In a recent interview with ESPN, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative, Triple H, spoke extensively about the NXT brand. Among a number of other topics, he discussed Shinsuke Nakamura not being on Raw, Finn Balor’s reaction post his debut on NXT and how the show is helping superstars prepare for bigger things.
During the conversation, ‘The Game’ opened up on how he finds it amusing when people ask him why current NXT Champion, Nakamura, doesn’t appear on Raw every week. According to him, what mattered more was the fact that they were getting to see him, irrespective of the brand he works for.
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This is what the 14-time world champion had to say:
“One of the things that's funny to me -- I always laugh at it -- is when people say to me, 'I watch Nakamura every week in NXT. I don't know why they don't put him on Raw so I can watch him on Raw every week. You're getting to see him, right? You're getting to see him doing what he does, in a big way. The opportunities are there. He's got that clean path now to get here, when he gets here he might go there, he might go back.”
Triple H explained how it was difficult for athletes to understand the how things are different at the Wrestlemania level or Raw level unless they go through the NXT level. In this context, he cited the example of Finn Balor who, despite being an established name prior to the WWE, claimed to have his mind blown after his NXT debut.
‘The Cerebral Assassin’ was quoted as saying this:
“Guys have things to learn along the way," he added. "Unless you've done this, you can't understand the difference in what the television product is at a Wrestlemania level, to a Raw level, to an NXT level. We're trying to create that product. Finn Bálor is a guy that came in from an indie group -- so successful, a great in-ring performer, but had never really talked much.
The first NXT event we did, he looked at me afterwards and was like, 'Dude, my mind is blown, because I never once thought where cameras were, or any of the other things that we do.”
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion asserted that the superstars that come out of NXT are finished products who are ready to perform on Raw or SmackDown. He opined that unlike earlier when the learning curve for athletes used to carry on while they were part of the bigger brands, NXT has ensured that it is taken care of beforehand.
“You get guys that when they come out of NXT, they're TV-ready. You pull the trigger, and they're ready to roll on Raw or SmackDown. You didn't see that before. It was a big learning curve when they got up there. We're taking that learning curve and putting it way earlier in the process. That's where you're gonna see guys over the years be able to succeed and deepen that talent roster and that talent pool,” stated Triple H.
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