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Paul “Triple H” Levesque took part in a post-Takeover: New York conference call backstage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY last night.
Levesque said that they had a hell of a night. He said that he feels like a broken record but the talent go out and nail it every time. He said it was a special week for NXT, for WWE, for where they are in this moment in time to come to New York City.
They were sold out with 15, 697 – the biggest NXT crowd attendance to date and the highest grossing event in NXT history. He did not specify the gate amount. He said to do that on a Friday night with the Hall of Fame tomorrow, joking, “somebody’s getting put in the Hall of Fame” and to have 75,000 sold out at MetLife Stadium Sunday sold out for Wrestlemania and then come back to Barclay. He said it will be an epic week but anything that happens after tonight has its work cut out for them.
They began to take questions. I asked Triple H about the UK title bout, the decision to have that on the show last night, whether there were plans in place for the next UK Takeover and whether there will be more mixing of the NXT brands on big events. He said the timing was right in the build between WALTER and Pete Dunne that the match should be done here in NYC. They are planning the next UK Takeover but when you do 600 live events a year, it’s a bit of putting together a puzzle. He said that they’ve had some things shift but he wanted to do the match here and clearly, they delivered. He said that makes him think he made the right decision. He looks forward to getting back to the UK. The NXT UK brand is one of the most watched things on the Network and they trended worldwide with the Blackpool Takeover. He’s excited to get it to another level but the timing has to be right.
He was asked about some of the new talent in NXT and what they can bring to the main roster. HHH remembers when they had the first big number of call up and people thought NXT was done. The call ups are the secret that forces NXT to evolve and grow. It’s not the brand that it was five years ago. It’s evolved. Mauro said 14 NXT Champions will be on Wrestlemania. 80% of the main roster has come from NXT. He joked the matches at Mania that will air in black and white are made up of the talents who pre-dated NXT. They have created a wealth of stars and are putting them on a global platform. Even if talents have a past and a following, the level of performer you are coming in and the level you are leaving are different and better. The NXT future is bright. You are two weeks out of the biggest show in the company history and Tommaso goes down to injury and you can shift with just a few weeks and still run with it. That speaks of the brand. He pointed out that as good as WALTER and Pete Dunne was, they took it to the next level. He said that Matt Riddle will be even better a year from now. He doesn’t know how much KUSHIDA could get better but a year from now, he will.
Triple H was asked if WALTER’s win had anything to do with Brexit. He joked and said “Of course” then said it happened because WALTER is awesome. He joked about Brexit and said they need to decide in and out. He doesn’t see anything but talent with those on the UK brand.
Triple H was asked about the reaction to KUSHIDA. He said they put people in the crowd to gauge the reaction and KUSHIDA’s was one of the largest. He’s been on their mind for a long time. He’s been at the top of the list of talents they wanted. William Regal feels the same way. He expects him to be as awesome as he’s been everywhere else and they’re giving him a platform like he’s never had before.
They were asked about the thought process of Tommaso Ciampa coming out at the end of the show. He said you go back and forth about it and what you want to do with it. If you are a competitor you want to be in the top spot and compete as hard as you can for it. If you get hurt, you want the person you are closest with to have it. As evil as Ciampa is and even though he’s in a war with Gargano, if anyone else has to have that spot, it should be Gargano. He talked about the epic journeys the talents go through that are seen on the WWE PC YouTube. He said it was a real moment and they want epic moments. They talked back and forth and came on that decision.
He was asked about whether there was a main roster run for Pete Dunne and whether there was any consideration of letting him hit the two-year run as Champion, since it would have been next month. He said that Dunne, at 23 or 24 years old, is just getting started. He pointed out how much better Dunne has become since signing and being great to begin with. Where does he go now? Onward and upward. He said that he doesn’t know if there’s too many people with a brighter future than Dunne.
Triple H was asked about the crowd booing Matt Riddle and whether that changed the trajectory for him. HHH said he thought it was 50/50 in terms of crowd support but when you have two extremely popular characters, chances are it won’t remain 50/50 all the way through. He said part of what’s going to get Matt Riddle to the next level is having someone push him to the next level of emotion. He said he doesn’t think it means Riddle walks out last popular. It’s hard to be more popular than the Velveteen Dream. No one loss tonight. The goal is to have everyone coming out better, bigger stars with bigger reactions.
