Triple H On The WWE NXT Announce Team, Kota Ibushi, WWE Examining Injuries, Alexander Wolfe, More
As noted, Triple H held a media call this week to promote Saturday's WWE NXT "Takeover: Back To Brooklyn" event, which you can check out in the video above. Below are more highlights:
* They are open to taking NXT anywhere around the world and will be announcing the Australia tour soon. They want to take the brand anywhere it can go, calling it a global brand. He feels NXT being its own brand is an important component of what they're doing. NXT can go anywhere and so far they're drawing sellout crowds
* A German reporter asked about Alexander Wolfe and Triple H expects to see big things coming out of Wolfe soon. He says Wolfe has come along tremendously as a performer. Regarding soccer player Tim Wiese, they're "playing it by ear" and seeing how his training is going. They all hope this is something big for Tim and everyone involved. Wiese will be doing something on the upcoming German tour but they're not sure what it will be yet
* He was asked about Kota Ibushi saying he was interested in working for WWE and Japan, and if WWE would be open to a deal like that or if WWE wants talents to be exclusive to them. He talked about working with Jushin "Thunder" Liger last year and says they're open to different things. They do want to keep the cruiserweight division exclusive to WWE and in-house. He says everything is a work in progress, especially the cruiserweight division returning
* Regarding WWE hiring a new strength & conditioning coach at the Performance Center, and the recent injuries, he was asked if there's been any change in training. He says they're looking into trends and what might cause different injuries. He has always thought it's weird how one guy gets an injury and a handful of other guys get a similar injury. He says it's difficult to pin the injuries on one thing, but it's a physical business. They are absolutely looking at what causes those things to happen. He says they try to make the talents bulletproof but it's a work in progress. They're looking into various technology to help monitor training
* With Corey Graves going to RAW, they are working on the new NXT announce team. He's thrilled about Graves going to RAW and says they are trying to figure out the new voice of NXT. It also comes down to if Vince wants the announcers to be exclusive or not. He says we might see some shifting around, he's not sure yet. He's just as thrilled that NXT created an announcer in Graves
* Regarding 50/50 booking and not seeing a lot of it on NXT, he commented on how booking a one-hour show compared to a three-hour show is a totally different animal. He said a lot of booking is based on how you feel, and he looks at it as a fan and what he wants to see, trying to book in that manner. He says everyone has a different style and philosophy, and nothing is right or wrong. You can say what you want about their booking, but there's a pretty good track record for a lot of it. He books NXT the way he wants to book NXT and the rest of WWE booking is done differently at times but it's not an exact science