Triple H says he’s a big fan of having interesting characters across WWE’s respective television shows, but the key is how they all fit in their respective universes.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels took part in the NXT TakeOver: In Your House media call and were asked about one of the more memorable segments from the night, which saw Tian Sha’s Mei Ying attack Mercedes Martinez. Inside The Ropes’ Gary Cassidy asked about the success of Tian Sha on a show in NXT that has mostly been perceived as the ‘wrestling’ show under the WWE banner. Noting that the reception has been more positive than that of the Alexa Bliss/Bray Wyatt content seen on RAW, which is a more ‘entertainment’ based show, the pair were asked if they see a difference there and if there was any initial hesitation to bring that type of character to NXT.
Triple H explained he’s a fan of mixing things up, and the rules are slightly different with RAW, SmackDown and NXT, but how those characters fit in your respective universe and how you follow those rules is what is important.
“I’m a big fan of having variety within the shows and having things that are different. Different characters, when you can get them, different characters and personalities, different sides of performers, all of that, but also different characters in general. So you get an LA Knight, you can get a Johnny Gargano, who is a serious, as serious of a wrestler as you can be because your name is ‘Johnny Wrestling’, and then you morph that character into The Way with all of these other people and it’s one of the most entertaining things on the show. Then at any point in time,” he said, “you can pull the trigger and he’s right back into ‘Wrestling’ mode.
“To have characters like Tian Sha, I think you have to handle them slightly differently so that you can make them sort of make sense in your world, right? There’s certain parameters or rules to the universe that you’re in, everybody’s is different, right? All of the shows are slightly different, and I even feel like there’s a slight difference between RAW and SmackDown as to what works on one show and what does on another. I feel like ours is the same way, and having that mix is great,” he explained, “but also how you handle them to make sure they fit within the universe that you’re existing in.
“I think the best example for me is that Marvel does a really good job of it with having serious, almost dramatic movies and then having moments where ‘this guy’s a God, this guy’s a robot, this guy’s from outer space’ and yet it all fits in. They do a good job of keeping it reasonably working within that world. I think that’s the trick,” he noted, “that’s the difficult part that we strive to try to do.”
Shawn Michaels added that he always saw it as there are some people or characters that have the ability to be larger than life. He cited The Undertaker as one of the names that benefitted from that, whereas he just had music and ‘silly dancing.’
“Mine was more, again, about the wrestler and eventually I took off all the earrings and stuff like that, but I think again, it has to do with their individual style, their persona,” Michaels said. “That would be my guess, you look at those and sort of determine, ‘Is this something that has the ability to make a little big bigger, a little more dramatic?’”
Triple H closed by saying there are just some people that don’t have a theatrical flair, and you can put them in a costume but it will look uncomfortable. He pointed to Steve Austin as a guy that didn’t need that and said it “just depends on the character and I think the variety is what makes it all work.”
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Check out the full NXT TakeOver: In Your House post-show media call below:
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