Triple H On If AEW Is Taking WWE's Market Share
At the latest WWE stockholder's meeting, Triple H addressed the current state of the WWE NXT UK Performance Center. There has not been official word on when NXT UK will hold tapings again, but Triple H talked about the measures they are taking to ensure they can start back up in a safe manner.
"So, the London Performance Center has been inactive since March, thereabouts, due to the COVID-19 issues," Triple H noted. "We work with local and government officials there all the time and monitoring constantly and are looking forward to when talent can get back to training. I know they're all anxious to do it, and hopefully, that will be in the near future.
"We're also working with our partners there on solutions and ways that we can get back to creating fresh in-ring content as soon as possible for the NXT UK brand. Again, all of that relies on us being able to that safely as the safety and health of our talent come first and foremost. But as soon as that is something we can safely do, we will be back up and running."
The ratings for NXT took a downturn recently, but Triple H touted NXT's status as a third brand and the stars that it has right now. He also talked about how NXT is in a good place in the long term as well.
"So I think if you were to look at the NXT brand, it would be both," Triple H said. "While it is a third global brand, along with RAW and SmackDown, and our partners in the USA, it is also the place where we make new stars and increase our talent and stars for the future, of both RAW and SmackDown. So that is the pipeline, and if you wanted to say, 'the feeder system', it is that, but it also has become its own third brand.
"As far as the ratings go, I'm very happy with them, especially in the current circumstances. Everything is going well. We look at the long-term of that, not the short-term of that. And the long term is very exciting. We have a lot of stars. There are a lot of hungry young athletes, and the pipeline to bring in more as they continue to train and get better is very exciting. The future is very bright in that regard."
On the topic of AEW and ratings, Triple H talked about the internal focus WWE has on their product. When asked if AEW is taking some of WWE's market share, he said they are focused on the development of their stars and talent and reiterates their long-term approach.
"To me, there's a moment in time when you begin something and it's very exciting and it's fresh and there's some interest in it, certainly, but it's a big world," Triple H stated. "We continue to be focused on our product, continue to be focused on the development of our stars and our performers and as Vince said earlier, we have a very long track record of doing this incredibly successfully for many, many, many years, and we will continue to do so."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.