Triple H recently spoke with Josh Barnett for USA Today’s For The Win; you can read a few excerpts below:
Triple H comments on the amount of work that goes into the Mae Young Classic compared to what fans might think about the ease of putting a tournament together:
“Sometimes people think these tournaments just kinda take place, but it’s an unbelievable amount of work. One, to find the women; two, to find the ones who are good enough; and three, to make them all mean something when they’re all coming from different locations and it’s global. We need to make sure the right styles are there and then in the right matches to piece the whole thing together.”
Triple H talks about the work that goes into putting the tournament bracket together and making it all work:
“It’s the same challenge in that respect as the Cruiserweight Classic. Who is going to match up the best and give us the best product? Styles make fights and it’s no different in our business, even with the entertainment component.
“Even in the first round, we had to look at who’s going to be able to do what we need. You look at it and say, ‘This talent doesn’t have as much experience so who has more and would be able to get more out of them? And then, do these styles match up?’
“We were tweaking that thing until the day of (the taping). We were changing it, moving pieces and changing the story and the arc. I wasn’t just looking to tell a story in each individual match, and how they match up and what does that one match tell me as a story. I was looking at how do all those stories connect to tell me the story of Round 1. And how do they intersect to make the story of Round 2 and then Round 3. When you get to the final, what’s the story that’s been told about the two competitors who got there? That starts with going back to the first round. That’s the key.”
