Triple H joined the media for his regular post-NXT TakeOver conference call and was asked about the details behind the crossover of brands that pits Charlotte Flair against his NXT Champion, Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 36.
Hunter reveals that USA Network had zero fingerprints in on the matter and it all stemmed from Vince McMahon’s booking savvy.
“Actually USA had no involvement at all. To be honest, it was shocking when it was first mentioned to me,” stated Hunter. “I believe that this was really just a decision of Vince’s part on understanding where the other stories are going for the women. As you build more on these things, to me, you have opportunities where you look in a moment in time and you go, ‘Okay, well does Charlotte go after Bayley and Sasha Banks on that side? Does she move into that world? Does she come after Becky Lynch?’ All these things that you’ve sort of seen before and you’re looking to get fresh and building new and I think you see that with Shayna Baszler going after Becky Lynch and you see that in different ways on SmackDown with where they’re going. So this was a way of Charlotte Flair needing to be in that big epic role. I think it really had nothing more to do with that.”
“It’s good storytelling and that’s what the goal is here. It’s really good storytelling across the board so I think when you look at that, you have Charlotte in that position, Rhea Ripley having an incredible year and just getting to where she’s at and then Bianca Belair as well having an incredible year,” Triple H said about her swift stamp that she has made on the women’s division.
“I was just speaking to her in the back. In 2016 she stepped in the ropes with us for the first time to start training and when you consider the fact in just that short, in probably less that four year window,man she’s become one of the absolute in the world…”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
You can listen to the entire post-event conference call below:
