Roman Reigns recently relinquished his WWE Universal Championship due to his ongoing second battle with Leukemia. WWE COO recently appeared on the Elvin Duran Show and discussed Roman’s decision to make his condition public and the reasons why his first battle with the disease was not made public.
Triple H stated that “Very few people knew about [his first battle]. He and I had spoken about it and this was something that he didn’t want to put out there until he had reached a certain point in his career because he didn’t want people to feel like he was being pitied or given things for a certain reason.” The Game elaborated further and claimed that “He wanted to be able to come out at the end and say, ‘Look, I’ve dealt with this the whole time. You can do anything. This is not an end sentence.‘“
Triple H also spoke about RAW on Monday and what he and Roman discussed during the show, stating that “As we talked about on Monday, [I told him] ‘Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.’ The rest of the stuff happens and it didn’t work out the way he thought it would. It’s back and now’s the time to spread that message.”
Credit to the Elvis Duran Show and h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
Triple H recently spoke with ESPN to promote Sunday’s WWE Evolution pay-per-view event in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the finals of the 2018 Mae Young Classic, which will feature Toni Storm vs. Io Shirai.
During the interview, “The Game” spoke about the success of Mae Young Classic where he noted that he had been pitching to do the tournament for a while and once got the green light from Vince McMahon, the WWE Chairman was under the impression that there would be 16 competitions. However, Triple H said that there would be 32. The only problem with 16 competitions was due to sometimes having to tell talents that they wouldn’t be in the tournament.
“You are trying to balance it all out stylistically and everything else, because the styles, and how people match up fight-wise is what makes these things unique. It was deep then, but along the way to finding the 32, or whatever we ended up with in total with all of the alternates, you’re digging up all of these diamonds that you’re going like, “Oh, yeah, we’re already packed, but next year [we will use you in the tournament].”
Ronda Rousey has caught fire with the WWE fans since signing with the WWE and making her in-ring debut earlier this year. He said that when they first met, she told him that she wanted to inspire young girls and young people and show them that you can do anything.
She felt that there is no bigger platform in the world for her to do that than WWE. She wanted to do every single entertainment and sport aspect of it and reach the world on a global basis. He added that he told her, “We go everywhere. That’s a game changer.”
Tonight’s episode of Monday Night RAW will serve as the go-home episode before this weekend’s Evolution pay-per-view (PPV). However, the men’s storylines for WWE Crown Jewel will also continue to be developed. One of the top matches on the Crown Jewel card is a Tag Team bout between Triple H and Shawn Michaels, taking on Kane and The Undertaker.
The match was developed from the conclusion of The Undertaker and Triple H’s match at the WWE Super Show-Down. “The Game” defeated The Undertaker while Shawn Michaels and Kane were at ringside. After the match, all four men celebrated in the ring together before Kane and The Undertaker attacked Michaels and Triple H. Now, D-Generation X will reunite in Saudi Arabia to face The Brothers of Destruction.
It will be WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels’ first match back in WWE since 2010 when he was defeated by The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26. WWE.com has now confirmed both Triple H and Shawn Michaels will be on tonight’s RAW from Providence, Rhode Island. The two legends will likely be continuing to hype their match with Kane and The Undertaker next week.
What do you expect from Triple H and Shawn Michaels tonight on RAW?
– Batista has had his share of intense rivalries and according to WWE, Triple H is his greatest rival.
The WWE Instagram account posted a graphic today ranking Batista’s five greatest rivals and Triple H tops the list.
1. Triple H
2. John Cena
3. The Undertaker
4. Rey Mysterio
5. Booker T
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpNMNgBgEVj/
– WWE Evolution will see the in-ring return of WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze (aka Madusa), who hasn’t wrestled for WWE in nearly 23 years after throwing the WWF Women’s Championship into a trash can on WCW Monday Nitro on December 18, 1995. WWE added a few former champions to the Women’s Battle Royal on Friday, including Blayze.
Blayze posted a teaser of her attire for Evolution, which shows a red, white and gold robe she plans to wear.
