Shawn Michaels Details Conversation He Had With Tony D’Angelo About Narratives Surrounding His Run As NXT Champion

Shawn Michaels showed full support for Tony D.

Since April 2026, Tony D’Angelo has reigned as NXT Champion. He’s had five defenses of the belt, and the next is taking place at the Heatwave Premium Live Event on August 30th.

Ahead of the P.L.E., NXT overseer Shawn Michaels appeared on Busted Open. He opened up about the conversation he had with D’Angelo about the narratives surrounding his NXT Title reign. He added that he, along with his team, knew they could trust D’Angelo to shoulder the load while the men’s division got rebuilt.

“I had a chat with Tony and one of the things you can enjoy about the job, I said, ‘Tony, the narrative on Shawn Michaels is he’s the worst-drawing WWE Champion of all-time,’ and I said, ‘Nobody says that’s when everybody was leaving. WCW was coming on, and Tony, you’re in that same boat; that everybody got called up. You’re the champion in this time.’ I said, ‘It isn’t fun,’ and I said, ‘But, I can tell you this much: I’m the one that’s still here… I created my space, and you can do the same thing. Once again, you just have to be able to silence the noise around you.’ I told him exactly what I was told, which is, ‘Hey, you’re the guy who carried us through this tough time. That’s the difference.’ Yes, all those things went on but Tony D’Angelo is the guy who we knew that could carry us and had the shoulders strong enough to carry us through this time that we could rebuild this men’s division and he’s been the one that’s done that. Tony D’Angelo is one of the hardest workers in this place. He’s a phenomenal human being, and he has done a great job as champion. It is just, once again, one of those things that you can’t control, a narrative that goes out there about you but I will say that time usually begins and history begins to tell a different story when everything’s said and done and I think that’s gonna be the case with Tony D’Angelo.”

The NXT Title match at Heatwave will be a Fatal 4-Way. D’Angelo is going to defend against Zilla Fatu, Cruz Montana and Grayson Waller.

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