Triple H Explains Why NXT UK Was Replaced By NXT Europe
Triple H has provided insight as to why WWE went through all the trouble of creating NXT Europe.
NXT UK lasted for four years and included 215 episodes broadcast over five seasons. The brand’s purpose was to help WWE enter the British wrestling market (and from there, the rest of the European market) while also serving as another developmental territory for the bigger brands in the US.
But NXT UK was shut down in September 2022, with its replacement NXT Europe scheduled to launch in early 2023. When asked why WWE was going through all the trouble of rebranding when NXT UK was already established and functioning, Triple H explained that a lot of it had to do with the COVID Pandemic:
“When we started NXT UK, the desire was to sort of replicate what we were doing in the U.S. and we got a start on it and then COVID hit and slowed everything down, and then we needed to rethink it. So we got to a place where we were ready to go again but it’s sort of tough to rebrand something and reboot it while you’re still running it. So we shut it down.
As Europe evolves and grows once we bring that back I think we will begin to see it replicating a bit more of what you see in the U.S.”
Triple H further explained that there’s also a practical need for something like NXT Europe.
He explained that it’s so much costlier to bring people from far away countries all the way to the United States, and that having another ‘feeder territory’ that’s closer geographically like the UK or continental Europe. Triple H had this to say:
“It’s very difficult for us to find athletes, bring them to the US to begin training. It’s a very long process for us. We can get them into Europe in a much quicker fashion and get them training much quicker, much faster, and have success in a shorter period of time. So it becomes a very key hub for us. I think once Europe is established you will see us begin to look at branching that out into other markets as well.”
h/t WrestlingInc. for the transcription