‘The Heartbreak Kid’ played a major role in bringing Je’Von Evans to WWE.
Je’Von Evans joined WWE in late 2023 following a tryout that also included Brogan Finlay (Uriah Connors) and Lucky Ali (Saquon Shugars). Since debuting in NXT, Evans has quickly established himself as one of the brand’s fastest-rising stars, though he has since admitted that he came close to not making it past the tryout process.
Appearing on the No Contest Wrestling Podcast, Je’Von Evans expressed his gratitude toward Shawn Michaels, revealing that the WWE Hall of Famer personally advocated for his signing after the company initially seemed poised to pass on the then–Jay Malachi.
“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.”
-Je’Von Evans
Evans is slated to represent Team NXT at tonight’s NXT vs. TNA Showdown, joining forces with Ricky Saints, Myles Borne, and Trick Williams to battle Team TNA’s Mike Santana, Moose, Leon Slater, and Frankie Kazarian. The 21-year-old is also set to challenge Slater for the X-Division Championship at TNA Bound for Glory on October 12.
Alongside his rapid ascent in NXT, Je’Von has also made several appearances on WWE’s main roster, including a United States Championship Open Challenge against Sami Zayn on the September 26 episode of SmackDown, where he delivered a strong showing despite falling short.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on future plans for Je’Von Evans as soon as we hear more.
