Shawn Michaels Taught Kyle O’Reilly How To Structure A Main Event Match

Kyle O’Reilly recently left WWE behind to test the waters in All Elite Wrestling. Kyle has aligned himself with former NXT Undisputed Era members Adam Cole and Bobby Fish. The group were fresh off an excellent run in WWE’s developmental brand.

NXT no longer looks anything like it did when Kyle O’Reilly was there. When Triple H was running the show, match quality and signing big-name independent talent was the focus. NXT 2.0 has shifted to a totally different type of product.

One of the few constants is the presence of Shawn Michaels. HBK survived round after round of releases and it appears WWE is very happy with his performance. Kyle O’Reilly talked about what he learned from Michaels on the latest AEW Unrestricted.

“I learned a lot about structuring a main event match. There’s that age-old adage in pro wrestling, ‘listen to the people, listen to the people.’ I never really got what that meant. ‘I’m listening to them. They’re cheering, they’re quieting down, they’re cheering.’ Shawn really taught us that, instead of going up and down with the crowd reaction, trying to keep it at a level. So, on a double down, just don’t move until they start to die, and then you can move and you bring them back up. Little things like that, that you don’t really think of and it’s really hard to learn on your own until someone explains that to you, and then a light bulb goes off and it helps take your game to the next level.

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I feel like my time there made me so much more polished and complete as a performer. I’m so grateful for my time there, the four and a half years in that system, working with the Shawn Michaels, the William Regals, and Triple Hs. It really made me a much more polished and accomplished performer.”

Kyle O’Reilly is grateful for those who taught him to be a better wrestler during his time with WWE. Now he is looking to forge a new path. O’Reilly is hoping to put some of that main even knowledge to use in AEW.

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H/T Fightful