NXT is counter culture, and that means counter-Raw and Smackdown.
Despite being a WWE brand and entity, NXT's approach is much different than what you see on Mondays and Fridays. Less camera cuts, less zooms, less of what has grown frustrating to many longtime viewers. When speaking to Fightful on the NXT Takeover Portland post-show media call, Triple H explained the thought process in going a different direction.
"Some of it's preference," he said. "You ask two people to paint a picture of the same thing and they're going to paint two slightly different pictures. Some of it is trying to be different from what is there. Sometimes you want to do the same thing because it's good. You want to differentiate and be a different feel. I like when you turn on your TV and you look at it -- you know what it is. It has a different vibe and feel to it. Same with NXT UK, I like for that show to have a different vibe and a feel."
Though the changes aren't heavy, going a scaled down route has worked for NXT, as the complaints of the WWE flagship show's production aren't necessarily there.
"Simplistic stuff -- lighting, set design. More technical things -- camera cuts, the way we attack things or zoom and focus things. Movement, camera feels. Sometimes we're just trying stuff too. I often think of NXT as an incubation tank. Sometimes what we're trying to do is 'let's take a stab at doing this tonight.' Might work, might not, if it doesn't, we'll move on to something else. It's constantly growing and changing. That's a positive to me. If you guys are noticing that it looks different, that's great. The talent and how they perform is slightly different, all of it. There's a lot of sports entertainment on TV and you want to feel different about all of it. I want it to look, feel, sound and give me a different vibe," said Triple H.
You can see the full media call above. Fightful has live coverage and a post-show podcast of NXT TV every Wednesday night.
If you use this transcript, please credit Fightful with a link back to this story.
