Triple H Confirms Plans For UK Show

In the recent press conference call to promote NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, Triple H confirmed plans to launch a UK based show. It’s not clear if this is something that would be on the Network, air locally in the UK or both:

“There’s a lot of confusion based on that, and a lot of the confusion is people’s refusal to acknowledge the reality of the situation. We signed talent as a part of this UK tournament and are looking forward to doing hopefully what will become a weekly show over there. The talent knew what the deal was, they knew what the restrictions were and they knew what the restrictions weren’t. We’re not restricting them from working for anybody as long as it’s not distributed, as long as there’s no distribution outside of the live event. Some of these promotions tried to come in after the face and add a distribution component to that. Talent didn’t sign up for that to start with, they just had that added coming off of the success of what we did or whatever they were working on. That’s a change. That’s a change in how the talent were being dealt with. Talent had an agreement to go to an event to compete on a live event, not to do other things and that’s a change.

We’re not heavy-handing anybody, we’re asking them to approve, to work with us, to work with the groups that are… and I was very clear about this when I was over there, we want to work with groups that are cultivating talent, not groups that are just coming in and just one-offing talent. So, is there a period of time right now we’re allowing guys to work for people? Absolutely. Every single one of these talents knew the deal, they knew the deal going into it, they knew what the ask was and they knew what their restrictions were. Coming out the other side of it, there’s a lot of confusion but it’s not on our side and it’s not on the talent side I believe. It’s on the promoters side, who just kind of change things and do things however they feel like they want to do things. Trust me, there are a lot of… you can call them promotions but there are a lot of people who do one-off shows over there and there’s a big difference. All of this is strategic. You’re going to see a lot of announcements over a short period of time where I think all the questions that you’re asking now and all the fears that everybody has will go away. People are going to go, ‘Oh, it’s very clear what they were doing right now.’ But obviously because it’s strategic, you can’t come right out and say those things.”

Speaking of Triple H, Corey Craves responded to comments that Hunter is disappointed with NXT in an interview with Forbes:

“I think maybe it was probably just a poor choice of words. I don’t think he’s disappointed in anything, we sold out the Freeman Coliseum, so as long as tickets are being sold and people are watching the shows there’s nothing to be too bummed out about. But, to his point, it’s tough because ultimately while we are still NXT and we are our own brand, it was all based on what used to be developmental. Everything on NXT is created to feed Raw and SmackDown.”

“I think maybe where his disappointment came in is ‘man I wish I still had this name around.’”

Who Kurt Wants To Induct Him

In a recent Q&A on his Facebook page, Kurt Angle said he would like either Steve Austin, John Cena, or The Undertaker to induct him in to this year’s WWE Hall of Fame.

Nikki Producing Total Divas

Nikki Bella has been given the Executive Producer role for the second half of Total Divas season 6. “I am honored and excited to have been made an executive producer on Total Divas,” she told E! Online.

“As a pioneer of the show, I want to use my expertise and creativity not only in front of the cameras but behind as well and my goal is to continue to make Total Divas one of the best reality programs on television. I’m very focused on my journey to inspire and empower women and I look at this as another step forward in doing so. I am grateful to WWE, E! and Bunim Murray for giving me this an amazing opportunity.”

Goldberg On Fans Booing Reigns

Goldberg discussed fans giving Roman Reigns a hard time in an interview with Sports Illustrated this week:

“I don’t know the meteoric rise of Roman and what they’ve done with him, and I’m not going to sit here and pass judgment by any means, but if they just try to push someone down people’s throats, people resent it. I wasn’t privy to it in real time, I didn’t see everything, but I think Roman is a great kid. I feel really bad that anyone would go out there and boo him based not off of not liking him or his ability, but just based upon the situation. His look, his work, his enthusiasm, and what he puts into his craft—Roman is a professional. The only thing I don’t like about him is he went to Georgia Tech.”

He also discussed his relationship with Vince McMahon:

“At the end of the day, it’s a business. Sometimes ego gets in the way, and sometimes people do things that aren’t conducive to a good business relationship, and I think that was done on both sides [in 2003-04 with WWE]. I’ll take full credit for being a jerk at times, but we grow up. Times have changed, I’ve changed, he’s changed, the business has changed, and, guess what, I’ve got a family now.”

Was The NWO Influenced By Politics?

In his recent appearance on the Eric Bischoff podcast, Sean Waltman asked the former WCW honcho whether the NWO name was infleucned by the New World Order concept in politics and conspiracy theories:

I stumbled in to that. That’s the truth. To this day I listen to people try to look back at their history and the stories they were involved in. Inevitably they try to put themselves over in the best possible light. Sometimes I wish I’d do that more often because I may be driving a Ferrari instead of a Ford pickup. The truth is it was luck. I stumbled in to it. I honestly don’t know where I read it. I used to read a lot. I read a lot and I’ve always loved history and current events. I am sure somewhere along the line I read something in history about the New World Order and it just kinda rolled off my tongue an hour or two before Hulk Hogan went out there to cut his live promo at Bash at the Beach. There was no plan. Nothing subliminal about it. It just kind of happened.

Waltman clarified: “We were not a part of some grand conspiracy to rule the world or anything. Except for the wrestling world. Obviously there were some parallels there … I didn’t know what the hell the NWO was or any of that illuminati stuff. Any of it.”

Twitter Tweets Ric Flair

Ric Flair got a direct Tweet from the official Twitter account on Thursday when he asked what “it’s Lit” meant:

@RicFlairNatrBoy
/its/ /lit/
(adj.)
a. To be stylin’, profilin’, limousine-ridin’, jet-flyin’, kiss-stealin’, wheelin’ and dealin'
b. Woooo!

— Twitter (@Twitter) January 26, 2017