Triple H On WWE NXT's COVID Protocols Following Steve Cutler's Release

Ahead of NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day, Triple H conducted a media call, the full audio of which can be found on The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Triple H if NXT has changed the way they deal with COVID following Steve Cutler's release and the reported circumstances around it.

"To be honest, I have no knowledge of, precisely, that situation or what went into it," Triple H admitted. "It really had nothing to do with me. We take COVID seriously across the board with everything. We're expecting our talent to be as safe as possible. We're taking every precaution we can from testing and cleaning, just every precaution that we've been advised to take, that it's best for us to take.

"We're taking it all very seriously. The safety and health of our performers, our staff [and] our crew is first and foremost on anything we do. Again, I don't know all that situation. I only know what's been speculated to me and what I've read, but I'm not specifically asked, and I don't have that information."

It has been reported that WWE will have two Elimination Chamber matches this year. Triple H was asked if there have been conversations around having a NXT Elimination Chamber match.

"We have not. I'm not saying it's not something we'll look at going into the future," Triple H noted. "Anything can happen, but it is not a conversation right now. For me, Elimination Chamber is a very WWE and a very RAW, SmackDown centralized event. I wouldn't be opposed to it. At the same point in time, it's nice to be able to have different events for different brands and a different feel that just make the shows different.

"I love the fact that NXT has War Games, and the Fight Pit and different things that are synonymous with NXT and that RAW and SmackDown have those with them as well. UK has the Heritage Cup and just a different feel to it. So having those distinct differences are wonderful, but it gives you a reason to go to those brands, to be engaged in those brands and keeping them separate is a good thing."

Triple H was also asked about the process behind how NXT women are chosen for the Royal Rumble. He noted that there are a lot of factors that go into who gets in the match and how things are not that simple.

"As far as the booking of the Women's Royal Rumble Match and going into it in the lead in as far as the actual match itself, I was there day of," Triple H said. "A lot of conversations happened on production of it and everything else day of. Prior to that, I really was not involved, but when it comes down to NXT, as they begin to put The Rumble together creatively, there's just an ask. 'Hey, here's what we think is the right fit for what we could use for women.

"Here's the right fit for guys.' The Rumble is, to me, one of my favorite matches because you're looking at an opportunity all through that match to bring in different things, and so at some point, you want 'the holy crap' moment where a talent's coming in that you didn't expect or the right talent comes in at the right time to pay off a storyline that happens to be happening in that ring, or you want the surprise, or you want the comedy moment, or you want the celebrity moment or you just want different things that can lead you in multitude of directions. So it's never as simple as, well, we're going to do X woman from RAW, X number of women from Smackdown, X number women from NXT and / or guys. It's never that simple.

"It's not cookie cutter, and more through the creation of it, it takes a thousand different directions and then of course, in today's world, you have to be ready for anything. So you need to have alternates and backups ready to go and know what's going on and what's happening and where they might have to fit the bill if they're needed. So you want to have people there and ready, and again, you're looking at the full match dynamics. You're talking about over an hour of content. Who is the right fit? If I was talking about NXT women coming in and I said, 'Okay, you want to bring in Kacy Catanzaro, or you want to bring in Raquel Gonzalez?' Two totally different women that bring in two totally different dynamics the moment they step out of that curtain. It's got to be the right fit at the right time in the right moment and go the right place."

WWE NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day takes place this Sunday night and will air on the WWE Network. The full audio from Paul "Triple H" Levesque's WWE NXT "Takeover: Vengeance Day" media call aired on today's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, which you can listen to via the embedded player below: