Tonight, on the WWE Network, NXT is back live on PPV. NXT TakeOver: 31 is, at the same time, a little different and in the lineage of the previous 30 editions. There’s a place for novelty in a stacked card and for new Superstars to shine. A few days ago, Triple H took part in a media call to promote the pay-per-view, the rebirth of NXT UK, and also share on the current situation for WWE in the pandemic context.
On putting a card together in the current context
“There’s a lot of times when you’re putting these together that you look for something that will be incredibly spectacular. I think that the majority of NXT fans and hardcore fans that are very, very into the in-ring product understand how good this will be. For those that don’t, if you are a more casual fan, this is going to be one, I think that you will remember for a long period of time. I always believe that there are moments where matches happen that you didn’t necessarily see as being this game-changer in the business, but I do believe that this one has the potential to change the direction of a lot of things in our industry and change people’s perception certainly of Kyle O’Reilly but of the performances in general.
“TakeOver has a bit of a unique feel for me, given the fact that we were coming out of Karrion Kross becoming NXT Champion having to give up the championship due to injury, Keith Lee moving on to RAW. It was a very unique time, and then, given in this time in the world, with everything else and the challenges that we face with COVID and everything else on a week-to-week basis, it has been a very challenging creatively. I do believe that this card is incredible on paper, and when you see the in-ring product, I think it will over-deliver.”
On the card of that PPV
“When you look at Santos Escobar and what he’s been able to accomplish since being here as a Cruiserweight champion, with El Legado de Fantasma behind him, the package is extraordinary and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, these two have had a couple of clashes. They’ve been on TV, and they’ve been in limited duration just from the restrictions that TV present, these guys are going to have all the time and all the ability to go do what they do at the highest of levels. I’m really looking forward to it.
“Kushida vs. Velveteen Dream, The Velveteen Dream is always one of the most flamboyant performers and big personalities we have, and Kushida sort of turning the corner on why he’s here in my mind in NXT in America at this time, doing what he does. I believe that this is a Kushida so far you have not seen yet, and this will be something special from him, for sure.
“Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano. Johnny is one of the most consistent performers on the roster, he always brings it at TakeOvers. Damien Priest, who has really put on star performance after star performance in recent memory, really comes into his own and is feeling it, the new North American Champion. Can he get past Johnny Gargano again?
“It’s hard to say which match on this card you look forward to the most, and that certainly applies to Io vs. Candice for the NXT Women’s championship. They’ve done this before, Candice is in a different position, Io is in a different position now for the NXT Women’s championship. I expect this to be absolutely a show-stealer.
“This is a breakout moment for Kyle O’Reilly. While I think so many of us knew what Kyle brings to the table, he has yet to have the opportunity because he’s been an attack team. Then to show it at this level and against a performer the level of the ‘PrinXe’ Finn Balor, I think, is going to be one for the ages. So this Sunday’s TakeOver will have a very unique look and feel, something totally different that hasn’t been done so far. You’ll find out more on Sunday, but it will be very unique, and I think hopefully, at least for us, game-changing.”
On Kyle O’Reilly and if his first main-event single match is due to some creative changes at the top
“That’s been something we’ve been talking about doing for a while and has been in the works and in the plans, but again, if you were to ask me did it speed up the process, probably not a massive amount, but probably a little bit, given all the circumstances. I think we got there a little quicker. I would have liked to have had more time to flesh out that story in the long run, but again, what we were saying earlier, stuff changes on a week-to-week basis right now, sometimes day-to-day, so you really kind of try to put the pieces together and get to where you can get to.
“But again, we’ve been talking about Kyle as a singles guy. He’s such a great performer, and it’s nothing to take away from him in a tag team. He’s just such a great performer. He’s naturally charismatic. He’s funny. He’s all those things that you’ve seen doing what he’s doing, but now I think people are going to get to see that at a completely different level, and I’m excited for him, and he’s excited about that opportunity. If you’ve ever met Kyle, there’s not a nicer person out there, and when you see something like this happening for somebody like him, it’s awesome. And I can’t wait to see what he does with it. I know it’s going to be spectacular. He and Finn have been clamouring about working with each other for a long period of time to me and everybody that would listen pretty much, so here we are, and it’s exciting.”
On NXT UK
“We’ve kicked back off in the UK in a big way. I think those shows have been great so far with our partners at BT, who I can’t say enough about allowing us into their studios and being able to get back to doing what the talent there do. You see the Heritage Cup kicking off there this week, and that will be a tournament that will be in British rounds. All matches will be consisting of six three-minute rounds. The matches are two out of three falls. It’s a very unique, very European style. This is something that we’ve talked about since the beginning. Regal, myself, Shawn Michaels, Jim Smallman, [and] Johnny Saint have been a part of these conversations about wanting to bring this format out into the mainstream. This Heritage Cup will be something special, especially for UK fans and fans that have a historic kind of background of these things, and this is very British and very European. And I think it’s going to resonate in a big way. It’s different, and I think it’s going to be great.”
