Triple H Says UFC Merger Slowed Down NXT Europe Plans

Triple H gave an update on their NXT Europe plans following Money in the Bank on Saturday. WWE announced last year the new brand would be coming in 2023 and speaking at the post-Money in the Bank press conference, Triple H said that the plans have shifted due to Endeavor’s purchase of WWE.

“It’s just slowed down the process I think,” he said (courtesy of Wrestling Inc). “At some point, end of the year, last year, whatever it is, we said in ’23 it would happen. Not having a crystal ball to see where everything was headed in that moment in time, obviously this transition with this merger with UFC with Endeavor and TKO, it’s changed the timeframe. But I think the intent is still the same.”

He continued, “I mentioned under the premise of WrestleMania and premium live events going global, we’re a global company. We’re looking to be everywhere. And I think … there are a lot of amazing talents here, internationally. And we’d love to explore that and give them opportunities to shine on the biggest stage possible and see what we can do with that. It’s just going to take a little bit of time.”

WWE to launch NXT Europe in 2023, NXT UK to make impact at upcoming event

WWE has its sights set on a larger international market in the coming year.

The NXT brand is set to grow even more come 2023 with the creation of NXT Europe. According to the company on Thursday, NXT Europe will "reimagine the brand and talent pipeline" with a renewed focus on Europe.

NXT UK, the company’s initial foray into Europe which launched in December 2016, will go on hiatus for a few months. WWE will run the premium live event Worlds Collide featuring the current crop of NXT and NXT UK superstars. Tyler Bate, the NXT UK champion, confronted NXT champion Bron Breakker at NXT Heatwave earlier this week while Gallus came out and ambushed Diamond Mine.

Shawn Michaels, the vice president of talent development creative for WWE who oversees some creative aspects of the NXT brand, told Fox News Digital he was "pretty excited" about NXT Europe.

"Given the success of NXT UK, we felt like it was time to expand beyond that," Michaels said.

The planned launch of NXT Europe means NXT UK will go on a "brief hiatus," Michaels said, adding the final NXT UK event will be at Worlds Collide. Michaels said the company will work with the staff and talent to launch NXT Europe "bigger and better."

There are currently 22 male wrestlers, 12 female wrestlers and at least two on-air personalities on the NXT UK roster. Michaels divulged what will happen to the crop of talent.

"So some of it, like everything with the WWE and NXT, that pipeline is always fluid. It’s going to be one of those situations where we’re going to have a lot of representation going into Worlds Collide," Michaels told Fox News Digital. "It’s what NXT has always been and that is to be a pipeline for the WWE in support of RAW and SmackDown. That process is going to continue. We’re going to use the UK talent that we can to go into Worlds Collide and keep that representation out there for as long as we can. And as we move things over here in the process, we’ll make all those decisions in 2023 about who’s a part of NXT Europe and who continues to stay here in NXT in hopes of getting a main roster call up."

NXT has been known for some incredible Takeover events across the North American brand and the UK brand. The UK brand hasn’t seen a Takeover event since January 2020 when WALTER, now known as GUNTHER, faced off against Joe Coffey for the NXT UK Championship.

More than ever, NXT Europe could get creative with where it holds future major events. Fox News Digital asked Michaels whether dream matches at the Colosseum in Rome or outside the Louvre in Paris has been thought about.

source: fox news

NXT UK’s Ligero Issues Statement On Recent Allegations, Admits Sending Unwanted Messages

NXT UK wrestler Ligero has responded to several allegations bandied against him. While he denies any assault, he does admit to inappropriate behavior and sending unwanted messages to female talent.

“The current story that has been released by Violet O’Hara/Claire-Michelle Oldfield is neither accurate nor true,” Ligero stated on Twitter. “This is a completely false allegation and whilst I’ve done other things in my life that I deeply regret, this isn’t an accurate or truthful portrayal of events. This is something I strongly deny and is something I’ve been in the process of speaking to a legal team about.”

