Shawn Michaels Says He Can’t Remember Time Period When NXT Has Lost This Many Talents Due To WWE Main Roster Call-Ups

Shawn Michaels opens up about the 2026 talent departures.

Going into the 2026 NXT Heatwave Premium Live Event, NXT overseer Shawn Michaels returned to Busted Open for an extensive chat.

Michaels said he cannot remember a time period when NXT has lost this many wrestlers due to WWE main roster call-ups. He went on to speak about Cruz Montana, Grayson Waller, and Zilla Fatu joining the mix and believes they’ve challenged other male wrestlers on the NXT roster.

“Very (proud of the NXT roster). It happens on a regular basis. Obviously, that’s what NXT is as a brand. It’s about preparing WWE superstars for Raw and SmackDown. But, I can’t remember a year where we went through this many talent going up… At the least, a year but certainly an eight-month span and we always understand there’s going to be a rebuilding process but this was a yeoman’s effort,” Michaels laughed. “I think this year, to the point of, you look at the difference between Great American Bash and now Heatwave and you just see, obviously, it really jumps off the page, the difference in this show… The addition of Mike (Santana) and (Grayson) Waller and Zilla (Fatu), obviously a huge boost… It’s challenged all the other men on our roster to step up, and look, it challenges us as a creative team as well. So, it’s one of those things that you have to rise to the difficulty in front of you and again, that’s what we get a kick out of doing here so, very proud of everybody, again, that’s pulled together. All of our talent has done a great job. They understood the pressure that was on their shoulders, and I think we easily have momentum now and I think we’re gonna be hitting our groove, again, coming to the end of the year and obviously into 2027 so, once again, the future is very bright for NXT and I couldn’t be more proud of all of our talent for working so hard.”

Heatwave is scheduled for August 30th at the Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas. AAA is presenting Ola de Calor on the same day at the same venue before Heatwave.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Busted Open with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.