Triple H on wrestler deaths, Randy Savage entering the WWE Hall of Fame, what he looks for in a wrestler, WWE Network

WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque appeared on the "Permission Granted" podcast hosted by Damon Amendolara of CBS Sports Radio. The following are the highlights of the interview. Listen to the full show at Soundcloud.com.

-Triple H on the various hats he wears and the title at the top of his list: "Dad," he said. He eventually tied it into the fitness DVD and said all the hats that he and his wife wear made them realize how difficult it is to find workout time. He said he and Stephanie rush home to see the kids before they go to bed, and it's ten at night before the head downstairs to their home gym.

-On what he looks for in a wrestler: Triple H said charisma because it's the one X Factor that you can't teach. "All the other things can be brought out of somebody," he said. "That's a tough one." He mentioned Mick Foley as being a guy who didn't fit the typical WWE wrestler mold, but "he is charismatic, when you watch him you can't help but be drawn into him. He's intelligent, he speaks well, he's humorous."

-Triple H on WWE Network: "We took the gamble and we're ahead of the curve on a lot of this," he said. He noted that others are following in their footsteps. He said Netflix has their model, but they don't have the live stream like WWE Network does. He said it takes a while to condition fans to break from their patterns. "We're thrilled with the progress, we're thrilled with where it's at, and we're just starting to scratch the surface of where it can go."

-Triple H on wrestlers who have died young: "To me, everybody makes personal choices in their life," he said. "Even some of my closest friends, my best friends, made personal choices of how they wanted to live their life that I never chose, that I never went down those roads. And I will put the physicality of my career up against anybody. The majority of those guys made personal choices to live a certain way and you can't live that way forever. It's a short run, it's fast and furious, and it's a short run. Did it affect me? Absolutely. I've watched a lot of guys that I was close to and that I was friends with... There's a certain point and time when even as your friends, you try to stop them, you try to talk them into it, and there's no... And that's not just in our business, that's in any business. People are responsible for their own lives, their own personal decisions, how they live their life outside of a sport or a job or anything else. We try to protect our talent now in a way like never before with our wellness programs and our ability to try to stay ahead of them to see if there are problems or they are headed down a path or anything, but the reality of it is people have to be responsible for their own lives. I've seen this company tell guys listen, we can't work together unless you get some help or whatever and they say, okay, great, I'm just going to leave then and I'm just going to go because this is more important to me. You can't live somebody's life for them and it's tragic, and I've had to come to terms in my with that with some guys that were close friends of mine, but that's just the way it is, unfortunately."

-Triple H on Randy Savage entering the WWE Hall of Fame: "One of the biggest stars ever in the industry," he said. "It's so well deserved and a long time coming. I think for a lot of fans it feels like a long time coming and they are just so overwhelmed that it's happening and I know we are and his family is. It's just a great thing to celebrate a career like that."

Big WWE Experience Event Announced For Arnold Sports Festival With NXT, WWE Legends, More

As noted, WWE will host a NXT live event during the Arnold Sports Festival weekend in Columbus, Ohio in early March. There will be a strong WWE presence at this year's Arnold Festival as WWE Experience has been announced. Below are the details:

WWE Experience at the Arnold Sports Festival

WWE Universe, don't miss your chance to take part in the WWE Experience at the Arnold Sports Festival March 5-8, 2015, in Columbus, Ohio!

NXT Live Event
For the first time in WWE history, NXT comes to Columbus, Ohio, as part of the Arnold Sports Festival! See WWE's Superstars of tomorrow, as WWE presents NXT Live at the LC Pavilion on Thursday, March 5! See NXT Champion Sami Zayn, NXT Women's Champion Charlotte, WWE Superstars Ryback and Big Show, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, Adrian Neville, Kevin Owens, Finn Bálor, Hideo Itami, Sasha Banks and many more!

Tickets will be available on Friday, Jan. 23, at 10 a.m. ET at the LC Pavilion Box Office and Ticketmaster.com.

