Triple H took a hard right turn with this answer.
Since the launch of NXT UK in 2018, one major sticking point was how the WWE territory would affect the United Kingdom’s indie wrestling scene. While appearing on this week’s episode of the Corey Graves hosted podcast After The Bell, Triple H addressed what the arrival of NXT UK has meant to the indie wrestling ecosystem of eastern Europe.
So Triple H talked a little about all the companies in the UK dying and why pic.twitter.com/Tzf5Rd8wao
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“People misunderstood what we were trying to accomplish over in the UK because of small thinking or short sightedness. Yes, some of these indies are going to go away. The ones that are going to go away are the ones who are paying you $25 bucks when they promised you $75 bucks. The ones that have a ring that didn’t hold up. The ones that didn’t have medical there. The ones that didn’t care about you, they were just booking you because they were hoping to sell some tickets and you had a little bit of buzz. So they were hoping to sell some tickets and they could care less what you do, when you do it.
We wanted to work with the ones who were cultivating talent. The ones that were encouraging them to become better, working with them on promos or giving them guidance, right or wrong on their matches. That had equipment that was functioning. That had medical care if you were injured that at least didn’t have you waiting 45 minutes for an ambulance or trying to figure out if they were going to call you an Uber.”
Triple H would also add that the indies he allows NXT UK talent to freelance for are the ones that are thriving.
The counterargument to Triple H’s take, and the one many critics had when NXT UK was born, is that WWE should not be in the business of pro wrestling territories. A massive corporation like WWE coming into a new market and killing off all the local indies may not be the best thing for pro wrestling long term.
Lot of gray area on both sides of the NXT UK versus UK indies debate. In fact it was a little over a year ago, when Triple H shared his vision of a future where WWE has territories all over the globe.