Triple H (Paul Levesque) took calls from the media today in support of Thursday’s WWE NXT TakeOver: R Evolution live special which will air exclusively on the WWE Network. Adam Hopkins opened the call and thanked everyone and put over the last few days for the company and the Tribute to the Troops taping and said that it was a special time for the WWE before passing it over to Triple H.
Triple H said that he likes these conference calls with the reporters and has been thinking about the recent calls and offered a tour of the WWE Performance Center to reports and thanked several outlets that recently toured the WWE Performance Center. Triple H said that they are feverishly attempting to get the WWE Network in the United Kingdom and noted that the show will air on Saturday on Sky Sports 3 and said that while that is unfortunate, he is really looking forward to the show and said that Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn have great chemistry and that they are ready to take it to the next level. Triple H said that he is proud of Charlotte and Sasha Banks and said that they can take the Divas division in a new direction going forward and then put over The Ascension vs. Finn Bálor & Hideo Itami and said that he is excited to see that match and is excited about the debut of Kevin Owens tomorrow night. Triple H then put over the new fitness DVD’s that himself and Stephanie McMahon have released and said that he is very excited about them and wants to help people get in better shape and be more healthy and said that it is now time to answers some calls.
The first question was about Charlotte appearing on WWE RAW on Monday and how her appearance was to get people interested in buying the WWE Network to see WWE NXT, only to see Charlotte lose to Natalya and what the process was with her losing on Monday. Triple H said that they were given more time, but as things went on, they lost the time and said that he would have lovd to give them more time like they did on NXT and said that the decision as to who went over are heavily debated and it is what it is. Triple H said that to him, it’s all about promotion and more people would see them on WWE RAW than WWE NXT and said that when Charlotte comes back to the main roster, she will be presented in a different way and it will be a while before she is seen on RAW again, meaning that people will forget and said that when she returns in what could be anything like 6 months to a year, no one will say that they killed her on her debut. The next question was about the next live special and whether it would be in March during WrestleMania 31 week, meaning that NXT would be out of Full Sail. Triple H said that they have talked about it and that it sounds easy to do it on WrestleMania 31 week, but the schedule is really busy, but said that no doubt, WWE NXT will be represented during WrestleMania week and said that Full Sail affords them a lot from a production and economic standpoint, but it is all on the table, but they are definitely considering it.
The next question was about whether Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville are ready to make the next step and whether they would be NXT Superstars. Triple H said that he hoped that they would be WWE Superstars, but it all depends on integrating them into the WWE product in the best way possible and it depends on need and timing and hopes that in 6 months, neither of them are in NXT and are on the main roster, stating that the goal of NXT is to get the guys ready for the big roster and then move them up when the best opportunity presents itself and said that he doesn’t look at NXT as developmental, but more like a seperate brand and said that it can get frustrating for the talent and he understands that. The same caller said that he has heard that NXT recruits have been told that it could be a two-year process before they make it on the main roster and asked if that was accurate and whether they would make an exception if a guy beats the timeline. Triple H said that you can’t really put a timeline on it and talked about how quickly Kurt Angle picked things up and was amazing, but that other guys don’t pick it up so fast and said that the process takes time, especially for guys that are totally new to the business. Triple H said that guys like Finn Bálor, Hideo Itami and Kevin Owens are ahead of the curve, but they still have to adapt to the WWE process and said that once they are ready, they have to also wait for the spot on the main roster to open up for them and said that he wants them working every weekend and getting the work in that they were on the independent scene and said that he tells the guys like that if it happens fast, it is great, but if not, then wait and be patient and if you don’t want to wait, we can talk about it and part ways amicably.
The next caller asked about Triple H about his thoughts on Kevin Owens. Triple H said that it is about getting up to speed on things and learning how WWE does things and said that it’s about getting up to speed and being a TV show. Triple H then said that Finn Bálor learned about all the production stuff and got a little frazzled and that they talked and Finn said that he never had to know about all of the production aspects before as he used to just go to the ring and give it his all and that is not how WWE does things and said that is a big part of the process and guys have to learn that aspect of the process. The next question asked if there has been any discussion of putting the WWE NXT Championship on pay-per-views. Triple H said that they have talked about it and said that he is constantly working to get eyeballs on the WWE NXT talent via the WWE machine and said that he wants to get NXT out to the masses and said that he is constantly making suggestions as to how to get the brand out there and said that Vince says all the time that slowly but surely, NXT will become an overnight success.
