NXT No Mercy Media Scrum: NXT Europe, Gable Steveson Update, Mustafa Ali’s WWE Release, Jade Cargill Signing, Ratings, CM Punk

NXT head booker Shawn Michaels held a press conference on Thursday to promote this Saturday’s NXT No Mercy event in Bakersfield, California.

Some of the notable highlights included:

• On the topic of NXT Europe, Michaels stated that they are still excited about getting the upcoming new brand underway and launching it in 2024.
• On the topic of using United Kingdom-based talent, Michaels stated that he loved working with them in the now defunct NXT UK brand. Michaels also stated that there were many times that he would bring up the idea to WWE officials about bringing them over to the United States. Michaels also stated that they took pride in what they did there and felt that the integration into NXT was flawless. Michaels also stated that he is the most proud over how many of them are leading things behind-the-scenes in NXT.
• On the topic of Gable Steveson’s current status in NXT, Michaels stated “We certainly have every intention of using Gable. For me, honestly, Gable obviously has a number of outside commitments and it’s just me trying to figure out what’s the best way that I could work with that, with him. I obviously don’t want to get in the way of any of his personal goals. That’s obviously what we’re doing now, just trying to find out…we’ve had him on live events, which have been fantastic down here in South Florida and Central Florida. Just making sure that I know his schedule and get as best organized as we can and then sit down with him and figure out how we want to map things out going into the future. Everything has been fantastic, he’s just sometimes a pretty busy young man and I want to do everything I can to be conscious of that and work with him the best way possible going forward.“
• On the topic of Mustafa Ali’s release from WWE affecting the plans for NXT’s upcoming No Mercy event, Michaels stated “I found out right before he did. I will say this, I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t take us by surprise. That’s one thing I’m learning here is that main roster and NXT are totally separate rosters. I think the world of Mustafa, had a great working relationship with him in the time that he was here, I will miss him. That’s what we do here in NXT. We adjust. The fire drill is something that is a regular thing here in the WWE and certainly here at NXT. I feel we made a great pivot, we adjusted, and he’s an unbelievably creative and talented young man and no doubt his future looks incredibly bright and he’ll be successful. I’m going to miss him and I enjoyed working with him for the time that I did have him here. Now, Trick Williams is the beneficiary of that, and he has the biggest match of his life at No Mercy.“
• On the topic of Jade Cargill’s recent signing with WWE, Michaels stated “Huge, obviously. I think you can tell by this week, just the enormity of her signing. I got to meet with her briefly. Unbelievably, wonderful young lady. Very pleasant young lady. A few days here training, a hard worker. I’ll tell you what, I certainly understand the buzz. She’s an awesome specimen. A striking young lady and such a presence about her. I feel like that is something, she is a young lady tailor-made for the WWE and I think she has an incredibly bright future here, whoever gets her. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I wouldn’t love to have her here in NXT, but wherever she ends up, I have no doubt that she’s going to have great success. If she’s here with us, it’s going to be like it always is, we’re going to utilize her to the best of our ability, try to make it an enjoyable experience for her. She’s looking at what I think is going to be a fantastic experience here in the WWE.“
• On the topic of NXT’s rising viewership numbers and ratings in recent months, Michaels stated that while he’s not a numbers type guy this was something he learned a lot about during his time as a WWE Champion and now as the person running WWE’s NXT brand. Michaels also stated that TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon told him that he wanted the main focus for NXT to be towards the 18-34 demographic because he wanted them to reach out to a younger demographic.
• On the topics of Trick Williams and Tiffany Stratton, Michaels praised both for their hard work in NXT.
• On the topic of NXT’s next media rights deal, Michaels stated that he feels that NXT should be on a younger, hipper network to match the currently youthful feel of the brand and its product.
• On the topic of a future NXT holding a television show or pay-per-view event in Latin America, Michaels stated that is something he would love to do as an idea but also feels that it would be some time before this could potentially happen due to their status as a third and developmental brand in WWE.
• On the topic of CM Punk making a potential return to WWE in the future, Michaels stated “Of course, we’d welcome him here in NXT. My guess is, he would probably want to go to the main roster. I always enjoyed working with Phil. Didn’t get to do it much. I understood him. Whether you want to say there were similarities in us. I can’t lie. We were at TV, and he once pulled out his wallet, on the spot, an autograph that I had signed for him in a hotel that he still had. I’ve always liked him. I understand he’s a different kind of cat and can sometimes be challenging to get along with people, but that is probably why I like him, because I suffer from the same thing. Obviously, that’s for people to decide higher up on the food chain than I am. He’s a guy that does numbers and makes money. That would be a risk-reward ratio that from a company standpoint, they’d have to consider. When it comes to, ‘would we take him in NXT and have him on our television?’ Are you kidding me? Of course I would. I just don’t think anybody would let me. Who wouldn’t take that kind of star power? I don’t know. If I get in trouble for that, I’ll let you know.“

Full NXT No Mercy media scrum audio: Fightful.com

Source: PWInsider.com, Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, & 4