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What’s the story?
Friday night saw Shawn Michaels once again don the black and white stripes as he refereed the NXT Championship match at a live event in San Antonio, Texas.
There, he counted the pinfall as Drew McIntyre successfully defended against Adam Cole, but not before Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly had run interference on behalf of Cole — an interference that ended with Michaels hitting O’Reilly with some Sweet Chin Music.
In case you didn’t know…
Over the course of his WWE career, Michaels has picked up plenty of experience as a guest referee. The former four-time world champion has been called into the role on a whole host of occasions over the years, including at SummerSlam 1997, WrestleMania XXVIII and, perhaps most famously, on a SmackDown taping in 1999 when he donned those now-infamous short shorts…
Going in depth
In terms of why Michaels was on the NXT show, his instilment as the special guest referee comes off the back of his recent work coaching down at the Performance Centre and helping out backstage at recent NXT TV tapings.
Plus, this particular San Antonio house show was going head-to-head with a Ring of Honour event the very same night, so it’s likely that WWE felt they could do with some extra star power at the city’s Aztec Theatre.
What's next?
It’s unlikely that Michaels’ involvement on Friday will lead to anything storyline-wise. Otherwise, the refereeing gig would likely have been saved for an NXT TV taping or Takeover show.
Expect to see him continue working with the brand in a backstage capacity, with these live event cameos proving to be few and far between.
Author’s take
As great as it is to see Michaels once again kicking people in the chin, it's even more encouraging to see that this appearance came on a house show rather than at a televised event, given that NXT is the developmental brand.
That way, the company have still been able to use Michaels' name power to help draw a decent live crowd, without having him encroach on valuable TV time that should be, and indeed is, reserved instead for the up-and-comers.
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