The next caller asked what the plans were for 2015 as it comes to putting tweaks and improvements into the NXT brand and the WWE Performance Center. Triple H said that they are always working on it and it is a work-in-progress and said that from the training standpoint, they are always looking for new avenues to help them develop and said that the medical staff all just got certified in ART, but as for the brand, his goal is to make it its own living, breathing brand and said that he would like to tour NXT outside of their current Florida touring area and said that it is a lot of work to get a touring schedule up and running and make it succeed and said that he wants more eyeballs on NXT and wants to get the brand out there, while keeping in mind that the end goal is to get them on the main roster, but said that he wants to create a greater brand awareness. The next question asked if the WWE Performance Center has helped in recruiting mainstream athletes to join the business. Triple H said yes, as they have a lot of people from the regular sports field, putting over soccer players, 4-5 guys from the NFL, World’s Strongest Man athletes, collegiate athletes and more and said that they are getting to the point they want to, but that it took a while and said that guys used to have no idea as to how to get into WWE, but now they know that it is through the WWE Performance Center and then put over his recruiters doing a great job going worldwide for new talent and said that the word is out there now and guys are coming to them now and thinks that over the next few years you will see more talent from outside sports joining the business.
The next caller asked about Kevin Owens and what the challenges are of having to deal with his independent wrestling reputation going forward. Triple H said that it is a fine lin as he wants to acknowledge his years of experience, but you also need to make it a WWE product and said that it is a fine line of keeping both and some guys will be changed more than others and said that it is a growth process and sometimes the talent wants to start over and the fan that know then get mad and angry. The next question asked if part of the reason of him wanting to tour more was to help grow the gimmicks from just working at Full Sail, sometimes infront of the same audience on a monthly basis. Triple H said that is part of his thinking and said that if people thought WWE thought Adam Rose would correlate exactly from WWE NXT to WWE RAW, that wasn’t the case and they knew that they would need to adjust and said that you can debate it after the fact, but you have to watch the talent and see accordingly and said that he wants the talent to get out in front of as many eyeballs as possible to get them better.
The next caller talked again about the process of getting more eyeballs on the NXT product and how Triple H works with Vince McMahon about it and asked to take people through the process of how that goes. Triple H laughed and said that there is a process and the idea for Charlotte wasn’t him, but one of his writers and said that he told his team to try to get some time on the show to promote the special. Triple H said that he was fine with Charlotte being on the show and said that he found out the day before what would be on this week’s RAW, but wasn’t involved in the actual planning this time around, but was on for the tag team match the last time NXT stars appeared on RAW and said that Vince McMahon is aware of the talents and NXT and if the suggestion fits for WWE RAW, then he is open to doing it. The same caller talked about Sami Zayn and the tweaking of talents on the main roster and asked if the same Sami Zayn character that is presented on NXT could get to the main roster right now and get over. Triple H said that you can’t measure Sami Zayn’s heart and that he is so good and so emotionally captivating as a performer and said that he came out of wearing a mask and said that his facial expressions are extraordinary when you see what he came from and what he developed and said that he could get over, but it would be a slow burn and it would take time. Triple H said that Zayn does amazing stuff, but he isn’t the “holy cow” guy like Adrian Neville and said that Zayn every time gets over with you and it’s very Ricky Steamboat-esque and said that once Sami sucks you in, emotionally you are invested, but long-term, he’s your guy and you cheer his success and feel his failure. Triple H said that his growth has been awesome in a relatively short period of time and that he can’t wait for him to get his turn and said that he can’t wait for WrestleMania in 5 years to see where they all are at in their careers.
Before the next caller got the chance to ask their question, Triple H called an audible and said that they would do two more questions. The caller then asked about William Regal returning on RAW based on how good he has been on NXT. Triple H said to never say never an called Regal an amazing asset to the NXT brand and said that Regal is one of his great tools of recruitment and is one of the guys that he really trust when he tells him things because they know each other so well and there is a great dynamic there and that Regal is a great asset. Triple H was then asked about over-scripted promos and whether NXT will teach the guys how to ad-lib and be spontaneous. Triple H said absolutely, but said that with a lot of the guys, they have to script those interviews because the talents need them to do it and at NXT, they are teaching the guys how to ad-lib and even if they have to script promos, it is about guys using emotion when they deliver it and said that it is a work-in-progress, but it is something they do.
The next caller asked about why are people getting into NXT more and why is it getting more popular and where Triple H sees it going in the next year. Triple H said that it is the talent and the product that they put out there and said that it makes people excited and makes them get into the product and said that NXT will air in a lot of places including Japan and said that his goal is to make NXT as popular and the third, alternate brand, all while preparing the talents for the big roster and it should always remain fresh because the top guys will get called up, creating a new opportunity for new guys to step up and said that if it gets bigger, maybe in the future talents can take some time off from the main roster and work in NXT instead, or work on new things for the main roster. The same caller put over how Sami Zayn can speak Arabic and wondered that if he made it to the main roster, could he be to the Middle East what The Great Khali was to the Indian market and could he be an inspiration to young Arab kids who hope that they could make it to the WWE. Triple H said that is an absolute possibility and said that they just had people in India looking for talents from the country and from all over the Middle East also and said that they are trying to make their product as global as it can possibly be and want to make cultural heroes for people worldwide.
Triple H then closed the call by thanking everyone for taking time out of their day for the call where he promoted the brand and the future of WWE and said that it is exciting for him and said that he enjoys the forum and that the offer stands for the media to come down and check out the WWE Performance Center.