Though it hasn't always been played out in public, over the past year and change, there has been a behind-the-scenes struggle for power between Paul “Triple H” Levesque and his father-in-law, Vince McMahon, for creative control of WWE's on-screen product.
From Levesque putting his stamp on SummerSlam 2022 with the debut of Damage CTRL, to the return of about a dozen released stars, and the stop-star booking of NXT-elevatees versus old Mr. McMahon staples like Omos, fans could often tell whose fingerprints were on a show based on something as simple as the number of minutes dedicated to wrestling on any given show, with the fallout edition of RAW after WrestleMania 39 famously getting horrible reviews because of all of the Vince-isms present throughout the presentation.
And yet, with the sale to Endeavor under the new TKO banner officially official, it sounds like a winner has been decided upon by the higher-ups, with Levesque coming out on top, according to PWInsider.
“There’s a belief within WWE that Vince McMahon is no longer involved with the creative end of things and that Triple H has been basically knighted by Endeavor,” Wrestle Ops shared on Twitter. “And he’s the one who is driving 99.9% of the creative going forward. Not Vince McMahon. ‘Kinda feel like there will be a tug-of-war, and sometimes Vince will give his thoughts, and they’ll go with what Vince wants. But, I’m told that week-to-week in the weeds, they are going with what Triple H wants.'”
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful corroborated that reporting as well, noting on Twitter that fans can clearly see who is in charge now based on who is regularly appearing on television.
“I think you can take a look at the show – Johnny Gargano is back after his return was nixed. Tegan Nox is on the show. Dragon Lee is all over the program,” SRS wrote. “Carlito is finally factored in after being under contract for months. Cameron Grimes got back on TV. Bronson Reed is winning matches. Tag team titles and IC titles are getting long matches to end Raw. I'm not going to say that all of those are direct results of the situation, but all of those parts moving at the same time is a little too much to be a coincidence for me.”
Needless to say, fans online are hyped about this news, as Levesque's first year with the book has been a resounding success, and if the promotion's ticket sales are of any indication, it would appear fans are eager to see it in person just as much as watching it on television.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque is high on NXT‘s future.
Speaking of WWE's future and the prospects of extended success under the watchful eye of Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the Hall of Famer discussed the future of NXT during his Fastlane press conference, and needless to say, he sounds incredibly excited about what Shawn Michaels has cooking up in developmental.
“In the future, going forward, the sky is the limit. I say this all the time, and I said it then, college football to some is just as popular as the NFL. And there’s a market for it. There’s a market for it globally,” Triple H said via Post Wrestling.
“I think in this moment in time, one of the things that TKO/Endeavor brings to the table is a growth pattern that we’ve never seen before here, because of the ability for us to do things that we couldn’t do. You’ve all heard me talk about it before — international markets, international growth, global localization of developmental systems. That’s a very, very difficult thing to do. The intent is still there.
“We are just now positioned with a group that has — we want to go to Timbuktu — they got 35 people on the ground there, probably. You know what I mean? The setup is so much easier, 10 years ahead of us on where we can go and what we can do.
“So when it comes to stuff like NXT with a leader like Shawn and Matt Bloom and the people that are there, their growth is unlimited. But now we have the infrastructure to continue to build it to where we wanna build it, no different than RAW and SmackDown… The international growth will be different. It will be wonderful, and it’ll be massive now for WWE. As global as we are, I don’t think we’re nicking the surface yet.”
Will the day eventually come when NXT is viewed as a legitimate third brand in the WWE Universe by casual fans? Maybe yes, maybe no, but as Levesque pointed out elsewhere in his presser, having a strong farm system allows for stars like Edge to leave without the promotion missing a beat.