Triple H has reflected on NXT’s run on Wednesday nights as the black and gold brand prepares to make its new home on Tuesdays beginning on April 13th.
The NXT head honcho was answering questions as part of a media call ahead of NXT TakeOver: Stand And Deliver. Connor Casey of Comic Book asked Triple H for his thoughts on ahead of the move to Tuesdays and if he could sum up his thoughts on the shows run on Wednesday nights.
Triple H answered:
“[It’s been] very successful. We went from a very small platform of the Network with a lot of buzz outside of it to jumping to USA. From one hour to two hours, from pretape to live and everything in between. And, you know, talent call-ups and talent looming and injuries and pandemics and you name it in the course of that period of time.”
“I’m incredibly proud and happy of what we’ve done with the brand. And, you know, the opportunity is right now. What we first did, it was about the 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. You know, the viewership over the period of time, I think in the eight hundred fifty thousand a week, you know, obviously, we just renewed about year deal.”
Triple H then touched on what the partnership with the USA Network can mean going forward. Especially as there is the possibility of NXT events being streamed on Peacock – the new home of the WWE Network in the US.
Triple H continued:
“The network is very happy and the ability to jump to Peacock and have more visibility for our larger tentpole events, our TakeOvers, and things, 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 and the 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 ago or whatever it was ‘hey, how would you see this going?’ I’d see it going about what it is now. You know, the ability to establish a fan base and then decide the best place to put it. But establishing that fan base in a consistent timeslot was where it was at.”
Triple H then mused about possible changes in the future. He noted that when it comes to sports entertainment, the changes happen constantly:
“So as far as further changes, you make them every week. Constantly looking at what you do to try to give fans the best possible shows, not just in that moment. It’s a funny thing nobody writes – 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. That’s going to ebb and flow in what the episodes themselves look like but it’s all about long term. It really is. And it’s hard for people to garner but I think we’re on the exact path I would like to be on.”
In an Inside The Ropes exclusive, Triple H also explained why WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is “adamant” that WWE is open for business.