On the return of NXT UK and possible TakeOvers in the UK
“Yeah, look, I would love that. I would like nothing more for this to all go away, and we go back to doing what we do. It’s a funny thing, even if you would have asked me this just a few weeks ago, Europe was in a different place than it’s moving towards now. So again, you have to, at this moment in time, there is nothing set in stone. Everything is sort of fluid because things are changing on a day-to-day basis. As soon as I can travel talent, we’ll travel talent. As soon as we can have talent doing what they do on a bigger basis, we will do that. If it comes down to if this isn’t changing, I absolutely would begin talking to BT. We’ve had conversations about it about, getting to a TakeOver, getting to a larger event like that. Whether that be at BT Studio or someplace else depending on where we are at that moment in time, I absolutely would, like you, like to get something done long before June 20, 2021.
“Again, we will have to see what those restrictions are and what the availability of locations are and everything else, but we are, believe me, we have a team here that specializes in all the immigration issues and travel and everything else. And I call them on a daily business basis. I am sure they are tired of hearing from me, but we are checking every single day to see what we can and what we cannot do because it changes, so as soon as we can, I promise you that as soon as we can, we’re going to be looking at being back. Whether that again, like I said, be BT Studios or someplace else, getting back into doing TakeOvers and everything else, but for right now, I’m just thrilled that BT allowed us the opportunity to be able to get into their Studios and be able to put NXT UK back on. And as you said, it’s been phenomenal with some banging main events, as you would say, and I agree with you. So I’m thrilled that that’s happening. I’m looking towards the next step, but we’re not quite there yet on exactly what that will be.”
On if the WWE Draft will include NXT
“I wish I did, but I don’t. I don’t know. The Draft is coming. I’m unsure, so you, like myself, will have to stay tuned and wait and see. The Draft is always an exciting time because you can get new talent, fresh match-ups, and everything else. So, I, like you, will be sitting back, waiting to see the excitement unfold.”
On NXT talents being in RETRIBUTION and if they will move to RAW or SmackDown
“Wait a minute, you’re saying that some of the people in Retribution came from NXT? Geez, I gotta pay more attention to this stuff (laughs). We have conversations around who will go where, when. An example of, ‘Hey, this person, we have an interest in them’. They reach out to us. We have an interest in them. Great, I can write them out of some stuff and get them to you by this period of time. Excellent, and we go from there. Where it goes from there, at this point in time, I don’t have any say on, or anything else. It really goes to those creative teams. I get the call, whether it’s from RAW, whether it’s from SmackDown, or whether it’s somebody that kind of has oversight of both, and we sit down, we have meetings around who goes where, when, and really that’s it. You know, sometimes those calls are reversed as well. That’s sort of the process, but the creative teams of those brands are controlling what happens to those talents. They might ask me, ‘Hey, can this person handle this, or can they handle that?’ Because they’re maybe not as familiar with them as I may be, but it really doesn’t go a whole lot further than that.”
On Wade Barrett becoming NXT commentator
“To be honest, I’ve been a big fan of Wade Barrett. I was a fan of him when he was in the company, and then he left, and he started doing commentary. Now, he had done some commentary for us here during a few periods of time, I believe, when he was injured. I think he tore his pec or rotator cuff or something once, and he did it in a stint on commentary. And I remember being very impressed with, and after he left, I had seen him do commentary in different places. And I was very interested in him at various times of him doing it. The timing just never matched up right. I would have the opening and the possibility of him being a part of it, but he was with somebody else. He would leave there, but I didn’t have an opening anymore. Then, it would reverse, and we sort of kind of finally got to the place where he was available.
“And we had a need, so it worked out perfect, and we made the call, and it all went down really quickly, and he came in. This is a difficult time, even just doing business with people and flying and travelling and getting places and getting it all done. But I’m really happy we were able to come to an agreement on it. He’s a remarkable talent in general, especially in the role that he’s in right now. He’s a great addition to NXT. He has a lot of credibility, a lot of very cool points of view, but he also brings very much of a character base to it. And I really like that as well. Very smart guy. So I think he’s just scratching the surface on how good he can be, and I look forward to him getting even better and realizing his full potential here.”
On NXT possibly changing day to gain more audience
“I’m happy with where we are. These conversations around all of our product at all times with the best place for it to sit, the best place for it to work [and] all of that, funny thing, I don’t hear anybody else asking about people moving on Wednesday since we were always on Wednesdays. It comes down to a question of where the show best fits, not only for us, but for our partners and where they want to go to. We’re open to doing the best business we can, but it’s not just a simple a decision as it’s our decision, and we just put the show where we want to put it.
“Those decisions are made by our partners and everything else along the way. To me, it’s a funny thing for me. I’ve said this since the beginning, but I don’t know, people tend to want to believe what they want to believe. It’s not a concern to me. We do the best show we can do. We go out to put the best show on that we can put on every week with the talent that we have, which I consider to be the best in the world and do the best show we can, and that’s it. As far as where it sits, the network [and] all those things, those are business questions that come down to WWE, but also to our partners. So lots of conversations will happen, and wherever it ends up, I promise you, we’ll put on the best show we can and make it everything that it can be for our fans.”
NXT TakeOver: 31 is airing live on WWE Network this Sunday at 7 ET (midnight BST). The kickoff show will start at 6.30 PM (11.30 PM BST) live on WWE Network, YouTube channel and WWE social media.
Here is NXT TakeOver: 31 card:
- NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly
- NXT Women’s Championship: Io Shirai (c) vs. Candice Le Rae
- NXT North American Championship: Damian Priest (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
- NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Santos Escobar (c) vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
- KUSHIDA vs. The Velveteen Dream
- Mystery Former Champion Set To Return
Special thanks to DS Communication – All pics and videos courtesy of WWE