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Triple H Discusses Current Health Crisis, WWE NXT Great American Bash, Relationships With Talent, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 10th July 2020

The year 2020 has been like no other year in not only wrestling but the world in general. Triple H recently sat down with Yahoo Sports to discuss how WWE has been adapting to the current health crisis.

“Look, this is a difficult experience and a learning experience for everybody, especially for us. Everything that we are doing, health and safety-wise has evolved at the Performance Center. As we learn more about it and as this changes, we’re going to continue to evolve. I feel like every day you’re getting different information.”

“Right now, we’re testing all talent, production crew, employees, everybody in advance of the television production and will continue that for the foreseeable future. We have a mandatory mask policy now for all performers and staff when not on camera. All of this has changed. The testing procedures, as they became more available at an accurate level — there were a lot of people saying they were testing at the beginning and doing rapid testing with some questionable accuracy. We were doing what the guidelines, what the CDC, what our medical staff were telling us were the most beneficial procedures for the health and well-being of our talent, staff and crew at that time. As the technology has advanced and the ability to test people has improved, we have stayed on top of that as well.”

Triple H was also asked if WWE had considered creating more of a “bubble” for its employees, similar to what the NBA and MLS are doing.

“As far as a bubble strategy, everybody has a different take on this. My feeling is, yes, it’s increasing everywhere, but our testing is increasing as well. I think we have been very successful in that, prior to this recent wave, what we were doing was working, we didn’t have a massive outbreak. As things increased, what we have been able to do, in my opinion, has been to protect the people that come in and participate with us in the performances.”

“When you see there are positives, that is the system working. That’s people coming from where they live, where they’re from, whatever exposure they have had, that’s us stopping it before it gets into — I don’t want to say bubble because I don’t believe you can do that to people and have them only around each other — our building. Everybody is going to be around others, their families, things they do in their personal lives. If they have had contact, are at risk or are putting others at risk, we are preventing them from coming in. Everytime that we go to the Performance Center and leave, it is pandemic-level cleaned. We’re doing everything we possibly can.”

Triple H also explained why the decision was made to have WWE NXT Great American Bash over two night on regular television, and not as a Takeover event.

“This kind of morphed over time. People will talk about the competition of Wednesday night and obviously there is something to that as well, but the truth is that the booking decisions that were made have been in place for a long period of time. Because there was a long gap between the “In Your House TakeOver” and “SummerSlam” — I wasn’t even sure there was going to be an “In Your House TakeOver” — we had things blocked out in chunks where we wanted to get for SummerSlam. When you started to look at it, there were a lot of big, epic moments that were going to happen and a lot of things that could be made an even bigger deal out of.”

“Our partners at USA  (Network) suggested that we brand it out to help them to be able to do business with it, which they did by bringing in some great partners for it. For us — and I know it’s hard for people to deal with or swallow — it comes down to doing what’s best for our business, not anybody else’s.”

Finally, Triple H explained that he feels like he not only has a great relationship with NXT talent, but all talent in general.

“I have a relationship with all talent, not just NXT talent. People put a divider between the groups of talent, like there’s this glass wall between the groups or something, but the reality is 90 percent of the people who are on Raw or SmackDown at this point have come through the Performance Center or NXT.”

There’s more in Triple H’s interview with Yahoo Sports here.

Matt’s Musings: Hopefully with the safety measures in place, WWE can prevent any more of its employees from contracting the virus.