HI PAUL, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. What can we expect from WWE NXT Live when it hits Ireland next month?
NXT brings something very unique to the table – it tends to be a little younger, a little hungrier and full of atheletes who are trying make a name for themselves and leave their mark on the sports entertainment industry.
Over the last couple of years, NXT has gone from being our developmental system to WWE's third global touring brand. It's just a little over a year now since we started going outside of our home base in Florida and crossing the United States before coming over to the UK for the first time last year, but already it's been this phenomenal rocketship ride.
I think in some ways we're just getting started, so we're really really excited to be coming back over to the UK and Ireland and really getting out there to our fans.
I've been to Ireland a million times myself, so I know how passionate the fanbase is. Some of our biggest superstars from Sheamus to Becky Lynch to Finn Balor are coming directly out of there.
Finn Balor brings something to the table that very few people do in this industry, be it NXT, WWE or any place else – he's a very unique talent and that's very rare.
I think people will get the opportunity to see something very special when we come to Ireland.
The one thing with NXT is that anything can happen – as you saw with the match between Samoa Joe and Finn Balor in Lowell Massachusetts where the NXT title changed hands.
Anything can happen at any time.
NXT alumni like Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns have already gone on to massive success in Wrestlemania – how much of an impact do you think Finn Balor is going to have on that competition in the future?
Whatever Finn Balor wants to do, I think he has the opportunity to be massively successful.
Whether that be getting to RAW or to Smackdown or getting to Wrestlemania and becoming one of the biggest stars that the industry has ever seen, I think that Finn Balor has that ability – it's just a matter of harnessing and focussing it.
It's just a matter of time.
Becky Lynch's match at this year's Wrestlemania was one of its best – how much of her success and the current high standards in women's wrestling in general do you attribute to the developmental programme at NXT?
As far as Becky's success goes, I put a lot of that down to her passion and her desire to be great.
The thing about NXT and our Performance Center in Orlando is that we give everybody a platform and an opportunity to succeed. We give them all the tools that they could possibly want to be great at this – what they do with them is up to them.
Becky is an amazing performer with an incredible passion – if you've ever talked to her. her personality and her passion for this is infectious. She just has a buzz about her that you can feel.
I think that this year at Wrestlemania she had one of the greatest matches on the card and the women continue to steal the show everywhere they go and I think they will continue to do that – they're just getting started and Becky is kind of leading that charge.
We've produced three big WWE stars over the past few years in Sheamus, Finn Balor and Becky Lynch now. Is there something unique to them because they're Irish?
I don't know whether it's because they're Irish, but those are three talents who are definitely very passionate, very hard working and very humble. They just won't take 'no' for an answer and they want to be the best – and that's what you look for in any talent, regardless of their nationality, gender or anything else.
To me it's all the same. In WWE, there is no divide – it's just about working hard and connecting with the crowd, who will always react to that hard work. That's what we look for here.
I will say though that the fans in Ireland make it an amazing place for us. The crowds are so passionate, loud and responsive, it's one of those places that we absolutely love to go.
When we see Dublin or Belfast on an international tour schedule, we get excited – and I know that our NXT talent can't wait to come over there and show you all who they are and what they can do.
As Triple H, you're a 14-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion and one of the brand's biggest ever stars. Is there one match in particular that stands out in your memory?
There's a lot of them, really – all through my career I was lucky to have an amazing cast of talents to work with over the years.
But from an emotional perspective, I'd have to pick the year I wrestled The Undertaker in Hell in A Cell with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee and they dubbed it the 'end of an era' match.
There was a moment after that match was over when the three of us were standing on the top of the stage at Wrestlemania in front of over 70k people – three guys with such a huge level of respect for each other – that was a very emotional moment.
It's one of those things that's kind of burned into my mind. I'll never forget it.
Now that you're one of WWE's executive vice-presidents, how does running the show compare to 'being' the show – do you have a preference?
Well, it's one of those things where, when you get to a certain age (Levesque is 46), it doesn't matter which you prefer.
There's no bigger rush than performing in front of thousands of people, but at the same, time I get just as big a rush now out of working on something with Finn Balor and then watching him go to the ring at an NXT Takeover and just owning the place.
Helping this new talent to grow and realise their full potential is as meaningful to me as anything I've done in my career.
:: WWE NXT Live, June 13, SSE Arena Belfast / June 14, 3Arena Dublin. Tickets on sale now via Ticketmaster outlets.
