Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque has a plethora of roles within WWE, but chief among them is his overseeing of all-things WWE NXT. It’s his baby, with his wrestlers, on his terms. At least that’s the way WWE presents NXT to us, on and off the air.
Because wrestling never stops, Triple H was back in the saddle working NXT’s TV tapings shortly after another successful major NXT event in NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III where Indie wrestling star Adam Cole (baybay) finally made his WWE debut. It was a good night for NXT, and a good night for Triple H.
Triple H shared the following picture on Twitter prior to those TV tapings, teasing what’s to come for NXT, as he often does. It didn’t take long for internet investigators to identify the folks sitting behind Triple H.
The first @WWENXT tapings post #NXTTakeOver: Brooklyn. Who owns this era? We'll find out. #WeAreNXT pic.twitter.com/wOyVEiu4fJ
— Triple H (@TripleH) August 24, 2017
That’d be Jim Smallman and Jon Briley, co-owners of the UK based Progress Wrestling, Paul Heyman protege and EVOLVE owner, Gabe Sapolsky, and, of course, Shawn Michaels.
This shouldn’t necessarily come as a shock to anyone, as both Progress Wrestling and EVOLVE have been ‘working’ with WWE in some capacity for a while now, depending on which dirt sheets you’re reading. However, Sports Illustrated followed up with a source close to Triple H to find out why, exactly, Smallman, Briley, and Sapolsky were in attendance, and that is far more interesting than the photo by itself.
A source close to SI explained Levesque is open-minded to different viewpoints, values the chance to hear them, and prefers a think-tank culture to bring wrestling into the future. He has built an unselfish environment at NXT, with people welcome to contribute whenever they see fit.
This is certainly a refreshing mindset considering how closed off WWE has been from the rest of the wrestling world in years past. This is like comparing apples and oranges, but you’d never find a picture of Vince McMahon at a WWE Raw taping with Ted Turner.
It’s a different era, and despite how successful Progress and EVOLVE are, they aren’t competing with WWE like WCW was in the ’90s, but regardless of the shoddy comparison, it’s nice to see Triple H approach his move to a behind-the-scenes role with an open mind. The wrestling business has changed, and there is no better evidence of that than this look behind the WWE curtain.
What role Smallman, Briley, and Sapolsky have in or around NXT moving forward remains to be seen, but Sports Illustrated also noted that their inclusion in this photo wasn’t a mistake. WWE isn’t trying to hide them. Stay tuned.
