Triple H talks talent moving brands.
With NXT moving to USA this past September, the gold brand officially became the third brand as opposed to developmental. And no one could be prouder than NXT founder Triple H.
"To me, it solidifies what we've been saying. There is no main roster," Triple H told Corey Graves on After The Bell. "There are three brands. If you ask [the talent], they could give you their opinion on where they'd like to sit. I don't think NXT would get mentioned any less than Raw or SmackDown. The goal long term is to make NXT this additional place -- add-in [NXT UK] to that and slowly building that over time to get it bigger and bigger. You add other places around the globe; Japan, Mexico, India, Middle East, that's where we intend to go."
Triple H continued, "When we started to do the talent development stuff, it all stemmed off a conversation of, 'If we don't grow this development, where are we getting this talent from?' At the time, everything else was contracting and shrinking and there really was no place for talent to learn. They can learn the in-ring, but to learn television production, that's a different skillset."
Over the years, fans have seen plenty of talent go from NXT to Raw or SmackDown with seemingly little planning going into the move. With NXT now being considered a third brand, Triple H was asked if Vince McMahon can continue to pluck talent from NXT whenever necessary.
"That will change now," he replied. "It was before where it was like, 'This is what we need and when we need it.' When Vince called and said, 'I need your entire women's division.' What I had said then was, 'Can you leave me Asuka?' I could tentpole and build the rest around her. That was no problem. But all those women went at the same time and there was a plan for more to come after that. That was tough. Now, you kinda can't do that. You have to give some consideration to the other brand and there needs to be longer-term plans laid out."
With NXT on USA, fans have seen Raw and SmackDown talent who maybe weren't being used as much, move back to NXT. Finn Balor, Killian Dain and Tyler Breeze are just a few names who have re-joined NXT in recent months.
"This is the template of whatever is on the table. If you look at the roster, there are gonna be times where this talent is here, but they've kinda worked with everybody and they almost need to sit down for three or six months. Great, give them to me. I'll take them. Like the territories."
NXT saw a big boost on the Nov. 1 episode of Friday SmackDown as they invaded the blue brand, standing tall to end the show.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit After The Bell with a h/t to Fightful.
