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Triple H Thinks Adding NXT Title Matches to WrestleMania Would be a ‘Difficult Task,’ Says It Could Become ‘Diminishing Returns’

February 16, 2020 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Triple H Raw 11-18-19 WWE Image Credit: WWE

As noted, WWE executive Triple H recently took part in a media call ahead of NXT TakeOver: Portland. During the media call, Triple H was asked about an NXT World title match taking place at WrestleMania 36 this year. Triple H didn’t sound keen on the idea, since it could make WrestleMania run even longer and cause “diminishing returns.” Below are some additional highlights from the conference call, courtesy of WrestlingInc.com.

Triple H on possibility of an NXT title match at WrestleMania 36: “Right now, the TakeOver the night before is gonna be a pretty epic card. It becomes a difficult task when you say NXT at WrestleMania when you already have an event that goes maybe five hours. It’s hard to put all of that into play in one event. It’s why WrestleMania is really a week-long event for fans.”

Triple H on why it would be tough to add the title match to WrestleMania: “Sunday will probably be a two-hour lead-in show with epic matches and then a 4-5-hour PPV event from the stadium. If you start adding more into that event, then it becomes longer and it’s diminishing returns. Then you’ve got Monday Night Raw and this year we’ll be doing a special thing with NXT coming out of WrestleMania. It’s a week-long series of events and you’ve got to put things in different places. Otherwise WrestleMania would start at 6 am and go into the next morning.”

Triple H on NXT talent ready to deal with stars moving to the main WWE roster: “Those are conversations held on a day-to-day basis. But if you look at NXT, the roster is loaded from top to bottom. We have probably the strongest women’s division of any roster. The men’s roster is deep and there are people sitting in the pocket waiting to get the shot. That’s what makes it so good. There’s also the opportunity that people will float over like Finn. You have those opportunities to crisscross because you have this deep talent roster.

Triple H on NXT TakeOver not being overpacked with its lineup: “I’ll say it’s a much more packed lineup. But it feels like every time we have these calls, we say the same thing: ‘Wow this card is stacked.’ Then you get to the next one and say, ‘Wow this card is more stacked than the last one’ and that’s a good thing. I’ll be honest, this card was debated heavily because there were so many things I wanted to put in there. And to be honest, this card could have been even bigger. I don’t wanna overload the time on this as, to me, once you get past a certain time then it’s diminishing returns. I think that’s been a strength of the brand and people seem to enjoy it. This card is really one match bigger than the TakeOvers we’ve been doing in the past. When it lays out, you’ll see what it is. But I don’t expect it to be this dramatic difference where you’re like, ‘Wow, that was totally different than anything we’ve seen.’ I think the quality is there and it’s been there every single time. We talk about it every time, ‘Oh my God! How do you surpass that’ on the next one and that’s always the challenge. I think this one will surpass what we’ve done before and the trick in Tampa [before WrestleMania] is to outdo it again and I’m confident that we will. I’m confident in that because of the talent and they wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Triple H on the planning process for TakeOver: “That’s always a concern. Part of the planning process for the TakeOvers or any PPV is the length of time and how long things go. But for me it comes down to what talent needs. Sometimes talent need 30 minutes or more than that or a lot less than that to tell the story,” said Triple H. “It depends on the stories so when we go through these cards there’s a lot that’s poured into all of this. We’re working with the talent and having conversations around, ‘How do we think this should go’, ‘What’s the story we’re trying to tell’ and ‘How long do we wanna tell that story.'”

article topics :

NXT, Triple H, WrestleMania, WWE, Jeffrey Harris