WWE News: Triple H Talks NXT, Creating Superstars, And His Role

While Triple H is one of WWE’s most legendary active in-ring performers, his physical involvement has been cut back severely over the past six years as he has transitioned into an executive role.

“The Game” has not been seen since losing the WWE World Heavyweight championship to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 32 in front of over 100,000 fans in Dallas, Texas. However, the WWE’s Executive Vice President of talent, live events, and creative is proud of what NXT is doing.

“NXT has kind of become the fastest growing brand in the entire industry, and, from a WWE standpoint, it [has] gone from what was being kept at one point in time, considered our developmental brand, where we were just grooming stars for the future, to really becoming a third brand that tours globally alongside of [WWE Monday Night] RAW and [WWE] SmackDown,” Triple H said to 98 FM Dublin to promote NXT’s upcoming tour of the United Kingdom (transcription via Wrestling Inc).

“NXT is no different. It’s a slightly different style, and I don’t mean by in-ring style, but [rather] the presentation is slightly different and it really tends to super-serve our passionate fanbase, the fanbase that kind of lives and breathes WWE and that lifestyle.”

During Triple H’s stint as NXT’s primary leader, the brand is now selling out major venues in New York City and boasts some of the most refined in-ring talents. In the past year alone, NXT has lured the likes of Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Shinsuke Nakamura, Eric Young, and others to its roster.

Also, the brand has produced several other superstars that are currently on WWE’s main roster. Those names include Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, The Wyatt Family, and a litany of others. It’s all a part of the fans’ desire for a fresh product and the performers’ desire to step up.

“And NXT on the WWE Network really captures the imagination of that group. The talent are maybe a little bit younger, a little bit more diverse, and they’re really hungry and they’re trying to sort of either make their name, or prove their point, or remake their name in some cases, and earn their spot as being at the top of the sports entertainment industry.”

For years, the goal of the WWE has been to create superstars for the future. With recent call-ups such as Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, and Apollo Crews from NXT, the hope is that they can emerge as stalwarts on the WWE roster for a long time.

Yet, since the Attitude Era’s prosperous roster, featuring the likes of The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, and Triple H himself, the WWE has not been able to produce starts at the same rate. Following the early 2000’s class of John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, and Brock Lesnar, top stars have been few and far between.

But when Triple H was asked about how the company can produce somebody like The Rock or Steve Austin, he diverted the responsibility to the talent themselves, noting that they have the opportunity in front of them.

“Those talent make themselves in the biggest way. You train them, you teach them how to do this [and] you try to give them all the tools necessary. And that’s really what we created a few years ago with the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. [It] is just the ultimate performance center, for lack of a better term, that gives them every tool that they could need to succeed in the WWE. And then, what they do with that is up to them. If they work as hard as possible and they’re dedicated and passionate [about] it and work as hard as they can, then, the sky is the limit.”

[Featured Image via WWE]