Triple H Posts His Crazy Travel Schedule This Month
Triple H has had quite the month due to his WWE commitments as he shared a list of his crazy travel schedule for just in the month of October that all started the week before WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne up to the NXT TV tapings on Wednesday night. Now, that he’s home, he can reflect on the schedule. He posted the following:
Triple H will team up with Shawn Michaels to take on The Undertaker and Kane in a tag team match at the WWE Crown Jewel pay-per-view event that takes place on November 2nd, 2018 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Saud University Stadium.
Matches For 100th Episode Of WWE 205 Live
WWE has announced several matches for a special edition of their cruiserweight show, 205 Live, as the show will celebrate its 100th episode next week in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center.
The show will be taped before SmackDown Live on Tuesday night and air on WWE’s streaming service, WWE Network, the following night prior to NXT TV airing. Those matches are Mike Kanellis vs. LDorado as well as Falls Count Anywhere match between Hideo Itami and Mustafa Ali.
Triple H has spoken about potentially holding a pay-per-view event in the UK again. The last time that WWE has held a live PPV event in the country was back in 1992 at the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. It should be noted that WWE did hold an NXT TakeOver special in 2015 in London that aired on the WWE Network.
Once WWE launched their own streaming service, WWE Network, many fans thought that it’s just a matter of time before the company holds another PPV (pay-per-view) event in the United Kingdom. However, that has not been the case. Triple H spoke about the possibility of the UK getting another big event during a recent interview with the Express. “The Game” stated that Summerslam 1992 in Wembley Stadium was not a major success for the company in terms of its financial return. Thus, the reason why WWE hasn’t held a big event in the stadium since.
“As far as the ability to have larger Pay-Per-Views and larger events, yeah. I think you see that happening now. I just came back from Australia, 70,000 people in the stadium. I think those things become clearer and clearer as we’re experimenting with other things. The time zones are the big kicker. We have to go where the most people can watch.”
Triple H continued, “I always hear about Wembley, I always hear it was such a massive success. It was not. I will just say that from a business standpoint, it was not. That’s why we didn’t come back and that’s why we’re still trying to figure it out. So when the time is right, absolutely.”
The NXT UK brand spent this weekend filming episodes for their new weekly show on the WWE Network. The brand debuts their first weekly show this Wednesday at 3 PM EST. During the tapings, Triple H and NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint unveiled the new NXT UK Tag Team Championships.
Triple H recently spoke to the media in the UK about his goals for the brand.
“My goal long-term would be to make a career choice for people who want to have a career option, for people where they didn’t have to necessarily ever make it to RAW or Smackdown, if you want to look at it from that sense, and be able to have a very viable and lucrative career.”
He also spoke regarding an NXT territory system potentially resembling the old system before wrestling promotions went national.
“Whether you could be a part of the NXT system globally and over the course of a 10-year career, 15-year career go through multiple territories and get the wide range of experience and have a very meaningful career.”
Since the innovation of WWE NXT, the professional wrestling juggernaut’s developmental system has really thrived. The program has produced several top stars on WWE’s main roster such as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, and so many more. Not to mention that WWE continuously scoops up the best talent available from around the world.
WWE COO Triple H is largely credited with the brand’s success, as he calls the shots when it comes to NXT and its programming. His success with the brand has really made professional wrestling fans feel optimistic about the inevitable day when “The Game” will take the creative reigns of WWE. It’s hard not to think that WWE CEO Vince McMahon is just as impressed as anyone else.
During a recent media call in London, however, “The Game” shared a rather interesting bit of information. He said he’s not sure McMahon has ever seen a full episode of NXT from start to finish. “The Chairman Of The Board” may simply be too busy:
“I don’t know that he’s ever even watched a full episode of NXT start to finish. He’s busy.”
After catching wind of this, former WWE writer Tom Casiello took to Twitter to clear things up a bit:
“I know I shouldn’t even respond to this kind of garbage, but I’ve literally been in gorilla with Vince during an NXT show. This is completely false.”
I know I shouldn't even respond to this kind of garbage, but I've literally been in gorilla with Vince during an NXT show. This is completely false. https://t.co/rRjvm8RS0E
WWE has had a banner year financially. With the added revenue from the Saudi deal and pending new television contracts, WWE has money to invest.