Triple H was asked to compare Johnny Gargano when he came in to now. He said the level of emotional performer he is has changed dramatically. He wasn’t handed anything here. He didn’t have the space to sign him and he was offered a chance and he over-delivered again and again. He and Ciampa earned those spots. The level of polished all-around character and emotions have risen. It’s not about the spots and moves but how do they pull the level of emotion out of you. He’s so much more polished. He’s taken advantage of everything offered to him and it’s fun to watch. His favorite part of the PC is to watch talents take what is in front of them and seeing them grow, naming Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair and others are taking advantage and having a big growth curve.
Triple H was asked if he’s been surprised by how quickly the UK brand has become a success. He said he wouldn’t say surprised because he saw the talent. It’s great its been embraced by everyone. He said that the men and women there have been able to morph all the styles and make it their own. They had a hodgepodge of styles but performed within that traditional UK genre. He said the interesting thing about some of those talents is that when they started building that brand, they would say the simplest things to the talents and they would be like, “Wow” because it hadn’t been broken down to them. There was a moment where Pete Dunne looked at he and Shawn Michaels and said something hadn’t ever been broken down to him before and then when he went out and used the advice, he came back and said he couldn’t believe how easy it was. He’s not surprised by the swiftness of the brand being embraced, but he’s excited by it. They are just nicking the surface. Everyone was saying they were taking forever and now they say, Jeez, it’s happened so fast! He wants to make sure it’s right and they do it the right way, so every step means something more.
He was asked if the upcoming FOX deal meant there was a chance for NXT to transfer over to mainstream TV. HHH joked you’d have to ask the folks at FOX. He said there’s been a lot of talk and potential for a lot of things, pointing out the announced plans to have a weekly studio talk show, saying it will be in the vein of shows like Talking Dead. He said that as a brand, here and the UK, there’s interest but they are important to the Network, saying they are the number one and number two most watched thing on the WWE Network, after PPVs. He said is there an opportunity? Absolutely. He said the fact they want NXT to be a part of that shows the level of interest.
There were no more callers. HHH joked everyone was in Brooklyn.
Triple H was asked about Ricochet being possibly hurt tonight during a bad landing. He’s fine but everyone in the moment went into protection mode and wanted to make sure he’s OK. He ended up being fine.
He was asked to talk about the first few meetings where they broke down the creative changes after Tommaso Ciampa was injured. You have everyone bring as many ideas as they can to the table, sift through them and decide what works. There’s no scientific formula. You let it sit and you hear feedback and you go with your gut. He decides what they are going to go with. There were a lot of ways to go and they would have been right but they picked the absolute best one. He felt like when he heard the ideas, he knew where he wanted to go. You had to work the process of it. They had a deep depth in the pool but you had to decide what to do. You go to Full Sail for the five way and to take that level of performance, he, Michael Hayes and Shawn Michaels all looked at each other feeling they were in an epic place. He put over the talent.
He was asked about taping content at AXXESS. As he did, all the TVs in the room mysteriously turned on and began playing basketball footage. All the WWE staffers went to the TVs to try and turn them off and it was quite the battle before Team WWE succeeded.
As that was going on, Triple H talked about wanting to have something epic in the Worlds Collide events in AXXESS. He said it allows so many possibilities with NXT alumni and matches that people don’t think they are going to get. They are all great opportunities that are awesome for fans. He asks himself that as a fan, when he was a kid, would he want to see that.
He was asked about what he expects for Ricochet and Aleister Black and who can step up in their place. He said they have stepped up, doing triple-duty for weeks. He said it’s always a bitter-sweet thing. You want to go to that next level and that next challenge. If you look at NXT as college football, you are leaving all the people you know for a new opportunity and challenge. When they step up, that’s the real challenge. They’ve done well and the future is bright for them. He told them when they were done that NXT was always their home but pointed out that it’s a different world on the main roster vs. the Performance Center.
As far as who takes their place, he can name ten people who can replace them seamlessly. Talents are sitting right behind them. He relays a story about Steve Austin standing with Vince McMahon at Madison Square Garden telling Vince a talent they were watching was good and Vince agreed and said, “I hope he makes it.” Austin thought that was weird since Vince controls the show. HHH said that there’s a component there that is true but it’s also about what you do with the platform you are given is what makes you or doesn’t. They have the platform and when you look at who that could be, it’s a long list but we’ll see whether they make the most of it.
He thanked everyone for coming and said good luck to everyone following the template they set for the week.
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