With a busy Survivor Series week ahead in Toronto, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative, Paul “Triple H” Levesque held his usual pre-NXT TakeOver conference call a little earlier than usual.
Reports paint it as largely business as usual. He thinks the Revival vs. #DIY two-out-of-three falls title bout will be a match of the year candidate. Haitch says 205 Live will try to recapture the feel of the Cruiserweight Classic. The man many think of as the father of NXT spoke about change being the one constant of the brand, and how he’s proud of how his team has adapted since the mass call-ups around the main roster brand split.
There were a couple areas where The Game took the opportunity to clear up some rumors, however.
One concerned the Women’s championship match in Toronto. While Trips said bringing in Mickie James is a move designed to give the new crop of female talent a chance to develop to Asuka’s level, he denied that James was a back-up plan necessitated by their first choice being unable to go (there was talk that WWE wanted Trish Stratus for the role, but she couldn’t do it because she’d just learned she was pregnant with her second child). Mickie was always who they were going to go after for the spot, he said.
The other clarification was needed because Kevin Nash recently stated in an interview that Shawn Michaels was “the new head of the Performance Center”.
Hunter said that Matt Bloom is and will remain the top man at the Orlando developmental facility. He said HBK’s role still isn’t set in stone, and he didn’t want to discuss the Michaels’ family’s business (Nash said the whole family moved to Florida, in part so his children would have more post-high school educational and career options than they had in Abilene, Texas). The plan is absolutely for Shawn to have a role at the PC, and as someone who knows all about being a top guy, Haitch thinks he’d be great as the guy who puts the final polish on talent to make them stars, but he reiterated his official role hasn’t been finalized yet.
He also had a laugh about his Kliq buddy not always being accurate.
For a full accounting of topics covered and questions answered, Wrestling Observer has audio for subcribers here.