It has previously been reported that WWE wants to invest in international Performance Centers and territories. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Saudi Arabia is a country WWE is hoping to open a Performance Center in.
“While nothing is imminent, there is talk of opening up different Performance Centers in different parts of the world,” wrote Dave Meltzer. “U.K. and Saudi Arabia are high on the list and there are other places considered as well, including Japan.”
WWE International Expansion
Triple H is seen as a driving force behind WWE’s global expansion. Earlier this year, HHH used the term “Global Localization” to describe their plans.
“With ‘RAW’ and ‘Smackdown Live’ calling up all of my NXT superstars, I quickly realized NXT needed a feeder system of its own,” Triple H said at the WWE 2018 Business Partner Summit. “We had to re-imagine once again how and where we were recruiting. Not only in the United States but outside as well.”
Triple H continued to describe what this will mean.
“Organizing tryouts, recruiting talent, establishing performance centers and building on the ground NXT style brands.”
WWE will hold two nights of tapings for the new NXT UK brand later this week.
The reports came true regarding a huge match being booked at the upcoming WWE Crown Jewel event. As seen on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW in Rosemont, IL at the Allstate Arena on the USA Network, Triple H and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels opened the show to talk about Super Show-Down that saw “The Game” beat The Undertaker in a No DQ match with Kane his in his corner. Following this match, Taker and Kane attacked Triple H and Michaels.
On RAW, Triple H and Michaels issued a challenge for a tag team match against the Brothers of Destruction at WWE Crown Jewel. WWE has since confirmed that the match will take place. This will mark the first time that Michaels has wrestled a match since losing a retirement match to Taker at WrestleMania 26 in 2010.
WWE presents the Crown Jewel pay-per-view event on November 2nd, 2018 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Saud University Stadium and will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE Crown Jewel Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman – Triple Threat Match
WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan
Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs. Kane & The Undertaker
Ahead of Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia Triple H spoke with Manny Tsigas of ABC Australia. The topic of inter-gender wrestling came up and Triple H offered his thoughts on the subject.
“There’s just a shock moment to that and a spectacle moment to that,” Triple H said. “They don’t need a man to step in the ring with them to make them have a spectacular match.”
“To have a man vs a woman, it’s just shock value, you don’t need it,” he continued.
Triple H On Inter-Gender Matches
The interviewer continued that inter-gender wrestling would empower female wrestlers but Triple H disagreed.
“To say for a female to prove that she is empowered she has to compete against a man, or to have a man in the ring with her to be able to do what she does at a high enough level? No, you know what makes a female empowered?” Triple H asked. “When she is so good with another female in the ring that no man on the card can stand up to them.”
WWE has had several inter-gender wrestling matches in the past. The most recent of which involved James Ellsworth losing to Asuka on Smackdown. Ellsworth defends the Inter-Gender Championship on the independent scene.
Triple H defeated The Undertaker in the main event of WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia. The Deadman finally fell after two Sweet Chin Music superkicks from Shawn Michaels and a Pedigree from ‘The Game.’
After the match ‘Taker and Kane stood with their arms raised alongside Triple H and Michaels. All four men appeared to be celebrating the ‘end of an era’ (again). Fireworks going off around the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the show appeared to be over. Both Undertaker and Kane then attacked the D-Generation X founders. Michaels was taken out of the ring and thrown through the announcer’s table.
We reported back in September that Shawn Michaels was preparing for a bout at the Crown Jewel event. It now looks as though the proposed tag team bout between the Brothers of Destruction and DX will now be coming to fruition in Saudi Arabia.
As we mentioned before this will be Michael’s first bout in 8 years. HBK lost in a retirement match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26 and he has vowed to honor that stipulation. The exact monetary offer for Michael’s was not revealed however Brock Lesnar will perform at the show for a 7-figure sum, so the potential payday is lucrative. The actual revenue that WWE could be potentially gaining from the Saudi Arabia shows is huge. The exact number will not be available until the fourth quarter earnings are revealed in January/February but it is believed to be in the $40-45 million dollar range.
Ticket packages and prices have been released for the upcoming NWO reunion show taking place at the end of the month. While the price of admission is not cheap, the level of access to the Superstars involved will be significant. Prices range from $200 to $1000 and include photo-ops, collectibles, and access to the Q&A session.
