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When your name is Mr. WrestleMania then what better week to release your documentary than this week as The Heartbreak Kid: Becoming Shawn Michaels has officially been released on Peacock to add onto the massive week in the world of professional wrestling as WrestleMania 42 descends upon Las Vegas, Nevada.
Shawn Michaels' 22-year career with the WWE/WWF elevated him to superstar status as he worked the ring as either a face (good guy) or heel (villain) character. HBK could ignite crowds around the world and still does when his iconic ‘Sexy Boy’ entrance music rings off any arena in the world but despite being retired from the WWE ring there is still a story to be told.
The Heartbreak Kid: Becoming Shawn Michaels is a documentary film that charts the wrestler's incredible story, starting with his 12-year-old self dreaming of becoming a professional wrestler all the way to his current role cultivating talent as the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative for the NXT brand.
This documentary shows the world how involved Shawn Michaels is with NXT, and how involved his children are with both working for WWE. In speaking on Unlikely Michaels’ didn’t shy away from his love for “NXT Kids” and why they fuel his reasoning to go to WrestleMania:
“That's honestly the only reason, and I mean this in the most positive respect, the only reason I have a desire to go to WrestleManias anymore is to do just that. To be able to watch them go out. Lash [Legend], Trick [Williams], Je’Von [Evans], Oba [Femi], and also speaking in terms of Carmelo [Hayes] and Bron [Breakker], those are people that are gonna have those opportunities.
It’s the reason I go to WrestleMania now. Just to have the opportunity to watch them go out there and enjoy that moment, because that is the culmination of all the work that they put in, and getting to just be a part of watching them enjoy that moment is the reason we do it. And it's an incredibly gratifying thing to watch."
Shawn Michaels took ‘over’ creative of NXT from Triple H marking the end of NXT’s ‘Black and Gold’ era and into the heavily criticized NXT 2.0 era which he spoke at length ultimately elevated the ‘NXT 2.0 Kids’
“It’s no different than trying to follow the Attitude Era and things of that nature. You’re always going to have people that sort of look at the past through a lens you know in rose colored fashion right. And you’re always going to have people comparing eras or times or talent. One of the things we try to make sure we tell everybody is you know comparison is the death of progress you know what I mean. And so it’s something that you certainly have to be keenly aware of but at the same time I was very proud of all of those individuals because they understood what they were going up against.”
He pointed to talents like Bron Breakker, Trick Williams, and Carmelo Hayes as examples of performers who turned criticism into motivation that ultimately worked in their favor.
“They heard the criticism and the one really positive thing whether it was Bron or Trick Carmelo, all those individuals, they are all former athletes and it sort of from Carmelo and Je’von’s standpoint who were indie guys. It put a chip on their shoulder and made them want to work harder. They wanted to prove people wrong. And so that’s always kind of an advantage from our standpoint.”
The Heartbreak Kid: Becoming Shawn Michaels is streaming exclusively on Peacock and Shawn Michaels on Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez is available now.