Triple H Reflects On WWE NXT's Wednesday Night Run Head-To-Head With AEW
Paul "Triple H" Levesque spoke with the media ahead of NXT "TakeOver: Stand And Deliver". The first Tuesday after TakeOver will be the first episode of NXT on Tuesday nights full time on USA Network. Triple H was asked how he would rate NXT's run on Wednesday nights on USA Network.
"Very successful. For me, we went from a very small platform of the [WWE] Network with a lot of buzz outside of it to jumping to USA from one hour to two hours from pre-tape to live to everything in between," Triple H said. "Talent call-ups, and talent blooming, and injuries and pandemics, you name it. In the course of that period of time, I'm incredibly proud and happy with what we've done with the brand, and the the opportunity is right now.
"What we first did, it was about maintenance of a consistent time slot, day of the week and time so that people could find what they were used to finding, even in that smaller group. Now we've established a consistent viewership. The viewership over the the period of time, I think it's 850,000 a week. Obviously, we just renewed a multi-year deal. The network is very happy. The ability to jump to Peacock and have more visibility for our larger tentpole events, our TakeOver's, and be able to create more interest in the product in that manner, it's all for the right reasons.
"The Tuesday lead in from Monday night at a promotion from Monday night to Tuesday is going to be great for us. It's all good, and to be honest, if you would have asked me a year and a half or whatever it was, 'Hey, how would you see this going?' I would see it going about what it is now. The ability to establish a fan base and then decide the best place to put it but establishing that fan base in the consistent time slot was where it was at.
Triple H also addressed if there will be any significant changes to NXT with their move to Tuesday nights. He used the HBO show Game of Thrones to illustrate NXT's approach in how they produce shows.
"As far as further changes, you make them every week. It's constantly looking at what you do to try to fans the best possible shows," Triple H explained. "Not just in that moment because that is — a funny thing, they don't write Game of Thrones and go, 'How do you give them the greatest episode possible every single week?' You have to build to things. You have to build long term. You have to think long term. It's going to ebb and flow in what the episodes themselves look like. It's all about long term. It really is, and it's hard for people to garner, but we're on the exact path I would like to be on."
You can find the full audio from Triple's media call below: