PW Insider recently spoke to Triple H prior to tonight’s episode of NXT. The WWE executive discussed how WWE has had to change how they operate during the pandemic and how proud he is of NXT talent for adapting.
Check out highlights below:
On having to comply with CDC guidelines:
Well, it’s been challenging for everybody and me being a part of that really extends well beyond NXT to all of it, RAW, Smackdown, WrestleMania coming into the Performance Center. Our team’s medical, working with CDC and with state and local officials to try to in the best way possible, make sure that we’re ensuring the safety of our crew, our staff, our performers, making sure that we’re screening them in the best way possible to keep … even to the point of running the events in waves where we bring in certain talent, do part of the show, they leave, bring in another grouping of talent, do some part of the show to keep people as isolated, so to speak, or within guidelines, it’s been very challenging. But it’s been a challenge we all feel like we’re doing what we can for others.
This moment in time, people need an escape and there’s really nothing else out there. We have a unique opportunity, different from the other sports entities out there. NBA, you have to take an entire team, their crew, medical, everybody. You’ve got to put them on a plane, you got to fly them to different cities, you’ve got to expose them to another city and expose them to another city, there are things right now that just make it impossible to do. We can do our stuff in a different manner. We can script out differently, we can shoot things out of order, we can do things in sequence, we can do totally differently to put together a product and still make something entertaining for our fans and that’s what you’re going to see WrestleMania, the ability to blow it out into two days, to make it bigger in some ways, to do some of it live, some of it not live, still incorporate Gronk as a host, do matches that we wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to do that. The Firefly Funhouse, the Undertakers bone yard match and do them in different locations and different styles and different feels. It’s an opportunity to do something and hopefully give fans that escape. That’s our goal is really just give them that escape and give them some entertainment, take their mind off all of it.
How NXT is adapting:
There is that intimacy with NXT, but no matter what brand it is, Smackdown, NXT, whether it’s WrestleMania or whether it’s Takeover. You’re working for that reaction, and that is really what the performance is about. I think the shifting of that in some way, it’s a totally different mindset working in an empty arena. You’ve heard performers talk about their performance and [they go] bigger in this direction because of that reaction. You don’t have that reaction. So you’re trying to pull your best feelings out, for what those reactions would be and your timing of things. You have nothing to play off of. It’s difficult, but I think talent has done a phenomenal job. I think this is where they’ve all stepped up together as a team, they’ve helped each other out.
They’ve looked out for one another and given each other that drive and that advice of looking at things from the outside to help you get through it. It’s been inspiring to see and… I think we all believe right now, and nobody is being required to do any of this, the talent aren’t required to do this, if they have a problem, they don’t perform. And nothing is going to be held against them. Everybody has their own feelings on this, but for the most part, our crew, our staff, our talent, it’s been inspiring to see because they want to do this. Their desire to go out there and continue to perform and let people have that escape, it’s been inspiring. It’s interesting when you go to the Performance Center and you see the people that are there and you’re going around and talking to people and everybody’s having fun. They have a smile on their face, they’re having a blast. They’re all banding together, feeling like they’re in this together and they’re this challenging situation, but they’re all doing their best to make it work out. It reminds me of when we used to go over to Iraq and Afghanistan under trying circumstances performing shows for the troops where we would set up these makeshift arenas with no sleep and in bad circumstances trying to put these shows on. It’s the same thing. There’s a bond and a sense of camaraderie, and it’s hard to put into words, but it’s really, really awe inspiring to see. I’m proud of all of them.
