Triple H Reveals WWE NXT UK Plans And Network Success, Why He Doesn't See NXT Competing With AEW
Triple H spoke with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT before Saturday's WWE NXT UK "Takeover: Cardiff" event and defended earlier comments he made about why he doesn't feel like NXT is competing with AEW as the two shows prepare to premiere on Wednesday nights. He also stood by comments he made on the roster he has, and how he wouldn't trade it for any other roster.
Triple H was referring to comments he made to the media during his pre-Takeover conference call earlier in the weekend, before NXT UK Takeover and AEW All Out took place.
For those who missed it, he said, "There is a lot of competition this weekend, I mean that in a positive way that there is a lot to be offered, there is a lot to watch. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that there isn't anybody, anywhere else that I would trade for the people on this roster. I 100% believe in them, that this will be the event of the weekend by far. I'm excited for them to go have the opportunity to show the world who they are and to show everybody that they are NXT because that is the standard-bearer of what they do. ... I know it's a very competitive weekend, but I'm very excited to get this show off the blocks and I think that the NXT UK brand is going to be showing the world that it's a brand to watch."
Fast forward to the interview with McCarthy, which was also recorded before Takeover, and Triple H said he's not going into this looking at it as competition. He was asked what gives him the confidence to say things like that.
"Yeah, look... to me it's not... I don't know. People can say what they want, how they want. I don't approach it as, 'Well, this is a competitive thing,' or it's anything else to me, it's... we just put on our shows. I'm going to put on our shows when we need to put them on, in the best places we need to put them, in the right timeslots for them, and with the best talent that I can find in the world, and that we have, and we already have them, I'm confident in that. When I look across the board at NXT in general, and at NXT in the UK here, we put on show after show of the highest caliber. Not one match or two matches, the entire shows.
"For me it's not competitive against anyone or anything, I just want to put on the best show possible for fans of NXT, for the fans here in Cardiff tonight, for the fans around the world, that's all this is. You know, it's funny because a few years ago we were doing this and doing the same kind of thing, and wowing people, and there wasn't competitors out there, and I guess we were just doing it for competitive reasons [laughs], to compete with ourselves."
Triple H also revealed that the NXT UK series is the second most-popular show on the WWE Network, behind the main NXT series. He also confirmed that they plan to do more NXT UK Takeover events in 2020, adding NXT UK events to the schedule as the brand grows.