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When news broke that Mustafa Ali and Dana Brooke were among the Superstars released by WWE earlier this month, fans the world over wondered how it would affect Shawn Michaels‘ plans for NXT ahead of No Mercy.
Sure, having to change plans on the fly is nothing new for Mr. Michaels, as the very nature of NXT is to serve as a feeder system for the main roster, but after committing months to Ali and Brooke, having to drop their storylines on the spot ahead of a show fans paid money to see – a rare treat for NXT – certainly turned a few heads, especially since the promotion could have simply released them on October 1st after their No Mercy obligations were fulfilled.
Speaking with reporters on the NXT No Mercy media call, Michaels admitted that it can be hard to make changes on the fly, but after years of practice, he's accepted it as part of the game.
“Dana Brooke is something that caught us by surprise a little bit because we had a nice story going on there. I hope this doesn’t sound insensitive, this is not the first time that we’ve gone through this. It is something that, I’ll say this, in my world now, maybe I’ve grown a little bit, these things don’t throw me into chaos and I don’t get too nervous or too upset,” Shawn Michaels said via FIghtful. “We trying not to let the highs take us too high or the lows to take us down too low. We’ve made adjustments. The talent that come from main roster, I just enjoy the time with them, I really do. I feel like we give them a love and passion back for this line of work. I feel they are all better performers, whether they go back to the main roster or go somewhere else. I do know that their experience with us is always a positive one. That’s something that is important to me, that they have that experience here in NXT. Those would be the two because those are the two we had the deepest storylines with down here. Those are always times you have to make adjustments creatively. We’ve done that in the case of Mustafa, and we’re going to do that in the case of Dana.”
What was the plan for Brooke in NXT? Was she eventually going to wrestle her protege, Kelani Jordan? Or would her run have ended with a huge match with Cora Jade that kicked one of the performers up to the main roster? Unfortunately, fans will never know.
Mustafa Ali gets the Shawn Michaels rub on the way out of NXT.
Speaking of Mustafa Ali, Shawn Michaels committed a few more minutes to the release of his other main roster rental, Mustafa Ali, who was supposed to wrestle Dominik Mysterio for the North American Championship at No Mercy.
While HBK feels confident about the pivot WWE made on the fly, as giving Trick Williams a place in the sun is never a bad thing, he still believes Ali will do great things in the business, as he's got the creativity to become a success.
“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,” HBK said via 411 Mania.
“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.”
Would it have been cool to see Ali and “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio mix it up at No Mercy? You bet, but hey, when he debuts in AEW come December with Mace and Mansoor as his version of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash – wishful thinking, I know – maybe the “Heartbreak Kid” will get a kick out of what the former 205 Live standout delivers when freed up to operate at his full potential.
