With NXT Battleground rapidly approaching, the third show of WWE's huge four-day Memorial Day Weekend extravaganza, Shawn Michaels decided to take a page out of Tony Khan's book – one of many things he would take from TK's book this weekend – and hold a media call with reporters to discuss the forthcoming show and some of the developmental talents the brand lost during the WWE Draft.
However, one of the acts that were discussed on the media call was a team who not only didn't get called up for the WWE Draft but aren't booked for Battleground either, the Grizzled Young Veterans, aka Jagger Reig and Rip Fowler of the Schism/The Dyad. After requesting their release earlier this spring, the team has curiously remained on television, most recently wrestling a match against Gallus for a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship belts. Why has WWE seemingly ignored GYV's requests and kept them going in a storyline they dislike? Well, because in the opinion of Michaels, the duo are just too good to ride the bench.
“They were guys that clearly, I wanted to come over and bring over from the UK. I think they’re very talented. I absolutely understand. It’s one of the things that I tell everybody here. Do I want it to be here in the WWE for you to have your success? Absolutely. I can’t lie about that. Really, this is about, no matter who comes through these doors, help them to have success in this business as a whole,” Michaels said via Cageside Seats.
“I always tell everybody, ‘I feel so fortunate for the life that I have and my family and I have. It’s because of this job, and now there is a real opportunity for everyone in this line of work to have that.’ I want that for them. I understand how they feel, but as I mentioned to them, ‘while you are here, I still want to put you in a prominent role.’ There are no hard feelings in that respect. There is too much talent there to waste or leave on the table. If they don’t mind work, I sure as heck don’t mind using them.”
Does Michaels have a plan to write The Dyad out of Schism? More likely than not, yes; Joe Gacy has been working more solo matches in the pursuit of the North American Championship, and the whole point of Schism is that like a tree, the unit has multiple branches and could theoretically grow more if two are cut off. Still, it's always a bit weird when the duo appear on screen, as their apathy practically jumps through the screen.
Shawn Michaels explains that NXT running opposite AEW isn't the new normal.
Elsewhere on his conference call, Shawn Michaels was asked about the elephant in the room, NXT‘s decision to run head-to-head at the same time on the same day as AEW's first show of the summer, Double or Nothing. Though Michaels acknowledged that running against AEW is the plan this time around, he doesn't expect it to be the new normal moving forward, as he'd rather run shows with as little competition as possible.
”To the best of my knowledge, no. For me, and for us, the WWE as a whole, as I’m always honest with you guys, clearly there are people far more important than me that make decisions that they don’t tell me about. For us, this was about a big Memorial Day weekend for WWE. Even though it’s a little switched around, for us, it’s a little bit of a throwback to when we would have joint weekends with NXT on Saturday and WWE pay-per-views on Sunday. This is just flip-flopped with Night of Champions on Saturday, especially coming in the afternoon, everyone felt it was a good combination to have NXT on Sunday night and create a big WWE weekend for WWE fans.
“For me, personally, I would love to have as many standalone weekends on us as we can get. No different than having to go up against the [NBA & NHL] playoffs for the last several weeks. As much as I’m a basketball fan or NHL fan, it thrills me when the playoffs are done. The less competition we can get, the better.”
Did NXT sort of draw the short straw this weekend? Yes; while running a show on each night of Memorial Day Weekend – plus NXT on Tuesday – was surely an enticing idea from WWE's PR department, it's hard to imagine many fans watching NXT‘s first “Premium Live Event” since Stand and Deliver live, if they opt to watch it at all. Still, HBK can only play with the cards he was dealt, and at least he loaded up the card with a few intriguing matches that fans can watch when they see fit.
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