Don't miss your chance to attend VIP Experiences, including ringside seats and exclusive meet-and-greets with Ric Flair, Ryback and Big Show!

WWE Experience Event
For a jam-packed weekend of action and entertainment, there's no better spot at this year's Arnold Sports Festival than the WWE Experience on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8.

Enjoy live matches, featuring some of the best up-and-coming talent from WWE and NXT. Meet the Superstars and Divas of WWE's next generation during autograph signings with Finn Bálor, Hideo Itami, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Alexa Bliss and more, plus don't miss your chance to get up close and personal with WWE Legends during Q&A Sessions.

See what it takes to become a WWE Superstar and watch a live tryout. Will any of these recruits become the next breakout Superstar? Better yet, will you? If you're serious about a future in sports entertainment, stop by the WWE recruiting booth and tell us.

More?

First WWE NXT Event Outside of FL in Conjunction with Triple H's International Sports Hall of Fame Induction

The first-ever WWE NXT live event outside of Florida takes place on March 5th in Columbus, Ohio at the LC Pavilion. This is a 2,200 seat arena and it's part of the Arnold Classic expo weekend, where Triple H will be inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame. Stars advertised include Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, Kevin Owens, Adrian Neville and NXT Champion Sami Zayn.

WWE Still Hoping To Reach 3-4 Million Network Subscriptions?, News On WWE TV Contracts, More

Stephanie McMahon and WWE Chief Financial Officer George A. Barrios participated in a presentation at the 17th Annual Needham Growth Conference for investors in New York City earlier today. You can check out the presentation here, and you can listen to the webcast at this link. Here are a few notes from the presentation:

* Television rights fees have grown from $78 million in 2004 to $171 million as of September 2014.

* Live event revenue has risen from $62 million in 2004 to $114 million as of September 2014.

* Television agreements were renegotiated in the U.S., U.K., India, Canada, Mexico, Thailand and UAE. It was noted that all of their television agreements run through at least 2018. Annual revenue from WWE's seven key TV deals is expected to increase by more than $100 million from 2014 by 2018.

* Their social media success was heavily pushed.

* It was noted that RAW averages 4.6 million viewers a week, while SmackDown averages 3.0 million. The USA Network average is 2.4 million.

* They once again noted that of their top 16 global markets, 51% of the homes in those markets have "affinity for WWE." That is 23 million passionate fans, 75 million casual fans and 61 million lapsed fans. On a side note, a similar poll for the U.S. market caused the company to grossly overestimate how many domestic network subscriptions they would get.

* In addition to launching the Network in the U.K. and Ireland, they are looking to launch the Network in Italy, UAE, Germany, Japan, India, China, Thailand and Malaysia in the next couple of years.

* They stated that there are 98 million WWE broadband homes in the world. With a potential network adoption rate of 3% - 4%, the number of potential network subscribers is 3 - 4 million.

Daniel Bryan Talks James Hetfield, Vince McMahon, Triple H & Brock Lesnar

AlternativeNation.net's Sports section recently conducted an interview with Daniel Bryan. In the interview, Bryan discusses how long he will continue to wrestle, CM Punk recently saying he'd make a good MMA fighter, if he will alter his wrestling style after his injury, a potential match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31, Sting's WWE debut, Randy Savage's WWE Hall of Fame induction and the original plans for him at WrestleMania 30. You can read the full interview by clicking here, below are some highlights:

Vince McMahon encouraging talent to reach for the 'brass ring' on the WWE Network:

"(Laughs)You know it's funny, because one of the things that he had mentioned was, he said something about the Millennials not having any ambition, right. It's funny, because the WWE does this personality test with some of their more successful superstars, where they rank you on all of these scores, like your desire for power, and your personality, and all that kind of stuff. One of the things they ranked was ambition, and it's funny, because in this personality assessment, I got the lowest score for ambition that the lady had ever seen. So they do it on a percentile basis, so from 0 to 100, I was in the bottom 1 percentile of ambition.

