Triple H spoke with the media and Cathy Kelley following last night’s WWE NXT “Takeover: War Games II” event from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Above is video of the Facebook interview with Cathy and below are highlights from both interviews:
* Triple H, still wearing a sling following his recent pectoral tear surgery, said he’s been in the Staples Center for a lot of big events, WWE and non-WWE, but there was a big rumble in the arena for Takeover and you could just feel the energy. He said the arena was just rumbling and buzzing, and he’s never experienced anything like it
* Regarding Matt Riddle’s squash win over Kassius Ohno, he said Riddle made a mark and made a statement. He agreed that Riddle oozes confidence. He gave Riddle props for his charisma and how he turns everything on when the bell rings. He said Riddle has a level of intensity that very few others have, and he will be a very interesting one to watch, a force to be reckoned with for sure
* Cathy brought up how the replay indicated Kairi Sane may have gotten her arm up as NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler retained the title in the 2 of 3 Falls match. Triple H agreed and talked about how there’s no replays in wrestling when it comes to the decision. He said it was debatable if she actually got her shoulder up but Baszler left with the title. He said Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir once again got involved but it wasn’t unanswered this time. He said if a bully crew rises up in the women’s division then we will see others respond, like we saw with Dakota Kai and Io Shirai at Takeover. Triple H said that’s really exciting and he guarantees the rivalry is not over. He continued and gave major praise to the NXT women’s division
* Cathy asked if Aleister Black is back to contending for the NXT Title with his win over Johnny Gargano. Triple H said Black should now put the attack storyline behind him and focus on what he lost, the NXT Title. Triple H isn’t sure where this puts Gargano but he doesn’t think we’ve seen Gargano hit the bottom yet, and he wouldn’t want to be the others in the locker room when he does hit bottom. Triple H said Gargano had a much darker side and it will be something different when we really see it
* Regarding The Velveteen Dream’s loss to NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, Triple H gave him props and said he thinks about all that but then realizes Dream is only 23 years old. Dream took Ciampa to the limit and had the whole world thinking it’s all his, at just 23. He said it’s scary to think how good and how dominant on every level Dream will be. He also gave praise to Ciampa and the run he’s been on. Triple H said Ciampa is not planning on letting go of the title any time soon and Gargano isn’t the only reason Black doesn’t have the title, it’s because of Ciampa. He said Black better dig down deep inside if he thinks he’s going to take the title off Ciampa. Triple H said if he were to look at everyone right now, Ciampa would be the one running on a different level
* He gave props to all eight War Games competitors for actually going to war. He wasn’t sure how to put into words, what the guys went through and what they put their bodies through, the war they went through to say they are the best. He commented on the face off between NXT North American Champion Ricochet and WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne, saying he doesn’t believe that war is over. He said if he’s The War Raiders, he’s looking at NXT Tag Team Champions Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly, thinking that they just got knocked down a notch and it’s time to take the titles. He said there’s so much that comes out of the War Games match and he doesn’t believe the war is over. He’s already for the next Takeover
* Regarding WWE Survivor Series, Triple H said the main roster Superstars better step up because NXT is on their heels but he knows they can do it, as they will bring it at Survivor Series like only they can
* Triple H opened the media call and said this was another tremendous night. He said NXT is at a different level and he’s proud of the roster. He said they all want to deliver and it shows with their passion, their pride. That’s not to say the main roster doesn’t have that on RAW or SmackDown but it’s just different in NXT. He later noted that Takeover once again proved why NXT is the hottest brand going
* Regarding the women’s title match, he said he loved it and four new characters came out of it
* When asked why they added Riddle vs. Ohno, he said it’s just nice to give surprises and do something different. People in the arena expected Riddle to wrestle before the show began so they gave the fans there a nice treat. He said the match played off Riddle’s personality and proved that he can go when the bell rings
* He talked about how NXT is always experimenting, which they did with the LED boards, the purple bracelets for Dream. He said they also did Virtual Reality filming at Takeover and he didn’t see it but he heard it was great. He said NXT never wants to be complacent and this is what it’s all about, never stop learning and never stop changing. He said you have to always give the crowd what they want and that changes. Some stuff works out on the main roster but not NXT, and vice versa
* He said the NXT TV tapings from San Jose on Thursday night will play out over the next few weeks
* Regarding a possible War Games injury to Bobby Fish, he said Fish is fine. Fish had a moment where the physical toll of the in-ring action of War Games became too much on his surgically-repaired knee and he had to get a feeling for it, to feel it out, but he’s OK
* WWE UK Champion Pete Dune had been working on a broken bone in his foot and needed to take a few weeks off from in-ring action to let it heal but he is fine now and was good to go at Takeover
* He noted that they will have lots of NXT UK involvement at WrestleMania 35 weekend. We will start to see the NXT UK brand grow more towards the beginning of 2019 and there will be a major announcement at the upcoming TV tapings in Liverpool. He said Wednesday is now a big destination for viewers on the WWE Network. He isn’t happy with everything and they had some glitch & timing issues, but there will be changes, and we will always see constant changes. He said NXT UK feels like NXT but it’s different stylistically, which is the goal