In a separate statement, Ligero admitted some wrongdoing. “Regarding the other statements from people like Laura, Natalie who have spoken out about the way they were made to feel, and others that have come forward about unwanted messages, I have no excuse,” Ligero admits.”

“It’s inappropriate, it’s an embarrassment and it’s an absolute shameful way to act from someone in a position of trust. I sincerely apologise for my actions and any hurt I’ve caused. I have no justification of my actions in the slightest. In these situations, I have failed people as a friend, as a fiancée and as a decent human being.”

Triple H Says Some Talent Might Stay In NXT Without Going To WWE Main Roster

As reported here earlier today, Triple H was in London celebrating the grand opening of the new WWE Performance Center UK. As seen above, Inside The Ropes attended the event and caught an in-depth interview with Triple H where they asked him about his future aspirations concerning the NXT and NXT UK talent. Triple H confirmed that certain NXT UK stars will indeed make the eventual transition to RAW or SmackDown, but along with that, certain stars will begin to rotate back through the various developmental territories they continue to establish.

"There are some talent here, that you might see come from the UK, that might move straight to RAW or SmackDown," Triple H explained. "I think right now there's sort of this perceived system of where it's kinda - 1. RAW, 2. SmackDown, 3. NXT, 4. NXT UK. I don't believe that, I believe that talent are talent and I believe they will sit where they sit, and I believe you'll see talent over the next few years start coming up to Raw and SmackDown. And I think you'll see them move back over in to NXT, or come back in to the NXT UK system. I think talent will begin to evolve and rotate through territories, so to speak."

Triple H believes that some performers have reached their plateau of success rotating through the NXT developmental territories, and hopes to give those individuals successful, meaningful careers without them ever having to transition to the cable network programs.

"I think there will be some talent that will be incredibly successful, will be global names, will be global, household names," Triple H said, "that will probably never leave that NXT system because that's their home base and that's where they fit, and they'll have incredibly successful, meaningful careers. And probably over those careers they'll gravitate through different locations within the globe, maybe without never being on RAW or SmackDown, but that not being any lesser to their careers."

Triple H also discussed the importance of reinventing a character when the performer feels it's the necessary action to take, saying that it's no different than decades ago, when wrestlers would travel to a new territory and present their revamped character to an audience.

"I think it depends on the talent and the moment and I think it's no different than it was if you go back, 30 - 40 years, into the territory system in the US. No different," Triple H said. "You left one place, you went someplace else, sometimes you reinvented because you thought, 'What I'm doing is good, but here, I want to do something different, I want to make it something more.' And you reinvent, and you become something different."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Inside The Ropes with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

WWE To Launch New Performance Center In The UK

WWE has talked about opening international Performance Centers for some time and it looks like the UK Performance Center is finally about to launch.

WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate just appeared on Good Morning Britain to promote Saturday's WWE NXT UK "Takeover: Blackpool" event and Seven said WWE has launched a new Performance Center in a "secret location" in the UK.

One of the GMB hosts mentioned how Saturday's first-ever NXT UK Takeover special is the set-up for a new "training camp" for WWE in the UK. Seven responded, "We're going to be able to go straight from here to our secret location, our new NXT UK Performance Center, right after this. So fantastic news coming out all the way through the day. The fact that we get to go back, the fact that we've had this investment... for the other wrestlers and the British wrestling fanbase, it's pretty exciting."

WWE Announces NXT U.K. Premier Date on WWE Network

WWE has announced that NXT U.K. will officially premier on the WWE Network next Wednesday.

WWE's U.K. Twitter account posted the following:

BREAKING: #NXTUK, a new weekly episodic series featuring the greatest male and female competitors from the UK, will stream on @WWENetwork on Wednesdays beginning 17th October at 8pm BST. pic.twitter.com/L8wVJquMdF

— WWE UK (@WWEUK) October 11, 2018