"(Laughs) It's funny because the lady was like, 'How on earth are you so successful given that you seem to have no ambition?' I said, 'Well, that's where there's a flaw on the test. I have no ambition for what society says is important as far as things like money, and all that kind of stuff.' What I am ambitious about is I want to be the best wrestler that I can possibly be, and I think there's some sort of mistake in generations, as far as what he thinks as far as our generation lacking ambition. Our generation just wants different things than what his generation wants, and I think that's a societal thing as well. There's an older generation of people who say, 'No, you guys should want this, you guys should want this, you guys should want this.' Whereas our generation, a lot of us say, 'No, we don't want that, we want something different, and a lot of the things that you guys wanted, are the reason that the world is messed up. We need to change our value system.' So that's it, that's a very different take on what's going on."

WWE's lack of competition:

"But people do need to stand up and say, 'No, this isn't what I want, I want to do this. This is me, this is how I want to present myself on television. This is how I want to be within WWE, this is how I view professional wrestling, this is what I would like it to be.' People have to have the courage to come up and say that. But the hard thing is, he was talking about the Attitude Era and how things were different, well things wouldn't have been that much different if there wasn't a WCW. Like guys could say, 'hey, I don't want to do this. If you want to fire me fine, because I'm going to go to WCW and make just as much money.' That doesn't exist right now. It's people who are okay with like, 'hey, my life without WWE, is as good as my life with the WWE.' They have to be able to say, 'okay, if I'm going to say this is what I want to do, or else I'm taking my ball and going home.' They have to have some sort of plan for when they take their ball and go home, they have something else to do, which is hard, especially when you have a family, and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I have very interesting thoughts on that whole podcast. It's a very interesting look into the mind of Vince McMahon, so it was fascinating."

Triple H's leadership in WWE and NXT:

"I have never actually talked to him about his vision for the future of wrestling, and that is actually something I should talk to him about, because we think a lot alike in a lot of ways. I like what he’s done with NXT, I think NXT is an awesome show. That last special that they did was an awesome product. I think Hunter is very intelligent wrestling wise, like he knows wrestling, he knows what works wrestling wise. I’m not exactly sure what are his ideas, and what aren’t his ideas within the WWE, but I want to say two of the most successful current acts that happened in the last year, like The Shield and the Wyatts, I think those are Triple H ideas, but I’m not exactly sure, as far as their execution and that sort of thing. The only way I can really gauge him is by what happens on NXT, and NXT is a wonderful product, it might be the best wrestling product out there. I love watching that show, and I think they’ve chosen some pretty awesome guys to be the stars of that show: Sami Zayn is incredible, Adrian Neville is incredible, Finn Balor is incredible, Hideo Itami, who used to be KENTA, and I wrestled on the independents and Japan, he’s incredible. So they’ve got some incredible talent down there, and they’re doing some really good stories."

Click here to read the full interview.

WWE Pulls Main Event From the WWE Network; Royal Rumble Show Announced for Next Tuesday Night

WWE Main Event will not be airing live on the WWE Network next week. The announcement was made tonight that the January 20th episode will be replaced by something called “Santino Marella’s Royal Rumble Lottery Special”, just five days prior to the annual pay-per-view.

According to PWInsider.com, the reason WWE has pulled its Tuesday night show has to do with its current deal with Sky Sports. With the WWE Network rolling out in the UK and Ireland this week – several days ahead of its announced start date – the company currently has no way to block content from showing up in certain countries, and the live airing of Main Event would violate the contract they have in place with Sky.

It’s expected that Main Event will return to the WWE Network, but there is no estimate on exactly when that will happen.

New on WWE Network video-on-demand: Tough Enough Season 1

Now available on WWE Network on-demand, relive the first season of WWE’s groundbreaking reality series Tough Enough! Under the guidance of experienced WWE trainers, watch as ordinary men and women endure intense physical training while gaining a firsthand education in wrestling on an unforgettable road to the WWE roster.

