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Triple H Discusses WWE Talent Asking for Their Releases, If NXT Talent Will Be on Future WWE PPVs, Possibly Wrestling At Survivor Series, More

November 20, 2019 | Posted by Ashish
Triple H WWE Hall of Fame NXT Takeover Image Credit: WWE

Triple H held a conference call with the media today ahead of Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: WarGames event. Highlights are below.

– Triple H welcomes us to the call and says it is an exciting time for NXT with the show on USA Network, which he says has gone very well. He’s happy with how the talent stepped up to live TV. Says this weekend is a very busy and challenging weekend with the live TV show tonight, Smackdown on Friday, WarGames on Saturday, and Survivor Series on Sunday. He says tonight’s NXT on USA will be one of the best shows they’ve ever done based on The Revival vs. The Undisputed Era. He calls it a “dream” tag match. Says WarGames will be a big event with the ladder match.

– Triple H says the intent isn’t to have NXT talent on future WWE PPVs. Says the intent is for NXT to be its own stand alone brand that has a different feel. He says Survivor Series may be the one event each year with all the brands. He says RAW and Smackdown have benefitted from NXT making the shows more exciting and that including NXT at Survivor Series makes the event bigger. He says you have to do this judiciously though.

– Triple H says Johnny Gargano’s status is day-by-day right now and it goes by how he feels. Says there is nothing there that is structurally concerning.

– Triple H talked about the NXT creative team and how he’d put himself, Shawn Michaels, and Road Dogg up against anyone. He says having NXT on RAW and Smackdown hasn’t created issues between creative teams and that it’s been fun and a collaborative process. He says things change based on how things go on each show and the chaos leads to cool stuff.

– Triple H says the biggest learning curve from being on USA Network each week has been the transition to going live. He says they haven’t had a show yet where they have missed a commercial spot or anything like that, and that’s with wrestlers and crew members who in some cases have not done live TV before.

– Triple H talked about Imperium being on RAW and how well received they were both by fans and internally in WWE. Triple H said he pushed for it and wanted to get Imperium involved since WWE was in the UK. Triple H emphasizes again how NXT UK needs to build at its own pace and not burn out from overexposure.

– Triple H put over Ilja Dragunov and called him a phenomenal talent with a bright future.

– Triple H talked about the possibility of him wrestling at Survivor Series as part of Team NXT. He said NXT is about youth and a new generation of stars and he wants the talent to shine on their own.

– Triple H talked about the decision to move NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II to Sunday instead of Saturday. Said it was an internal decision. Said they are looking to do more shows in the UK and internationally, and put over how awesome Blackpool has been for them.

– Triple H talked about talent asking for their release. He said some talent asks for releases for legitimate reasons, but others just do it to get attention. He also said that if a talent has an issue, they should come speak to them about it first. He says if someone wants to be released and they are talking about it on the internet and not to them directly, they aren’t serious about business. He says these guys are professional wrestlers, noting the word professional.

– Triple H was asked about Ciampa’s recent comments about how if the option to wrestle 200 times in one year vs. 40 times in five years, it’s a simple choice, and what the plan is for him. Triple H said that anyone with health issues gets monitored more closely and that he is being monitored closely. He says they’re medical and wellness is great and the talent get the best care possible. He says for all the talent complaining about how demanding the schedule is, there are also wrestlers who want to wrestle more and don’t want too many days off. Says everyone is different and managing so many wrestlers is a tough job but they do it well.

– Triple H was asked about all the champion vs. champion triple threat matches at Survivor Series and if there was ever talk about having Adam Cole vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt. Triple H said there were early conversations but the Brock vs. Rey story was so good that that needed to happen and the Fiend works cleaner to have his own storyline.

– Triple H was asked how Adam Cole has handled the spotlight. He said he can’t say enough good things about him. Said he is well spoken, smart, a pro. Noted how he got in with Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins on short notice and tore it down. Says he has “it.”

– Triple H was asked if NXT being part of Survivor Series was a long term plan or was it a late addition. He said RAW vs. Smackdown vs. NXT was talked about awhile ago and it was challenging to incorporate. Said there were loose plans early but the specifics got put together more recently. He said it was an opportunity that they took advantage of.

– Triple H was asked about talent from UK and if there is a long term plan for talent when they come over from UK or if it is a sort of wait and see approach. Triple H said it’s a little of both and depends on what they need. Said a lot of times they will bring someone over to Orlando to put a final polish on them. Used Pete Dunne as an example.

– Triple H was asked if NXT’s expansion and how it will benefit WWE in the long run. Triple H says the long term goal is to expand NXT globally. He uses India as an example and says it’s a key place and they will have some announcements on markets around the world soon. He put over India as an amazing place and says they love WWE so much there. Says they are going to be in India in a bigger way soon.

article topics :

NXT, Triple H, Ashish