While NXT is first and foremost a place to develop new professional wrestlers – even if Nick Khan and company have also tasked Shawn Michaels with also getting the ratings up ahead of a future media rights deal – the brand has long served a secondary feature of helping to rehab the careers of talents who have maybe fallen out of favor on the main roster in order to spin off their career into the future.

It worked with Finn Balor, twice now, worked wonders for Drew McIntyre after his return from the indies, and now looks like the perfect spot to get Dominik Mysterio the televised ring time he really needs to push his career forward while adding a singles title to his resume.

Asked if NXT is being positioned as a main roster rehabilitation center on WrestleBinge, Michaels noted that bringing down main event talent can be just as beneficial to the developmental stars as to the stars working with them.

“Yeah, absolutely. Look, I will go back to Finn Balor. I was so happy to get to work with him when he came back to NXT again, and same thing with Apollo (Crews) and Mustafa Ali. I’m telling you, Baron Corbin is another guy. The one thing that I love is that a lot of times, you go up to the main roster, and again, it is fantastic; that is everybody’s goal. Having been there, I understand it. It’s everything that you want. You want to go out there, have a chance to be a part of a WrestleMania; possibly headline a WrestleMania, stand in front of a stadium with 80,000 people screaming your name is what we all get into this line of work for. That and to make a really good living. Sometimes doing that comes with a lot of stress, a lot of focus, a lot of anxiety, and sometimes we forsake the fun and the enjoyment of that. One of the things that I so much enjoy about the guys and girls that come back here from the main roster is that we bring that passion back to them,” Shawn Michaels said via Fightful.

“Once again, they’re around a younger environment. They’re around a place where enjoyment and fun, and passion are what it’s all about here in NXT. NXT is where it’s fresh, and it’s new, and it’s pure. It isn’t all about the money and headlining premium live events and standing at WrestleMania because that’s not gonna happen here in NXT. Yes, you’re gonna have success, you’re gonna make some money, but this is where you learn, you enjoy it. These are the college years. Everybody looks back on college as some of the best times of their lives, and that’s what we try to do here in NXT.”

So if NXT is like college, does that make performers like Corbin returning to NXT like going back to school for your master's as an adult? Well, if college is a place to find yourself, then Corbin might need Orlando more than most, as his career is incredibly directionless at the moment.

Shawn Michaels believes Baron Corbin is finding himself again in NXT.

Turning his attention to Baron Corbin specifically, Shawn Michaels noted that while the man formerly known as the “Lone Wolf” had success on the main roster under different gimmicks, returning to NXT gives him a chance to really find his identity and move forward in professional wrestling as a more authentic version of himself.

“That’s one thing that Baron Corbin is having the opportunity to do. He’s coming back here, he’s having a great deal of fun, he’s finding himself again,” Michaels said. “He’s finding his voice, he’s finding who it is he wants to be. Not who someone else wants to be, but who is Baron Corbin, and who is he going to be going forward in the wrestling business, and more importantly, here in the WWE? That’s really fun for us, and it’s something that’s enjoyable to bring that reinvigoration to each individual as they find through here. We’re excited for Baron, he’s having a good time, he’s having fun again. Look, we’re excited to have him because it’s a huge plus for us. He brings a lot of experience. It’s gonna help a lot of our younger superstars grow and get better because he’s a guy that’s been there, done that, and seen that. So for us, it’s just pluses across the board when you get an opportunity to have somebody like Baron Corbin step back into NXT. Everybody is gonna benefit from that, and we’re thrilled about it.”

Will Corbin leave NXT stronger than ever before, elevating his game to levels unseen since he was pinning Roman Reigns and retiring Kurt Angle? Only time will tell, but after feeling like he was “drowning” during the end of his last main roster run, it's safe to say things are only looking up for the 38-year-old.