Making his debut in AEW last week, Jay White is one of the top stars in all of wrestling.
The two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion was the top heel in New Japan Pro Wrestling, holding wins over huge stars, like Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
He shockingly left the promotion in early 2023, following a WrestleKingdom 17 main event loss to Kazuchika Okada, the man who he beat for his world title some months prior.
He looked certain to sign with WWE after WrestleMania 39, but shocked the world by debut in All Elite Wrestling, attacking Ricky Starks and forming his own version of Bullet Club in AEW.
However, Jay White did not even want to become a pro-wrestler, until he travelled to WrestleMania and saw Shawn Michaels speaking, for the first time.
Jay White Was Inspired By Shawn Michaels
New AEW Jay White spoke to Chris Van Vliet in a recent interview, discussing how he first became a professional wrestling.
He recounted the tale of winning a radio competition to travel to see WrestleMania 27, the first time he had ever been in the United States.
He revealed that he also attended the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, which saw Shawn Michaels as the headline inductee in that years class.
In the interview, Jay White told of how it wasn’t WrestleMania 27 that inspired him to be a pro-wrestler, but the Hall of Fame speech given by Shawn Michaels.
After hearing the Heart Break Kid discuss his career, the Kiwi-superstar thought “why not me?”, and followed his dream to become a wrestler.
“The moment I actually remember, it wasn’t the show itself, it was the Hall of Fame ceremony and listening to Shawn Michaels because I saw him get inducted.
So that was pretty cool, and it was just listening to him talk and stuff, and I never just kind of took something clicked in my head, why can’t I do this? Why not me? So, it went from there.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please give a H/T to Atletifo for the transcription