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What's the story?
Speaking with CBS’ In This Corner podcast to promote WWE's NXT Takeover: New Orleans, Triple H has spoken about NXT's strengths and "flaws", addressing the elephant in the room that is losing talent to the main roster and how it impacts the brand.
In case you didn't know...
Well, NXT is probably one of the unique aspects of WWE right now. Starting off as a reality show, almost being an evolution from Tough Enough, NXT took on a life of its own to essentially become an indie promotion under the umbrella of WWE to the outside world.
The show is unique in every way and is almost always completely separate from WWE's main roster, only becoming canon when Seth Rollins invaded the brand to call out Triple H - or on the rare occasions where an NXT Superstar will debut on the main roster, such as when Kevin Owens debuted as NXT Champion.
While the brand is unique in terms of talent, storylines and even audience, there is still raging debate over whether NXT is a developmental brand or a brand of its own. While there's no doubt it is the latter, it is also undeniably the former, too, with even the biggest NXT Superstars training at the Performance Center to become more "WWE ready" and almost every success story moving to Raw or SmackDown eventually.
The heart of the matter
On CBS’ In This Corner podcast, Triple H directly addressed the big issue around talent moving to Raw or SmackDown and how it affects NXT.
If I had to pick one thing that I’m the most proud of, it's that [NXT] continues to roll. When we did the first TakeOver and we had a series of call ups and we lose talent, everybody said, ‘Ugh, this is the fatal flaw, you guys are done.’
I tried to say to them, ‘I don’t think it’s a flaw, I think it’s the strength. It’s on us to recreate, it’s on us to keep it fresh and it’s on us to keep it exciting.’ I believe that the talent can do that.
Well, if you're an NXT fan and watch Raw or SmackDown, you never have to look too far to see NXT talent - with the likes of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, Elias, Shinsuke Nakamura and Baron Corbin all moving "up" in recent years.
Now THAT is a lot of talent, and when you look back, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Jinder Mahal, Big E, Titus O'Neil, Heath Slater and even Daniel Bryan came through the ranks in the earlier days of NXT.
Speaking of the biggest and best talent moving to the main roster, "The Game" added...
I think it speaks volumes to the system. I think it speaks volumes that it worked and that it’s still working. Obviously, I want it to improve and become better and better, but obviously it worked.
Pretty much every match on the card at WrestleMania, I think with the exception of maybe one, have talent who came through the Performance Center. A lot of them have gone through NXT. It’s definitely working.
In fact, one of NXT's biggest success stories and conveyor belts to the main roster has been the women's division. Almost every woman in WWE right now cut their teeth in NXT with Asuka, Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley all plying their trade between the yellow ropes in recent years - and even recently, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan all debuted on Raw and SmackDown respectively.
Triple H commented on this, and NXT's role in the Women's Evolution.
Does [NXT] have ebbs and flows? Absolutely. When we lost the entire women’s division except for Asuka, did it take us some time to reboot it? Absolutely. But that’s the exciting part, watching the evolution and watching that talent grow to become something more.
The Game also commented on the brand being second to none when it comes to passion, particularly with the portion of the WWE Universe watching the "developmental" brand.
Our most passionate fan base are the fans that love NXT. Our most passionate fan base are the ones that can’t get enough of in-ring product no matter what we do or what it is, they just love sports entertainment in general. When we can keep feeding that passion, that to me is the most exciting.
What's next?
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans takes place on Saturday, April 7th and already looks like giving WrestleMania a run for its money - and you can be sure that a lot of the talent who will appear on the card will be on Raw or SmackDown very soon.
Author's take
Well, it's great to hear Triple H speak so candidly about NXT and particularly about "losing talent" to the main roster. He provided some great insight, and it's crazy to see just how much of WWE's current main roster talent has come through NXT - even both of this year's Royal Rumble winners and all four women in singles competition at WrestleMania, as well as both challengers for the two main men's belts on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
The biggest shock of all is that NXT continues to thrive, and possibly even looks as stacked as ever!
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