The Godfather of WWE NXT, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, recently spoke with Justin Barrasso for an in-depth discussion designed to promote the NXT Great American Bash special event, which wraps up with the “Night 2” special this evening head-to-head against the final installment of the two-week AEW Fyter Fest extravaganza.
During the interview with Barrasso, which was published on the official Sports Illustrated website this week, “The Game” claims that WWE holding a NXT special the same weeks that AEW booked theirs was not done as a counter-programming method by WWE, leading some to draw the conclusion that the scheduling by AEW may have been done for that reason.
Featured below are some of the highlights of the aforementioned Triple H interview with Sports Illustrated reporter Justin Barrasso.
On the two shows being booked at the same time being part of “healthy competition”:
“It absolutely is part of healthy competition. Anyone that thinks it isn’t, to a degree, is being naive to the situation. You saw that back in the day when Clash of Champions was counter-programming [to WWE’s WrestleMania IV in 1988]. At the same point, it can’t drive your booking decisions.”
On what led WWE to pick these weeks for their NXT Great American Bash special:
“Obviously there are counter-programming decisions, but I can tell you exactly how this came about. Almost all of these storylines were headed where they are now. There was a gap, timing wise, between In Your House and what will become the SummerSlam TakeOver, and you need a halfway point and a build. This is that halfway point. So it doesn’t change our decision-making process. I don’t counter-book, I book what’s right for NXT.”
Check out the complete Triple H interview at SI.com.
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