WWE: Shawn Micheals on “I Was Begging To Keep Je’Von Evans In NXT”, Matt Cardona Reveals He Wasn’t Originally Booked To Wrestle on 4/10 WWE SmackDown Show, Jordynne Grace Makes In-Ring Return From Injury at 4/10 WWE Main Event Tapings

Shawn Michaels Comments on “I Was Begging To Keep Je’Von Evans In NXT For Another Six Months”

A recent episode of The Ringer’s The Masked Man Show podcast featured WWE SVP of NXT and Talent Relations and NXT head booker Shawn Michaels as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Michaels’ thoughts about Je’Von Evans being his choice for a talent he would have liked to keep in NXT forever.

“Je’Von, I was begging, ‘Can we please keep him for another six months?’ We had every intention…he was one of the last ones where they were like, ‘Oh.’ From an NXT standpoint, we were, in our minds, obviously build around Je’Von over the next year. That was the model and they were like, ‘We’re taking him too.’ ‘Oh.’ I pushed back a little. ‘Six months?’ ‘No.’ ‘Three?’ ‘No.’ Alright, fair enough. If that’s the worst news you have to have that they are taking too many of your people, that means you’re doing a pretty good job.”

Evans worked in WWE’s NXT brand from November of 2023 until his official call-up to the main roster this past January.

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Matt Cardona Reveals He Wasn’t Originally Booked To Wrestle on April 10th WWE SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in San Jose, California featured Trick Williams defeating Matt Cardona in a singles match. This match was setup following a backstage segment earlier in the show involving Cardona, Carmelo Hayes, Williams, and Lil Yachty.

Cardona reflected earlier today on Instagram about his match against Williams and revealed that he was not originally booked to wrestle at last night’s SmackDown show.

“I wasn’t originally booked to wrestle yesterday on #SmackDown. I was just going to film a commercial and maybe even fly home early. I still showed up in shape, tan, and ready to go. Guess what happened? Things changed and I got a match. I was…wait for it…Alwayz Ready. In my mind, that’s how it supposed to be. If you want opportunities, show up prepared…no matter what.

I didn’t get the win against @trickwilliams_wwe. And yes, I’ve lost more matches than I’ve won since I returned to @wwe. But check my win/loss record over my 20 plus years in this business….even the past 5 years that I spent on the indies. I lose…A LOT! But when I win, I win BIG!

I’M…NOT…FINISHED!”

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A post shared by MATT CARDONA (@themattcardona)

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Jordynne Grace Makes In-Ring Return From Injury at April 10th WWE Main Event Tapings

As noted before, Jordynne Grace has been out of action for WWE since this past March due to an ankle injury.

WWE held a new Main Event tapings prior to the start of Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in San Jose, California. Among the matches held included Grace making her in-ring return from injury.

Grace competed in a singles match against Zelina Vega, which was won by Grace.

Zelina Vega vs Jordynne Grace to kick off Main Event pic.twitter.com/D5rIyOsFOE

— Ramon 2K26 (@Ramon3MR) April 10, 2026