Finn Balor on Going to NXT: “It Was the Greatest Decision of My Life”, Talks People Telling Him Not to Sign, His Future & More

WWE NXT star Finn Balor recently spoke with The UK’s Sun, and the following are some highlight quotes:

On his time in WWE so far:

“Every day I come into work and I’m continuously blown away by the size of the company and how helpful they are and how willing they are to meet me about any ideas I have.

“Everything that I’ve done before here was literally on my own back and they were all my own ideas with no help from anyone.

“I’ve come to WWE and a lot of people — I’ll be honest — said: ‘You know, you shouldn’t maybe go there.’

“I can honestly say it was the greatest decision of my life coming to WWE.

“It is an incredible company — incredible staff work behind the scenes helping everyone here, not only myself.”

“A lot of people said: ‘They might curb your creativity.’ But with hindsight it has been the complete opposite.

“They’ve gathered it and pushed it forward and lifted it up and put their little shine on it.”

On His future in NXT:

“It has taken me fourteen years to get here so I’m not in any rush to move anywhere!

“I’m happy here, to be part of NXT. As the saying goes: ‘The future is now.’

“Hopefully we — myself and the lads — can help NXT reach a new level.”

WWE expected to announce “Macho Man” Randy Savage as first inductee into 2015 WWE Hall of Fame tonight on Raw

It’s not official yet, but it is expected that “Macho Man” Randy Savage will be announced tonight on Raw as the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015, WWE.com has learned.

A live report on WWE Network by Scott Stanford confirmed that inducting the "Macho Man" into the Hall will be none other than the other half of The Mega Powers, Hulk Hogan.

One of the most colorful characters and most popular Superstars in WWE history, fans worldwide have been clamoring for Savage’s induction since the hallowed Hall opened its doors. Even WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin broached the topic in his must-see live podcast on WWE Network with Mr. McMahon just weeks ago. The WWE Chairman said that Savage would “definitely” take his place in the Hall of Fame, though he did not indicate when.

A former two-time WWE Champion, Intercontinental Champion and WCW Champion, the late “Macho Man” also took part in what is considered one of the greatest matches in sports-entertainment history when he battled Ricky “The Dragon" Steamboat at WrestleMania III.

The 2015 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place on Saturday March 28, the night before WrestleMania 31, at San Jose's SAP Center. Tickets for the event go on sale this Saturday at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

Total Divas Recap 01/11/15

Viewership and Rating for TNA's Impact Wrestling Debut on Destination America

Wednesday's TNA Impact Wrestling premiere on Destination America drew 263,000 viewers for a 0.46 cable rating. This was the most watched show on Destination America for the week, beating Killing Bigfoot, which drew 250,000 viewers.

The last first-run episode of Impact on Spike TV in November drew 980,000 viewers. Spike is available in more than 80% of US homes while Destination America is available in around 50%.

The Impact replay that aired at 11pm on Destination America drew 105,000 viewers.

WWE NXT Champ Charlotte Talks Reid Flair Being Her Inspiration, Triple H’s Support, Wanting to Be Respected in the Business & More

Speaking to The UK Sun in an exclusive video chat, NXT’s Charlotte emotionally hailed her late brother Reid as her ‘inspiration in everything she does’.

Charlotte also insisted she and her NXT colleagues go all out every time they hit the ring to prove they deserve to be regarded as the best at what they do, and she singled out HHH for helping build her confidence.

“We want it so bad.

We want to be considered just as good as the boys.

Every time I walk to that ring — I don’t want to say I have a chip on my shoulder — but I feel as if I want to prove that I belong, whether I’m a Flair or not.

I just want to be respected in this business, I feel I have to bring so much more to the table and I want to and I plan on doing that every single time.

You can’t help but say that Triple H one hundred per cent backs us up, believes in us and gives us those opportunities because he believes in us, so yeah — I would say he’s our biggest advocate, absolutely.

Just being in NXT has given me so much confidence as a person and a performer.”

And on WM appearance:

“It was me, Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks and it was surreal.

Actually, Triple H sent the three of us framed and signed pictures of the entrance, with all the smoke.

Hearing that entrance music — please excuse my language — we felt like badasses!”