Shawn Michaels Reveals Why Modern WWE Talent Need Years to be Main Roster Ready

TLDR

Shawn Michaels told Stephanie McMahon on the What's Your Story? podcast that it takes three years to adequately prepare an athlete with no wrestling background for WWE's main roster, longer than some company executives expected. Michaels explained that modern developmental wrestlers don't get the match repetition that previous generations had, noting he wrestled "hundreds of matches in probably three months" during the territory era while today's talent "may not get there in a year with the amount of live events." He said WWE's partnerships with promotions like TNA Wrestling, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, and Reality of Wrestling have become critical for helping developmental talent gain more real-world experience.