Triple H says it might be hard for some people to believe, but NXT is on the exact path he wants the brand to be on as they look ahead to a new time slot on Tuesday nights.
Triple H took part in a media call ahead of NXT TakeOver: Stand And Deliver next week on Peacock and USA Network and was asked about how he’d rate NXT’s overall run on Wednesday nights in the last 18 months. HHH said the tenure was “very successful” and said they went through a lot of changes in that time, but they moved to USA Network with the intention of establishing a viewership base and giving them a consistent place to view the show. He says now that they’ve done that and the network is happy at progress, they’re moving to Tuesdays and he believes they’re still on the right path that they need to be.
“We went from a very small platform of the [WWE] Network with a lot of buzz outside of it, to jumping to USA [Network] from one hour to two hours, from pre-taped to live, to everything in between. Talent call-ups and moving, injuries and pandemics, you name it in the course of that period of time,” he said, “I’m incredibly proud and happy about what we’ve done with the brand. The opportunity is ripe now.”
“When we first did it [moving to USA] it was about maintenance of a consistent time slot, day of the week and time, so that people could find what they were used to finding. Even in that smaller group, but now that we’ve established that consistent viewership, the viewership over the period of time, I think it’s 850,000 a week—obviously we just renewed a multi-year deal, the network is very happy—the ability to jump to Peacock and have more visibility for our larger tentpole events, our TakeOvers, to be able to create more interest in the product in that manner,” Triple H noted, “it’s all for the right reasons.”
Triple H added that the lead-in from RAW is going to be great for NXT and said they’ll make changes every week because they have to, but they are sticking to a long-term plan and it’s where they need to be.
“To be honest, if you would have asked me a year-and-a-half ago, whatever it was, ‘How do you see this going?’ I would see it going about what it is now. It’s the ability to establish a fanbase and then decide the best place to put it,” Triple H explained.
“As far as further changes, you make them every week. It’s constantly looking at what you do to try and give fans the best possible shows. Not just in that moment, because that is—a funny thing, but nobody writes Game Of Thrones and says, ‘How do give them the best possible episode every single week?’ You have to build to things, you have to build long-term and think long-term. It’s going to ebb and flow and what the episodes look like,” he noted, “but it’s all about long-term, it really is. It’s hard for people to garner, but I think we’re on the exact path I would like to be on.”
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