Ahead of the nWo reunion event later this month, Kevin Nash spoke to the Sporting News about his career, the state of the business today, and the future of wrestling.
Among the interview’s highlights were Nash’s comments on the upcoming Triple H vs. Undertaker match at WWE Super Show-Down.
When pressed about why a younger wrestler might not be getting the shot to work with The Undertaker, Nash made some rather pointed comments about the stars of today.
“No one cares about the young guys,” said Nash. “You going to put Finn [Balor] in there versus The Undertaker? [Seth] Rollins? Who are you going to put?”
Nash went on to offer his critique of today’s in-ring style, intimating that it will prevent longevity.
“Those guys aren’t going to have 30 years in the business. This style won’t allow these guys to last 30 years. Rollins already had a couple knee operations, but he’s a great worker. I just don’t see these guys even lasting 20 years because of their bodies and the concussion syndrome,” Nash said.
Nash also discussed what made the nWo cool, and how it had almost nothing to do with wrestling.
“Wrestling was dead. What was over at that point basically was West Coast Rap,” Nash said.
You can find more information on the upcoming nWo reunion here.
It has been a banner year financially for WWE. The new TV deals the promotion signed along with a lucrative deal with Saudi Arabia have broken new ground for the company. With the new deals comes increased revenue to invest. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that revenue is going to be invested in international territories, NXT, and new Performance Centers.
“WWE is looking at expanding talent and the NXT side with all the added revenue coming in from the new deals,” Dave Meltzer wrote. “Among the ideas are more international Performance Centers and international territories, which means being even more aggressive in locking down people who they spot having marketable potential.”
WWE To Present More NXT
There has also been talk of increasing NXT to 2-hours every week as well as increasing the time of Takeover specials.
“There are those in the company pushing for the idea of the NXT TV show going two hours because they have so much talent, and to also increase the time of their Takeover shows.”
Johnny Gargano recently mentioned more NXT wrestlers are starting to feel as though they’d rather stick it out with the brand than go to the main roster.
“Everyone’s dream – and mine too – is to wrestle at WrestleMania, but right now NXT is such a special place. You have guys like me who have been wrestling around the world for ten years whose goal was to get here, and now we are all here tighter. We are focused on building something wrestling fans can be proud of, and we are building it together.”
WWE has already announced that Evolution (WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, Batista, Triple H, and Randy Orton) will reunite on the WWE SmackDown 1000 episode on Tuesday, October 16 from Washington, DC. Also, The Undertaker is being advertised for the show. Triple H and Flair sent out the following to hype the reunion:
As noted, the official website of the arena is currently advertising a ‘Triple Main Event’ for the episode. Those matches are AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan vs The Miz, and Randy Orton vs Jeff Hardy.
WWE Announces New NXT Events
On Monday, October 1, 2018), Triple H took to his official Twitter account to announce several upcoming NXT live events.
The black-and-yellow brand will do a three-day tour starting on Thursday, Nov. 15, San Jose State University Events Center in San Jose. The other events take place at the Convention Center in Visalia on Friday, Nov. 16, and finishing up with TakeOver: WarGames on Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, NXT Women’s Champion Kairi Sane, Undisputed ERA, Ricochet, Johnny Gargano, EC3, Velveteen Dream, Bianca Belair are all advertised for the show.
Tickets for the events go on sale at NXTtickets.com starting this Friday. A limited number of tickets for TakeOver: WarGames are still available, also at NXTtickets.com.
Posted October 1st, 2018 in WWE. Tagged: Triple H.
Independent superstar and former PROGRESS ATLAS Champion Matt Riddle recently signed with WWE’s NXT brand. The ‘King of Bros’ recently made his debut for the company in a house show bout. The former UFC fighter recently spoke to The Main Event on ESPN’s West Palm radio on a variety of topics including his signing with WWE.
Riddle discussed the reaction from fellow Independent stars; “Everybody’s excited for me,” stated Riddle. “I think especially with my past and everything like that, I think people never thought I would ever be with a company like WWE, or be at this level again.” Riddle then followed this with “I was killing it on the indies. I was traveling the world. I was probably one of the top three or four wrestlers in the world on the indies, just killing it. Nobody really saw me going to a bigger company because of my past and just how people view me.”
