When Jordynne Grace made her surprise debut as the fifth participant in the 2024 Royal Rumble, it marked an incredible moment in the history of WWE and TNA.

Sure, TNA performers had appeared in the Royal Rumble in the past, most notably Mickie James in 2022, but she was a legacy performer who had extensive experience in The Fed. Grace, by contrast, had never worked for WWE in any way, shape, or form, and as a current TNA performer under contract – James was on a handshake deal at the time – her inclusion in the match made for a pretty incredible moment that could open the “forbidden door” to even more opportunities down the line.

Asked about what he thought of Grace's debut at the Rumble by Steve Fall as part of the Vengeance Day media call, Shawn Michaels noted that he's long been a fan of her work and would be open to bringing in outside performers to NXT if that's now on the table.

“Well, look, I'll say this, and it's one of those things where the friendship with Hunter and I get tough to balance because I've always sort of seen her from afar, and I've always wondered if she'd be interested in coming to NXT or coming to the WWE. My fault for never reaching out because I assume if you're with another company, that's not allowed, right? [laughs] It was great to see that door possibly open, and I don't know, think about it,” Shawn Michaels told Steve Fall via Fightful.

“So, yeah, to answer your question, I think some things that probably we were never even allowed to consider or look at in the past, is at least something that we can begin to look at and think about in the future. I for one am very excited about that, again, those are things on a corporate level that I don't get the say so in. Very excited about that possibility. To your point, just to be able to — Look, there's a number of different talent out there in different places like TNA, in Japan, in AAA, things of that nature to where it'd be great to get some of those really experienced people to swing by NXT for a little bit. But again, above my pay grade to answer, but I'll tell you this much, I'm really interested in the possibilities and it certainly looks like — Everytime I get mad at Hunter, I go, ‘Oh so it's okay for you, but it's not okay for us?' That's not a real corporate angle, really, but I try to use that as often as I can to see if I can get my way down here. It's something I'm going to ask about in the not-too-distant future.”

Whoa, outside stars in NXT? What is this, 2020? Still, it makes sense that NXT may pursue the occasional outside star for an angle, as performers like Trick Williams and Roxanne Perez have worked shows for Booker T's Reality of Wrestling, and Charlie Dempsey traveled to Japan for a match in All Japan back in January. If Triple H gives HBK the green light, things might get very interesting on Tuesday nights once more.

Jordynne Grace would love to represent TNA in WWE.

If Shawn Michaels is interested in bringing in an outside performer like Jordynne Grace to shake things up on NXT, he might not have to look very far, as the current TNA Knockout Champion revealed in an interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful that she is very open to appearing on WWE television as a representative for TNA.

“I would love to be the longest reigning Knockouts (champion) of all time, that would be an incredible honor,” Jordynne Grace told Fightful. “Another thing that has just come within the past week, I just want to get more eyes on the product. I want people to see what we're really all about, and if a relationship with WWE is going to help us do that, I would love to represent TNA more on WWE.”

Would WWE actually consider putting over an outside production over an extended period of time? That… depends. If it was a one-off or as part of a tournament, then yeah, it's totally believable that WWE could bring in a champion from another promotion only to have them lose in something like an eliminator title match. Having Grace go on an El Hijo del Vikingo-esque run where she secures multiple wins over WWE Superstars like, say, Natalya, feels far less likely.