Today we’re blessed to be in the presence of wrestling royalty, as host KMJ the DJ at Audacy’s Hot 104.1 St. Louis sits down to talk with a man who goes by many names – “Mr Wrestlemania,” “The Showstopper,” “HBK” – “The Heartbreak Kid” --  3X-WWE champion, 2X-WWE Hall of Famer, and current senior VP of talent development and creative for WWE NXT, Shawn Michaels.

As a lifelong fan, KMJ had one question at the top of his mind for Shawn: What is it like to have the inmates running the asylum at WWE at this very moment?

“We're proud and honored to be in the positions we're in,” Michaels says. “Look, if you were to go back to only 25 years ago, I don't think either one of us would have possibly thought that this is where we would be. But, you fast forward to where we're at now, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.”

Shawn continues, “You know, Hunter [Triple H, aka Paul Levesque] has just done a fantastic job,” as Chief content officer of WWE. “He's grown as a man and a human being, an executive. I don't think it's any surprise that he's in control now, and he's the guy that's just taking the WWE to heights that it's never soared to before.”

“I stepped into his role after he went down here, it was something that I initially was not prepared for,” he admits, “but it was kind of trial by fire and I had to be honest -- the challenge and the joy and, again working with this talent, the passion of this young talent here, has made all of it fantastic, encouraging. It's just something that I have really fallen in love with and it's become, for me, something I couldn't imagine not doing now.”

“To be perfectly honest, no different than when I was performing in the ring,” Shawn says. “I wanted to get better. I wanted to grow as a performer. I wanted to become as well-rounded as I could, and in this role, it's the same thing. I now see the young men and women that walk through these doors at the performance center and I wanna be able to provide for them what's been provided for us -- and that was a platform to literally go out there and change our lives forever. And that's something that is a real possibility.”

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by KMJ The DJ