Shawn Michaels takes apparent shot at AEW during WWE show

Shawn Michaels appeared this week to announce the rules about the Iron Survivor Challenge for WWE NXT Deadline. During his segment, he also seemed to take a subtle shot at AEW.

During NXT this week, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg, X-PAC, Alundra Blayze, and Molly Holly appeared in a video package to reveal their picks for the men's and women's Iron Survivor Challenge.

While talking about the criteria for his picks and the participants for the new match type, HBK said that he did not depend on wins, losses, and analytics to decide his choice:

“I don’t mean that from a win & losses or analytics standpoint.”

Fans saw this as a subtle jab at AEW. The rival company has a lot of decisions made based on its ranking system, where the win-loss records over the years determine who gets an opportunity.

It should be noted that not all of AEW's decisions are made through this system, but many are. The focus on the system made this comment by Shawn Michaels appear to be a definite shot at the company.

This would not be the first time that WWE has taken shots at AEW in the past, but it would be one of the more notable times.

Did you catch the reference on NXT? Sound off in the comments below.