Riddle also specifically discussed talking with Triple H before signing with NXT: “I actually got a direct call from are main man ‘Trips’, Mr. Triple H, Paul Levesque,” Riddle claimed. “It was good. About three years ago I was about to get signed and we talked about that because I was supposed to possibly get signed then and it didn’t happen. We talked about that.” Riddle then talked about his trajectory in the company, stating that the company has “got good intentions,” and that Triple H “made me feel good with working with NXT and working with him. Honestly, that’s why I signed up and we’ll see where it takes me.”
According to WWE, “The King of Kings”‘s greatest rival is The Undertaker.
WWE took to Instagram today to rank Triple H’s five greatest rivals and “The Deadman” is ranked at No. 1.
The Undertaker is followed by Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Mick Foley, and The Rock.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoE–95FKsh/
– WWE returns to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, December 26 with a SmackDown live event and a SmackDown Women’s Championship Match has been added to the card.
The official website of MSG is now advertising Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair with the SmackDown Women’s Championship on the line.
Two other matches have already been announced for the show: AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe in a Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championship, and Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz.
– SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch is Lilian Garcia’s next guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia. The interview will be available starting Monday.
After Garcia reveals Lynch as her next guest in the video below, Lynch silently appears with the SmackDown Women’s Championship wrapped around her shoulder. Garcia says, “No words from Becky,” leading Lynch to remark, “You’re gonna have to wait.”
Former American Ninja Warrior star and current Mae Young Classic competitor Kacy Catanzaro recently spoke to ESPN. Catanzaro talked about transitioning into a WWE career, competing in the Mae Young Classic, and Triple H suggesting she could be a heel.
The most difficult part of transitioning to WWE
Catanzaro said there are a lot of things about wrestling that are different from what the traditional athlete is taught. “Everything that you do in a wrestling match is something that your body doesn’t want to do,” she said.
She admitted that it has taken time to adapt to what it means to be a pro wrestler. Your body does not naturally want to take big falls or flat-back bumps. She said it has been ‘really cool’ to learn the style of pro wrestling, but reiterated it’s been difficult.
How she feels about competing in the Mae Young Classic?
Catanzaro said Mae Young is a huge figure in the history of pro wrestling. She was a very tough lady who didn’t care what people expected women’s’ roles to be. She never let the challenges get to her, she didn’t accept the way things were. She pushed the envelope, sacrificed and broke barriers for the women who would follow her.
“Mae Young, along with a lot of other women, they sacrificed so much and everything that they have done has made me sitting here be possible because of what they endured and what they didn’t accept and because of all of the hardships that they went through.
“They did all of that and now I get to be here when there is this amazing women’s revolution and when we do get to be part of those main events that they didn’t get to. It’s amazing to see that process and be a part of it now and know that they paved the way for us and we, being here, get to blaze the path for the future women.”
Triple H insisting that she work heel:
Before she started training at the WWE Performance Center, she assumed that she would be a babyface. She considers herself a nice person and felt that being a babyface was a natural fit. But Triple H told her, “I think I’m nice too, but I made a lot of my career by being a heel”.
She now sees the chance to work as a heel as really fun. “Honestly, for me, I feel like there’s so many times that you have those moments where that heel wants to come out of you in normal life, but you decide to be a good person so you don’t let it come out. I feel like I have those moments a lot, and I’ll know these are my two choices.”
“I could flip out on this person or I could be the bigger person and walk away. Walking away is what I usually try and choose, but I think it would be fun to be in a situation where I could choose the other one and to be a little bit “heelish.””
WWE is loading up next week’s episode of RAW as they will have to go up against stiff competition.
The company has announced that Triple H and WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley will appear on the show to promote the upcoming contest that will see “The Game” battle The Undertaker in a singles match at the WWE Super Show-Down pay-per-view event that takes place on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne, Australia.
Foley was last seen on WWE television when he was fired as the RAW General Manager by Stephanie McMahon during the March 20, 2017 episode of the flagship show of the company.
