We would have loved things to have gone different and been able to build our story with Roxanne, but I was put in a position to where I had to make a call creatively, and so we did that. It’s one of the things that I’ve learned, doing this job, nothing comes before the brand. We have to put those things forward and that’s what we did. Roxanne was certainly where we were going regardless, we just went a few weeks earlier than we expected to. The great thing is, now we’re right back on course and I will say, honestly, I think the world of Mandy Rose, she was nothing but phenomenal with us, we’ll miss her, but we’re thrilled about Roxanne Perez being the NXT Women’s Champion and taking us into the future.”

On the topic of if Vince McMahon has had any creative involvement with NXT since his return to WWE, Michaels stated:

“He has not, and I don’t think (he will). I’d imagine that Vince probably has bigger fish to fry than us down here in NXT. One of the things I enjoy about my job down here is the plausible deniability that I’m allowed to have. I don’t ask a lot of questions because I don’t want to know the answers to some of them. Even back when we were here [with Vince in charge], he was very good with us down here. They helped us in a certain way and guided us in how they wanted it to go, but after that, it was hands-off. Hunter, the same thing. They’re very good with us down here in NXT. They understand it’s a different environment down here, so we’re very fortunate to kind of be independent, no matter who is running the ship up there in Stamford, they allow us a great deal of freedom down here, which we appreciate.”

On the topic of which match from NXT’s Vengeance Day 2023 event he is looking forward the most, Michaels stated that his choice is the Carmelo Hayes vs. Apollo Crews match.

Full media call audio: F4WOnline.com

Source: PWInsider.com, Fightful.com 1 & 2