– Triple H recently spoke with the UK’s Mirror to promote the current WWE NXT tour. The full article can be found at this link. He noted that he won’t be there for the early part of the tour but will be there next Wednesday for Takeover in London. Here are highlights from their chat:
As someone who is always looking to develop the next breakout star, is this tour a good opportunity for you to further assess the progress of the NXT roster, to see how they perform night after night in front of different crowds, and also to look at what kind of reaction they get from a British audience, who have perhaps different tastes in wrestling compared to an American crowd?
First of all we’re constantly evaluating talent, whether that be at the Performance Center, as they’re doing live events locally in Florida or out on the road. Every place you go has a different crowd and a different reaction. Obviously the further you go, and when you go to the UK, that presents a whole different set of parameters and the crowd is totally different. So this will be huge – not only for us to evaluate them but it’s also a chance for the talent to grow. That opportunity to go and work in front of different crowds that like different styles and the thing that you used to do here doesn’t work over there, or works better, you know, you’ve got to be able to learn and evolve on the fly.
This ability for us to be a global brand and to be able to go to all these different markets, all around the US, all around the UK, and expanding out beyond that this year coming up, that experience is just so valuable to talent. I can’t really express how valuable that is to them because they’re going to become such well rounded performers. Look, sometimes I’ve had talents that are hugely over for NXT and they’ve gone to a couple of markets for WWE where NXT isn’t seen massively, the economy is worse and people don’t have the Network, they don’t have a ton of exposure there, and nobody knew what they were doing. It’s eye-opening to them, that they all of a sudden have to work a totally different way and tell a totally different story to get these fans involved. Everybody that has the chance to go and have that experience will be a much better performer down the line for us.”
They also have the opportunity to stake a claim as someone who is a ‘one to watch’.
Absolutely. And look the UK has some of our most passionate and energetic and loud fans that we have any place in the globe. The UK has always been that kind of a market for us. To be quite honest, other than having to take the flight all the way over there [laughs] I’m really jealous that I’m not there tonight because I just know when the lights dim for that thing to start, that place is going to be insane. All these shows are, starting in Newcastle tonight, it will be off the charts. Glasgow will be the same. You go down the line all these towns and cities, Blackpool sold-out, Cardiff sold-out… the UK brings such an excitement level and I wish I was there. I will be there in London for the NXT Takeover special, but all these shows are going to be special. Being able to see the talent walk out there, and see that amazement in their eyes as they walk out in the UK for the first time and g et that feeling, it’s just awesome.
