Perhaps it’s fitting that Triple H will be standing across the ring from Seth Rollins, the first NXT champion, at WrestleMania.
Beyond his own match, though, Paul “Triple H” Levesque can look at the entire lineup on April 2 and see performers, ring announcers and broadcasters who have come through NXT, WWE’s developmental system based in Orlando.
Levesque, as WWE’s executive vice president of talent, live events and creative, has been the founder and chief architect of NXT and overhauled how the company recruits and builds talent.
All but three of the currently scheduled WrestleMania matches feature performers who spent time in NXT. It’s likely eight of the 10 NXT champions will be involved in WrestleMania, barring a surprise. Three of the five NXT women’s champions – Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Bayley – are in the same match.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have that pride factor,” Levesque said. “It’s a huge moment to see those guys shine. I know what it feels like. I was there. I went through all of it. To me, it’s awesome to help them live their dreams.
“I get as much excitement of seeing these kids succeed as I do by far from any of the stuff I’ve done in my career. I’m not the one out there in front of the 100,000 people, but it’s like being a proud papa. It’s the difference between doing it yourself and watching your kids doing it. There is a difference in the kind of pride, but it’s still there.”
Florida Championship Wrestling had been WWE’s developmental program until it was rebranded as NXT in the summer of 2012 and then moved its base to the 26,000-square foot WWE Performance Center in Orlando in the summer of 2013. Rollins is among the performers who appeared in developmental under both banners.
The distance from the Performance Center to Camping World Stadium, the site of WrestleMania, is about nine miles, but a journey of a lifetime for many WWE performers.
Not everyone who wrestles professionally makes it to NXT and not everyone from NXT makes it to the main roster — or makes it big once they get there — so being on the wrestling world’s biggest show is a substantial accomplishment.
Levesque said the Performance Center currently has 100 performers and is at capacity. He said the possibility exists for facilities like the Performance Center to be built in other locations to train more talent.
The system is like a baseball organization that develops its players through its minor leagues in hopes they reach the big leagues. Like the “Dodger Way” that defined that franchise, there is a “WWE Way.”
“Our focus is on making a great TV show and everything follows from there,” Levesque said. “We’ve got great in-ring performers and great guys on the microphone, but it’s about the way we put it out there and the way we produce it. The gap between people coming from everyplace else that isn’t WWE is so massive that we have to teach them how we do it our way. But we’re doing it. …
“It’s changed the product. You can look at the product over the last 2-3 years and the product is different. The WWE is a different environment. It has changed the landscape. Now there is a proven model of how to do it and how to make it work.”
The model, however, is adaptable to different talent and their levels of experience. Their individual recruiting classes tend to have both. The group brought in last fall included a Brazilian who competed in the Rio Olympics in judo, a former NFL running back and a 13-year veteran wrestler.
“When you are bringing in someone that’s a blank slate, you’re looking at a very long-term investment,” Levesque said. “There are a lot of variables to that — whether they can make it or burn out? Will they want to stay with it?
“When you’re finding a talent who has been in the business and I’ll use Kevin Owens as an example. Here’s a guy with a wealth of experience. He’s been everywhere. He’s had a 15-year career before he got to us. Great in-ring talent, great on the microphone at that level and then he comes to us. Out of those 15 years he’s worked, he’s been the best there is for the last five of them and nobody had given him any direction or coaching in 10 years probably. Is he open to change or is he stuck in his ways? Is he open to learning something new, like where cameras are? To get your character across, you need do these things. If they’re open to it, it’s phenomenal. If they’re not, it doesn’t work.”
Photo: WWE
Levesque, though, also loves it when he and WWE can discover a diamond in the rough.
“I love it when we found somebody who is a blank slate, they step through the ring ropes, they get it for the first time and then six months later you look and go, ‘This person is unbelievable. They just picked it up.’ … Look at Alexa Bliss. She’s the SmackDown women’s champion and she had never stepped through the ropes before and she’s phenomenal.”
NXT’s current stars will be highlighted during WrestleMania weekend with NXT Takeover: Orlando on Saturday, April 1 on WWE Network. NXT talent also will be performing during WrestleMania AXXESS, the fan festival in Orlando.
Triple H in the ring
Triple H will be making his 21st appearance at WrestleMania when he faces Seth Rollins. (Rollins must sign a “hold harmless” contract during Monday’s RAW to make the match official as far as the storyline.)
His first WrestleMania match was WrestleMania XII in 1996 when he lost to The Ultimate Warrior. He now wrestles only a handful of times a year. He recently appeared on two live events to help his WrestleMania preparation.
Why does he keep getting in the ring?
“There’s a part of the athlete and the performer that you can’t take out of you,” he said.
“There’s a lot of speculation about coming back and taking the spotlight (from the younger guys), but If Vince said, ‘I don’t want you to do it this year’ or ‘there’s not a spot for you,’ I’d say OK.
“If I get the opportunity, I love doing it. It’s hard to turn down. It’s a lot of fun to do it in front of 70,000 or 80,00 people to work with a guy like Seth Rollins. But it’s also hard to do. Given the role that I have right now — and I’m 47 years old — I don’t have a minute of any day that’s not accounted for with something. I can tell you right now that’s never accounted for with sleeping. It’s a busy schedule, but that’s what we do.
“If it helps the product, if it helps WrestleMania be bigger or it helps to improve whatever we’re doing, then great. But I’m OK with stepping aside, too. To be honest, I get as much enjoyment out of what I do on the other side with my day job as I do with anything else.”
Shane takes flight … again
A year ago on RAW before WrestleMania, Shane McMahon went to the top rope and jumped outside the ring to drop an elbow on The Undertaker, who was prone on the announcers’ table. And you remember what he did at WrestleMania to top that by jumping off the top of Hell In A Cell.
Tuesday on SmackDown, McMahon again went to the top rope and again dropped an elbow on his prone opponent on the announcers’ table. This time, it was A.J. Styles. The question remains what is left for Shane to do to up the ante at WrestleMania.
That could be a scary proposition for his own physical well-being.
Getting personal
Credit to John Cena and Nikki Bella as the run-up to their mixed tag team match against The Miz and Maryse continues to get increasingly personal. SmackDown included mock segments of “Total Bellas,” with The Miz portraying Cena and Maryse portraying Nikki.
Most of the scenes poked fun at their decision not to get married, using words like “ring” and “popping the question.” Clearly, WWE would not have gone down this road without consent from two of its most marketable stars.
“Mike is the guy that screams at the top of his lungs that he is the It Couple,” Cena said on Talking Smack. “I’m just happy to stand alongside the woman that I love and keep pushing forward doing what I love. …. You’ve got seven days (until Smackdown next week and) I know what you’re going to come up with is going to be good, because I’m low-hanging fruit. I’m an easy target. I’ve been taking it on the chin for a decade and I’m still here and moving forward because that’s what I do. “
In case you are wondering, British betting site Paddy Power has 2-9 odds that Cena will propose to Nikki at WrestleMania. That translates to 82% likelihood with a $9 bet winning $2. Odds against are 11/4, so a $4 bet wins $11.
