WWE COO Paul “Triple H” Levesque took part in a conference call with members of the wrestling media on Wednesday to talk this Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia live special and about the current state of the NXT brand.
Here are highlights from the call on Wednesday afternoon.
* Triple H welcomes everyone to the call and talks about how the crowd in Philly will be explosive due to the Eagles competing in the Super Bowl coming up.
* He previews the NXT TakeOver card, notably calling Johnny Gargano the most “pure babyface” going right now.
* Triple H reveals that Kassius Ohno vs. Velveteen Dream will be added to the TakeOver: Philadelphia card on Saturday.
* He says that during the pre-show TV tapings for the following week’s NXT TV, Nikki Cross, Roderick Strong and the returning TM-61 will be featured.
* Triple H says that he has shown interest in MMA Four Horsewomen member Jessamyn Duke with the recent success of Shayna Baszler in NXT, bringing up Shayna’s aura and presence since her NXT arrival.
* He talks about how NXT has utilized heavy-metal music for the theme music in their TakeOver events, noting that he wanted it to have a different feel than the WWE main roster with their pop music feel.
* Triple H talks about the new signings to NXT and how he and his team in NXT wants to do the best for them, no matter how big or small their past experience level is coming in.
* He talks about NXT recently airing on USA Network and that they are open to discuss being included in a new TV deal for WWE when that arrives.
* Triple H says that there is definitely interest with Ronda Rousey, but they haven’t been able to hammer out all the details as of yet.
* He puts over The Iconic Duo and that they are not far from a call-up, plus says its possible there will be more NXT international tours down the road.
This ends the call.