Triple H thinks the future of NXT, as well as Jinder Mahal, is pretty bright.
He spoke to NBC Sports about a variety of things. He talked about the rise of Andrade Cien Almas, as well as NXT airing on the USA Network tonight. He talks about how the USA Network approached them with the idea:
They approached us with it as far as I know, I wasn’t there when it happened. Every year we do ‘WWE week’ on the USA Network and with Raw being on Monday, SmackDown now being live on Tuesdays and now there’s the content that they can fill the rest of the week with. Tribute to the Troops on Thursday is the signature event of the week.
Wednesday was the perfect opportunity for us. They presented it to us this year as an opportunity and I was asked if I would be interested in creating a show for that and I was like absolutely. Is that a trick question?
I’m really excited about the show. Coming out of the last TakeOver that we did, there’s a new champion, but there was also an injury to Drew McIntyre and it forced us to reboot a little bit and come up with a new number one contender, but it allowed us to put on an excellent show for USA, which includes the NXT champion Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas against Fabian Aichner, who some fans saw in the Cruiserweight Classic. He’s just a phenomenal performer.
Jinder Mahal was also brought up. He talked about how just being on this tour will help him tremendously in the future. Despite that, it wasn't too surprising that when he went to India and learned it wasn't Jinder getting the biggest reaction on the show, it was him:
I often think it’s funny to me that people in America, who have never been to India, put their thoughts and their beliefs onto other people, ‘like clearly that’s the truth.’ (Laughs). It’s totally different there!
The way they see things and react to things is very different. There are certain guys that once they reach a level there, it’s a whole different ballgame; Undertaker, [John] Cena. It’s just a different level of stardom.
When we were over there a few months ago having business meetings, to hear the people who are running television studios or Internet companies say to me ‘I watched you when I was a teenager. You were like the biggest guy in the world.’
I met a massive Bollywood star the other day who told me that I was his entire childhood. He got suspended from school for telling someone to ‘suck it.’ At a time in ’96 when there were like three channels there, we were on one of them all of the time.
It’s not to say Jinder wasn’t ‘over’ there. He was! You have to understand the market. It’s not like everyone just went, ‘Oh my God he’s Indian! He looks like us so we love him.’ They are a savvy market. They understand that he’s a bad guy.
Even though he got a massive reaction, he still needs to earn their respect. He’s still growing and still new. You know what I mean?”
NXT airs tonight at 8 p.m., with Adam Cole and Aleister Black squaring off in the main event. Jinder Mahal will face AJ Styles for the WWE title this Sunday at Clash of Champions.
