During an interview at the Performance Center, Triple H discussed his love for NXT. Here are the highlights:
On NXT Stories Evolving Over Time:
I think a little of both. I think there’s intention there to run long-term story lines and to keep those story arcs going when you can, but some of it is just how it ended up because we have the luxury of not having to write three hours of live television every week or get through multiple hours of that with multiple pay-per-views in a short period of time. When you have a monthly pay-per-view and three hours of live TV every week, like you do with Raw, that is an exponentially different way of writing that makes you have to go through stuff faster and burn through things, when you can do it on a much more — one-hour — much slower pace, when you’re not bombarded by it at all times. You make that last a lot longer and draw it out over time.
And some of those story lines are also things that I find — I’m sure a lot of people do who write stuff like this — for us, things happen. Injuries happen where you have to change your thinking on something in the middle of a story line. And Ciampa gets injured, you have to go a completely different way. But sometimes, the genius comes out of that chaos, where something happens and in the moment you think like, ‘Oh my god! This has ruined everything about this.’ So, you make a left, and it ends up being even better. And when you come back to it, you’re like, ‘Wow. That turned out better than what we actually had laid out.’ So, sometimes that genius comes out of it. The genius moment is something you didn’t intend on but fell in your lap.
On The Importance Of Team Meetings:
So, we started doing that almost from the beginning. It was such a foreign concept to a lot of these people to do these events and they were so big. I almost felt that — a few things — we needed to build a team environment. When you’re building a brand, you almost want it to be the badge of honor that you are a part of NXT and to be a part of this family and this culture was meaningful. So to do that, you got to bind people together. But you also got to motivate them to put on the show before they do the show and get them into the right mindset and make them realize where they are, and the moment, and what they’re about to accomplish and all those things. And then when it’s over, to talk about that as a team and talk about the success we just had, or the success that we didn’t have. There are times when we get done TV here, and we have the meetings afterwards, and I have to say, ‘But it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.’ You got to be honest with it, but to share in that success as a team, that success, that failure, that ability to put on an incredible show and then all celebrate for a moment together and to follow that.”
I think those are meaningful moments, and I still think it today even with main roster stars that have come through this. Guys and girls still come back to the show — the night before a pay-per-view, they’ll come to a TakeOver, or I get texts from people all the time, ‘Hey. We’re in the locker room and wherever watching TakeOver.’ And it’s all the talent that came out of here. There’s still that pride point. To me, it’s like being in college and that’s your team. You went to Clemson. That’s your team. That’s your — forever, you’re bonded to that. And that’s what really a lot of what this is, is forever they’re bonded a part of this, of NXT, of this group that helped [them] come up and giving it back to the guys behind them and the girls behind them and making them the future. I feel like this is an important part of the culture of the brand and having them have that pride, that ownership of we’re all doing that together.
On Getting More Satisfaction Out Of Running NXT Than His Own Career:
Shawn [Michaels] and I talk about this all the time. I get almost — I think, in some ways, get more out of what I’m doing now than I did in my career where it was just about me. Now, it’s the ability to help — I dunno. For me to sit in gorilla and watch kids realize their dream and their passion and have that light bulb moment or whatever that is or see their success, know how much they poured their heart and soul into it and then have that success. To see you go out there and tear it up, knowing how that all came to be, those are just really cool moments, and I think that’s the passion now. So to me, 50 was just a number.
On What He Loves About NXT:
The one thing that I love about NXT and any excuse that I can do to be here, it’s the youth that’s here. So to me, this place is like the fountain of youth. It really is. Coming here, and it’s all these young, passionate people trying to make a name for themselves. And they grind and they’re just so into it, and you can’t help but come in here and leave here inspired. You just rub that youth all over you man, and you leave here inspired and you want to do more, and you want to accomplish more. So, I love it here. This is the fountain of youth.
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Credit: NXT. H/T 411Mania.
