Shawn Michaels celebrates Kendrick Lamar for Not Like Us shout-out
As popular culture turned its collective eye to the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, forming the best rap beef in a minute with their back-and-forth bars, one person who earned a hat tip from Compton’s finest was Shawn Michaels, the current head honcho of NXT and a WWE Hall of Famer.
Blasting Drake for his, well, everything really, on his most recent diss track, “Not Like Us,” which has somehow become the song of the summer, Lamar made reference to Sweet Chin Music, the proprietary name HBK gave to his Superkick finisher when the maneuver’s old name effectively fell into the public domain and onto darn-near every wrestler’s move set.
Asked about this unlikely shoutout, Michaels celebrated the nod of approval, letting reports on the Heatwave media call know that he appreciates the love he and his fellow WWE legends get from the current generation.
“I always get a kick out of that. Whether it’s that or athletes doing the crotch chop on the field or the court. Those are little moments that happen throughout your life where I get to sit back, Hunter [Triple H] and I talk about it all the time, we sit back and look at ourselves like, ‘Wow, there was a time where we affected a whole generation of people,'” Shawn Michaels told the media via Fightful.
“Whether it’s Taker [Undertaker], (Steve) Austin, Rock, Hunter, myself. Numerous people in the WWE. That’s one of the things where, as you go on later in your career, it’s one of those things where it kind of means a lot to you. You see certain people in the mainstream doing something that is a reference of what you did back in the day. For a moment there, you feel good about yourself. The great thing is, they’re cool right now, so it gets you over with your kids on a huge level.”
You know, while Michaels may not be able to name more than a few of Lamar’s songs, his assertion is 100 percent on point: WWE has never been more popular than it is right now, and it feels like the momentum will continue to push that into the future with big stadium shows scheduled in Cleveland, Las Vegas, and Indianapolis over the next year and a half. While HBK would certainly rather hear artists rap something like “Give them a whopping like I’m Trick Willie,” as that would mean WWE is making new stars on par with the legends of the past, he’ll certainly take this level of popularity in 2024, especially considering his current forward-facing role in NXT.
Shawn Michaels believes it’s important to stay up on trends
Elsewhere on the Heatwave media call, Shawn Michaels commented on NXT’s recent ability to capitalize on trends in order to get more fans to tune into his weekly show every Tuesday night, from putting Joe Hendry in the 25-man Battle Royal to decide on Trick Williams’ next challenger to bring in Sexy Redd multiple times first on television and then as the host of NXT Battleground.
While HBK certainly isn’t as chronically online as his counterpart on Wednesday nights, he does believe it’s important to stay current and is willing to push for creative collaborations that get more attention on NXT.
“I won’t lie to you, I play dumb a lot of the time when it comes to that stuff but I’ve got Twitter. I just don’t spend my entire life on it. The thing is, it’s something that, at the very least, you’re going every Tuesday and you’re looking at what’s trending and how things are going and feedback on the show. Those are things that I regularly keep up with on a day-to-day basis, so I’d be lying if I told you I never pay attention to that stuff because clearly, I do,” Shawn Michaels told reporters via Fightful.
“I saw Joe Hendry long before we ever had him on the show, and again, my algorithms are the same as maybe a lot of you. It’s a lot of times it’s based around wrestling, so anything from a wrestling standpoint that’s going to be viral or at least gaining a bunch of interest comes across my timeline as well, and those are things that I pay attention to.”
Say what you will about NXT’s outside additions, from teaming with TNA to pursuing outside collaborations – HBK previously asked Drake and Kendrick Lamar to “settle their beef” at the PC – but it’s safe to say Michaels is fearless in his pursuit of building his weekly show into must-watch television and that pursuit has largely worked, as the numbers are up and excitement in the product is near an all-time high.
The post Shawn Michaels celebrates Kendrick Lamar for Not Like Us shout-out appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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