NXT over the years has established itself as a hotbed for young and upcoming talent in the pro-wrestling business and with WWE positioning its developmental brand often at par with WWE RAW and WWE Smackdown, NXT is drawing in some exciting talents from around the world.
Shawn Michaels, one of greatest WWE performers and the current senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative at NXT, is a happy man.
With NXT Deadline 2023 on the horizon, it is stacked card with Ilja Dragunov and Baron Corbin headlining the Premier Live Event featuring two Iron Survivor Challenge matches. But from a talent perspective, Indian talent seem to have taken a backseat.
It was not long ago that India had sizable contingent in WWE’s development plans including the likes of Kavita Devi – the first Indian female wrestler to be signed with company, Jeet Rama, Kishan Raftar, Sanjana George.
While likes of Indus Sher (Rinku Singh and Saurav Gurjar), Dilsher Shanky made the transition to the main roster, the absence of Indian talent in NXT is quite surprising.
Guru Raaj is the only Indian-origin wrestler still in NXT roster and his last televised match was more than a year back.
During an international media call ahead of NXT Deadline, News18 Sports spoke to Michaels about the developmental plans for the Indian talent on WWE play roll and what the future holds keeping the larger picture of tapping into the Indian market is concerned.
“Well, look, I think, as always, just within this company as a whole, expansion is always name of the game. It doesn’t matter if it’s India, Europe, Australia, and Japan. I’ll just say this. We’re always looking at expansion. And obviously, India is a part of that. I can’t speak any specifics,” said Michaels, adding, “I just know that from a diversity standpoint, WWE is the world, it’s global. And so we have diversity that’s on our rosters from everywhere in the world. And that’s something we will continue to have in the future. And whether it be India, like I said, or Australia, Japan, one way or another, this is the WWE. One way or another, we will get to you in good time, I can promise you that.”
NXT Deadline 2023 will be telecast LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 1 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 3 SD & HD (Hindi) and Sony Sports Ten 4 SD & HD (Tamil & Telugu) on 10th December from 6:30 AM IST onwards.
