Triple H Talks WWE NXT Takeover, If NXT Is Going After ROH, Apollo Crews, Call-Ups, More

– Triple H held a conference call today to promote Saturday’s WWE NXT “Takeover: Brooklyn” event. This is the first time the call took place from WWE headquarters. Below are highlights:

* He said it’s a historic week for NXT as far as being its own brand and filling its own niche. SummerSlam weekend is a huge opportunity for the brand and at first he wasn’t a big fan of the idea of running Barclays Center. They wanted to curtain it off at 6,000 seats at first but those sold out before tickets officially went on sale, so they went to 13,000 seats. They are very excited about Takeover in New York City. He said if you can make it in NYC, you can make it anywhere.

* He talked about the card and pushed Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Samoa Joe vs. Corbin and the “dual main events” of Bayley vs. Sasha Banks and Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor. He clarified his Twitter announcement and said all the matches revealed are not for the live WWE Network special. They will first film 90 minutes of NXT TV and then air the live two hour Takeover show.

* He announced the WWE Performance Center All-Access pass for September 28th. Tickets are on sale and the full details were posted earlier.

* They are looking at ideas in regards to doing NXT Takeover events before all major pay-per-views but he prefers when they piggyback NXT specials onto week-long WWE events to make the brand part of the entire experience.

* They’re proud of selling out the Barclays Center three nights in a row, noting he doesn’t know too many entertainment brands that can sell out NYC three straight nights. He says 2015 was to be the year they tried new things and NXT is unique. He doesn’t want it to be like RAW or SmackDown, it needs to have its own identity.

* He talked about Vince McMahon taking to which talents he wants to and that being a battle that will always have to be fought in NXT, in regards to talents coming to the main roster. He says he does not cherry-pick the indies, despite online rumors, and says he just wants talented new people, no matter where they come from – sports or the indies.

* He feels like a proud dad watching the “kids” going to the main roster and getting recognized. He talks about the Divas Revolution and is looking forward to them main eventing. He talks about Sasha Banks and Charlotte wanting to main event WrestleMania and doesn’t doubt it will happen.

* Regarding going up against ROH and a potential deal with EVOLVE to go after ROH, Triple H said it’s funny how people see things differently. He’s not trying to cause harm to ROH. He said other companies piggy-back off major WWE events and it makes sense for WWE to do the same thing. He says it’s part of the discovery process for the NXT brand. He says he was unaware of ROH running in Texas when they booked the Night of Champions weekend events. Regarding EVOLVE and Gabe Sapolsky, they are looking for quality events that can help support the business overall. He acknowledged that indies are important to the health of the business and doesn’t want to see anyone fail but he’s always going to do what’s right for WWE business. He says if that affects someone’s business plan, he can’t help that because WWE is priority for him.

* He talked about William Regal and others scouting and recruiting new talents all over the world, including Canada as the reporter asking the question was in Toronto. He mentioned talents get trained by right by people like Lance Storm and others in Canada, which leads to opportunities but not any additional opportunities.

* He talked about how there’s excitement all through NXT, talents are selling tickets and merchandise. They’re thinking about taking NXT international, to the UK. He’s always bragging on NXT to Vince McMahon and telling him to check stuff out. He says it’s more than just making sure WWE has future talents, that’s an important part of NXT but there’s a lot more.

* Regarding talents who get called up continuing to work NXT events, he says everyone wants to go to the main roster but NXT isn’t a bad spot to be in. He said they might move some talents who aren’t being used back down to NXT to revitalize them. He says there’s no rulebook for NXT, they can do anything with the brand.

* He had a lot of praise for Apollo Crews, the former Uhaa Nation. He’s looking forward to his debut at Takeover this weekend. He said Crews has the young, hungry fire and he’s looking forward to him being a huge star. He also said there will be other big debuts and fresh blood soon as others get called to the main roster.

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