Also announced is Ronda Rousey & Natalya vs. Alicia Fox & Alexa Bliss in a tag team match.
The company has already announced that Rousey would defend the RAW Women’s Title against Bliss at the upcoming Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event on Sunday, September 16, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas at the AT&T Center on the WWE Network. This is a rematch from SummerSlam where Rousey won the title from Bliss.
WWE holds next week’s show in New Orleans, LA at the Smoothie King Center. As of this writing, no other matches for RAW have been announced. WWE will go head-to-head with two NFL regular season games on ESPN next Monday.
Triple H took the time to answer some questions during a recent media conference call.
WWE Stars Going Back To NXT
“I think now when you look back at the roster over the last few years and you look at the main roster. I think the number is something like 80% or so of the main roster came out of NXT. So there is a lot of talent there that wouldn’t even be a stretch to come into NXT if they were on the main roster and came back to NXT.”
“It wouldn’t be a big stretch — and I think when you’ve seen, you know the last few weeks every now and then in an effort to give people surprises and constantly keep things fresh we’ve had liveevents where we brought The Revival on and we’ve had live events where we brought Tyler Breeze on. Those kinds of surprises and shocks — people love it — it’s like going home in a way. So I do think you could see that happen very easily and I don’t think it would be a stretch for people to consider that being a possibility.”
Shawn Michaels officially ‘left the building’ back in 2010 when he announced his retirement from in ring competition in WWE but now eight years later, is there a chance he might consider a return to action?
While Michaels has never actually walked away from working with WWE, he’s only made occasional appearances in the ring like when he delivered his ‘Sweet Chin Music’ to a couple of people at WrestleMania 32.
Lately, Michaels has primarily been working as a WWE ambassador while helping his real life best friend Triple H promote brands like NXT internationally. Even at 53, Michaels can never go too far before somebody asks about the possibility that he could get back into the ring and mix it up with the next generation of superstars.
“I always try to explain it to people, if you take me as a younger version and put me in with those guys, of course it would be a blast, but at the same time I’d like to be the younger version of me and be in the ring with a Harley Race or a Buddy Rogers. But none of those things can really happen in real life,” Michaels said in a recent interview with “Inside the Ropes”.
“To put me in a singles match at WrestleMania, I was always thrilled to do it but it’s a very strenuous, it’s a very anxious, there’s a lot that goes into it, the anxiety. Once you get in there, and especially when it’s done, it’s phenomenal but the getting ready for it is 100-percent work and I don’t know that I want to put myself or my family through that, to go out there and try to steal the show at 53 for God’s sake.”
While Michaels quickly shot down the idea of getting in the ring with the new generation of athletes who are currently occupying the majority of the WWE roster, he had a different opinion about potentially appearing with the superstars closer to his era.
Obviously, Michaels is never going to return to any kind of full time schedule again but he didn’t shut the door on the possibility of mixing it up with somebody a little closer to his age.
“It’s a whole different ball of wax if somebody says do you [and Triple H] want to go down and work with some other 40-plus year old guys or 50 and mess around and be silly’. That doesn’t seem like work to me,” Michael stated.
“So it’s stuff like that, that I would consider. Nobody ever talks about that. It’s always me and somebody half my age.”
Would you like to see Shawn Michaels return for a legends match in WWE? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
The card, from top to bottom, featured some extraordinary matches from the future stars of WWE. One such match was that between The Velveteen Dream and EC3. The pair put on an extremely physical performance that resulted in Dream leaving with the victory.
One hot topic of discussion in regards to the match was the message Dream had printed on his tights. During his entrance, fans could read the phrase “Call Me Up Vince” on Dream’s tights.
This is obviously a message to Vince McMahon to call the 23-year-old up to the WWE’s main roster. After the event, Triple H took part in a post-TakeOver media call to talk about the event’s success.
Triple H On The Meaning Of Velveteen Dream’s Tights
Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet asked Triple H about the message on Velveteen’s tights. “The Game” initially joked, after a long pause, that Dream was sending a message to a friend of his (also coincidentally named Vince) who lost his phone. He wanted his friend, Vince, to give him a call:
Triple H then said that if Dream was truly talking about Vince McMahon, there’s one of two calls he could get from “The Chairman Of The Board.” One he’ll like, and one that he won’t. You never know which one it will be:
Following NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 last night, Triple H participated in a media conference call to answer some questions.
