Shawn Michaels tells talkSPORT why Scottish trio were chosen to help train The Rock ahead of WWE WrestleMania XL

WWE icon Shawn Michaels spoke to talkSPORT about how NXT trio Gallus helped prepare The Rock for his WrestleMania return.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson underwent an intense training camp ahead of his first in-ring appearance in eight years tonight.

The Great One, who remains the most successful export of all time, returned to the company where he made his name earlier this year.

The 51-year-old will headline the first night of WrestleMania XL alongside undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes and Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins.

This will be The Rock’s first event where he will have to endure shocks since his program with John Cena until the 28th and 29th of WrestleMania.

The latter match saw Rocky suffer several serious injuries, including a torn abductor that required emergency hernia surgery.

To avoid any further problems this weekend, the Hollywood megastar has been working hard to train in his “Iron Paradise.”

WWE provided The Rock with two wrestling rings alongside several NXT stars to help him prepare for his tag team match.

Gallus, a stable of brothers Mark and Joe Coffey alongside fellow Scottish wrestler Wolfgang, have a combined 50 years of wrestling and were enlisted to simulate training matches.

During the NXT Stand & Deliver press conference, Michaels explained to talkSPORT’s Will Gavin how this unlikely team came to be.

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HBK explained: “He (Rock) needed people to train with, and obviously we’re talking about three guys who know what they’re doing, who’ve been around the block and understand every aspect of the business.

“You can have someone younger to steal, but you need mature, professional guys who can adapt to everything Rock wants.

“Obviously I’m biased towards these guys, they’re fantastic guys but they’re so professional – they’re very reliable.”

Gallus is a largely underutilized stable in WWE, but Michaels admitted the trio was impressed while training the Rock.

On the verdict he received from the Sessions, the Hall of Famer told talkSPORT: “What I know is they said thank you and they sent us a picture of the Rock and the three of them doing the Gallus pose.

“I feel like that’s probably a good sign that everything is going pretty well.”