Triple H held his pre-WWE NXT Takeover: San Antonio conference call earlier today. The call opened with WWE’s Adam Hopkins noting that the Royal Rumble in 2018 will take place in Philadelphia. Triple H noted that he wanted to talk about that and then put over Saturday’s event, before Adam said that it is one question and then a follow up per caller during the Q&A session.

Triple H said that this Takeover event is bit special due to them having the Toronto show and Japan show on the schedule, so it changed how he would have liked to have promoted the event and with that said, noted that he is excited for the event. Triple H then put over Shinsuke Nakamura and noted that he loves his character and noted that they will be announcing the winners of the 2016 WWE NXT Awards on the pre-show before the live special. Triple H then said that before he gets into things with the Q&A session, he wants to put over the UK Championship Tournament and all of the people involved and said that the goal is to make that into a weekly show.

The first caller was asked about UK talents being pulled from other platforms such as iPPV or FloSlam and asked Triple H to explain why this happen as people in the UK are worried that this will be the 2017 version of WWE crushing the territories. Triple H said that a lot of this is based on people’s refusal to acknowledge the reality of the situation and said that they signed talents with the ultimate goal of doing weekly TV and said that the talents knew this when they signed and WWE doesn’t care if the talents work for other promotions, but their matches can’t be distributed and said that some promotions there wanted to circumvent that and that won’t be allowed and said that they are not being heavy handed and that WWE wants to work with groups cultivating talent, not one off them and noted that the talents knew what the restrictions were going into it and that there may be confusion, but it is on the promoter’s side of things and not the WWE’s or the talents and said that over time, it will all be clear as to why WWE is doing what they are doing, but that it is strategic, so it will play out over time. The same caller then asked what the timeline for the series is. Triple H said that doing a weekly TV show is a lot different than doing a tournament and said that they have the money to do it, but that there are a lot of factors to work through to make it happen and it is hard to see now for people, but as time goes by, we will see why things happened as they did and said that right now, there is no firm timeline as to when it will happen and that there are a lot of factors to get into place first as they need people on the ground in the United Kingdom and that it is more involved than running a tournament, but noted that in the mean time, they will help the guys that they were working with in the United Kingdom get exposure and thrive and said that the time frame does not exist right now.

The next caller noted that WWE have done two tournaments in recent times and asked if there is a format that Triple H prefers using, be it days or weeks. Triple H said that it all depends on the goal of the tournament and that the UK one was different than the Cruiserweights as they went to the UK, while the Cruiserweights came to them and noted that both formats work and people like both and talked about how the UK tournament was in the moment, while the Cruiserweights got to evolve over time and that what they will do going forward will depend on what they are trying to accomplish. The same caller asked about where the Cruiserweights are right now. Triple H said that it was a work in progress and that as a standalone, it is different than integrating it into a bigger platform, for example being part of RAW and said that 205 Live allows them to show more what the talents can do, but the exposure that they get on RAW is massive and it is clearly a work in progress and he believes in the show and has high hopes for the show and thinks that in a few years, it will be a big part of what they do.

The next caller asked about using Shinsuke Nakamura as the anchor of WWE NXT and said that he feels that he can be on the main roster now and why is he not there at almost 37 years old. Triple H said that there’s a lot of components to what they do such as TV and how to be used on it and talked about the difference between being in WWE NXT versus on WWE television and said that WWE is a TV show and Nakamura never had to perform for the cameras in the way that WWE does it and that he is still learning that aspect of what WWE does and said that he loves Shinsuke and is the one that went after him, but there is still a learning curve and he is there now and it is just a matter of when WWE decides to bring him up. The same caller then asked that with the expansion of WWE NXT and the Cruiserweights, if it is harder to get talent for WWE NXT. Triple H said that they are spread out, but he sees it as having more places for talent to work and said that you might see guys go from WWE NXT to the UK or Cruiserweight Division to WWE NXT and it is about creating more brands where talent can go back and forth and that it gives talents more places to work and succeed and that he is not looking at just the present, but also about creating opportunities for 5 and 10 years from now and wants to create more and more places for talents to work.

The next caller asked if the UK show would be a territory that has house shows as well as television. Triple H said that he wants the guys to work and the only way to teach those guys is by doing it and he wants them to work, so the idea is to make a weekly show in the United Kingdom and run events off of it, while supporting the other groups over there, but those promotions have to be quality places for people to work and said that he wants to work with promotions that grow talent as opposed to just running shows and that he wants people that will help and grow the talents and can’t say at this time, but said that he wants the talent to work full-time, be it for just WWE or in a mix with partner promotions in the United Kingdom that are quality companies that provide a professional environment. The next caller asked about whether the promotions that WWE will work with in the United Kingdom will understand if the company says that the guy is a face and if they will book him that way. Triple H said that it comes down to the talent and promotion doing business in the right way and if WWE makes a guy a hot heel, a promotion should not want to make him a babyface and said that this is not the 80’s and that social media has made the world so close and said that people he has talked to knows what WWE is looking for and will do the smart thing. The same caller then asked a question about Matt Riddle. Triple H laughed and said that he went over his quota for questions but will allow it. Triple H said that they worked him out and said that he is all about second chances, but a guy has to prove himself and felt that he had promise and helped get him taken care of in the scene and cultivated and noted that Riddle has done very well with that and what the future holds for him, he doesn’t know, but said that he’s a very talented kid that has a bright future and they will see where it goes.

The final caller asked about any talk of the company airing a WWE NXT Takeover event on the USA Network. Triple H said that there are conversations about where things live in the ecosystem of the world and said that when you have a Network and are trying to create value, you have to weigh that heavily and said that NXT has potential to be a lot of things and where it ends up is not totally his decision, but he likes that it is an exclusive WWE Network product and said that the WWE Network is evolving and he is focused on opportunities to add value to it and talked about how after all of the call-ups, WWE NXT is in a rebuilding mode and reiterated that WWE NXT will still add value to the WWE Network. The same caller asked what is the component that determines whether a talent has to go through WWE NXT first. Triple H said that he had a conversation with AJ Styles about it and he said that everyone should get acclimated in WWE NXT before coming up to the main roster due to the learning curve of what WWE does versus any other company and said that the gap is so big that he does not expect it to happen often, if at all.

Triple H then closed the Q&A session and thanked everyone for their questions and put over the show on Saturday night.