Of course, one hot topic was WWE’s official announcement on the signing of Matt Riddle. Riddle will be a part of the NXT roster in the coming weeks. WWE was initially hesitant to sign Riddle in the past due to his history of marijuana use.
Triple H On WWE Signing Riddle
Now that they’ve signed Riddle, it appears as though that is no longer a concern for the promotion. Triple H had this to say about Riddle’s signing:
“I think he’s ready to come in and get brought the rest of the way,” Triple H said. “I also think he’s matured as a person which, we’ll find out.
“But I think he’s matured as a person and he’s realized where he wants to get to in the business as opposed to just having fun being in the business, there’s a difference. So we think now’s the right time, but time will tell.”
“The Game” also praised Riddle’s talent and said he thinks he’s going to be one of the Superstars who makes it in WWE:
“He’s a very, very talented guy, the sky is the limit and you know, we’ll see what he can do. It’s an interesting thing because I think sometimes people think that we just bring them in and just go with it, it’s not that simple.
“Not everybody makes it, not everything works. There are a lot of factors that go into it, so we’ll see. I believe in him and I believe he has a lot of potential and talent, but again just like everybody else as they walk in the door, we’ll see.”
Discussion: What do you make of Triple H’s comments about WWE’s signing of Riddle? Let us know in the comments below!
Triple H was recently a part of a media conference call to promote this weekend’s SummerSlam and NXT TakeOver events.
“The Game” answered several WWE-related questions. One being in regards to the reception of WWE’s current main roster compared to NXT. A caller pointed out to Triple H that he’s “burned out” by the main roster.
Everybody Has An Opinion
He then claimed he’s more excited for NXT TakeOver this weekend and isn’t really looking forward to SummerSlam. Triple H was then asked if he would like to run the main roster the same way he does NXT:
“I also wish I could fly and breath underwater. Dude, I wasn’t sure if you were going to ask me a question or you were making a statement about your displeasure. Everybody has opinions on things and positive/negative that’s the beauty in what we do and people are free to express those opinions.
“I’m happy that you like NXT and I’m happy you’re looking forward to that show. You know some people dislike some things, there are other people who dislike what we do in NXT and there are people that like what we do there.
“Everybody’s got an opinion and the great thing for us is no matter what it is, positive/negative, we don’t have a shy fan base that is afraid to let us know. They will let us know and whether we decide to take that message immediately or whether it takes us a little bit to hear it, eventually we hear you.
“So you know, it is what it is but if people dislike something or like something that’s what their voice is for and we encourage that for sure.”
Discussion: How do you feel about the fan’s comments and Triple H’s response to them? Sound off in the comments!
Triple H spoke about the current status of former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville as well as potentially using him for the upstart WWE NXT UK brand.
“The Game” took part in a media conference call to promote the upcoming NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV event that takes place on Saturday, August 18, 2018 in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center and will air on the WWE Network.
In this call, he was asked if Neville would be a great fit for that brand, which Triple H noted that he’s not 100% positive about the current status of Neville and would need to go back to look into. However, he did agree that Neville would be a good fit for the division as he thinks that the former Cruiserweight Champion is one of the most talented guys in the world.
He would add that he loved the time that Neville was in NXT as he did a great job while on the brand and building the Cruiserweight division on 205 Live. Triple H finished up his answer by stating that time will see where that ends up regarding Neville’s status.
If you recall, back in mid-October, Neville was initially scheduled to lose to Enzo Amore in a lumberjack match on RAW. However, plans changed to Kalisto wrestling Amore and Neville decided to take time off. WWE has officially denied that he quit the promotion. At the time, it was reported that Neville was frustrated by the direction of his character.
As of a few months ago, the belief within the WWE is that the company would not grant Neville his release and will make him sit out the remainder of his contract. Once that deal has expired, then he will have a 90 days non-compete. The latest update on this situation is the fact that WWE had decided to freeze his contract until both sides could come to an agreement. In the meantime, Neville is not permitted to wrestle for any outside promotions as he still remains technically under a WWE contract.