Je’Von Evans is 21 years old.
That means the current NXT star was born in 2004. That means Evans missed one of the most crucial periods in professional wrestling - the Attitude Era. The likes of Mankind, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock were born during that time. However, “The Heartbreak Kid” himself was one of the central figures during such a prominent era.
But in 2004, Shawn Michaels wasn’t the same man that he was in the 80’s and 90’s. Though the WWE Hall of Famer was still in the upper card, Shawn Michaels was not the main event star that the company focused on. So it’s understandable that a guy like Je’Von Evans had no idea how much of an impact that Shawn Michaels made in this business.
However, Je’Von learned of Shawn’s impact through WWE 13’s Road to WrestleMania. The NXT star revealed that playing WWE video made him understand who Shawn Michaels really was (Transcript courtesy of Fightful).
“The more I started playing games, the more I really started understanding who Shawn was. I mean, it wasn’t just DX, you know? He’s the Heartbreak Kid, Mr. WrestleMania, all that. Then I really discovered who he was in WWE 13 in Road to WrestleMania. Of course, he’s Mr. WrestleMania, so he had those matches, and I was like, ‘Oh!'”
Je’Von credits his WWE career to Michaels as the former WWE Champion apparently went to bat to sign the young star when the company was originally going to pass on him.
“Gotta thank Shawn, bro. Shawn Michaels, for sure. I feel like he was the person that really looked out for me because during my tryout, apparently I wasn’t gonna get signed, right? But Shawn saw something in me. I was too young, I was smaller at the time, so there was a lot of people that wanted me to kind of get older and bigger. Shawn was like, ‘No, just trust me.’ Everybody trusted him and now he’s like one of my go-to people, you know what I mean? You gotta thank Shawn for sure.”
They have been people who have criticized Je’Von lack of knowledge about some of the legends including Shawn Michaels, but the guy is 20 so it’s understandable why he doesn’t exactly know just how much of an impact the WWE Hall of Famer during the prime years of his WWE run.
Check out the full interview where he talks about starting his wrestling journey at 13, who inspires him, and so much more!