Triple H Comments on Possibility of a WWE UK PPV Event and The Undertaker’s Schedule

Triple H is a full time executive in WWE that’s in charge of talent relations, he helps run creative with his Chairman Vince McMahon and he also wrestles part time. Triple H also does a lot of interviews talking about WWE because Vince has taken a bit of a backseat from a public standpoint while Triple H and his wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley-Game-Levesque (something like that) serve more as the spokespersons of the company.

Regarding the WWE UK PPV thing, the last major UK PPV was SummerSlam 1992. That was an event that they taped a few days before it aired. Times have changed because that would never happen today. There were several UK only PPV events in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but no major WWE shows. There are tapings of Raw and Smackdown that take place usually twice per year while there was a NXT Takeover in the UK as well, but those fans are still waiting for a major main roster PPV event to take place in England or anywhere else in the UK.

Triple H recently was a guest on the Sky Sports Lock Up Podcast where he spoke about a number of different topics including the chances of a WWE pay-per-view event in the United Kingdom and what’s next for The Undertaker. Thanks to Sportskeeda for the quotes.

Triple H on WWE holding a WWE UK pay-per-view event in the future:

“You guys are obsessed with that! And you should be. This is an open opportunity for all the markets outside of (the US) The time frame for when we run things in the US doesn’t work for a lot of places in the world. This opens up a lot of opportunities to put things in a localised time format for the wrestling globe – especially the UK where the desire’s very high.”

“Getting things down to work in a reasonable manner with a reasonable cost, in a reasonable time slot is really what it’s all about to us but it is definitely something we’re working towards.”

“When people say, “I don’t understand, just do the show.” We run 560 live events a year, we do an average of 9-10 live events a week. They are planned out a year or sometimes longer in advance. Putting those pieces together, one change dramatically affects the entire puzzle so it’s just a process that we’re going through but absolutely we will get there, it’s just, I’m sure for everyone that’s waiting, it seems to be forever, but we’ll get there. It’s not a matter of IF we can overcome the obstacles, it’s a matter of when and getting them all lined up.”

Triple H on WrestleMania being difficult to do in England:

“Can we get there? Sure. Maybe over time. But I think obviously we will take steps in that direction and the steps in that direction are probably other pay-per-views.”

He expanded on those comments by saying that the logistics of doing a WrestleMania there would be extremely difficult because it’s already hard enough to do a WrestleMania in the US and that’s without all the international travel required. It’s a good point.

Triple H on bringing other events to the UK market:

“The thing for me is I would also like to bring other meaningful international events through WWE as you see us doing with NXT and the UK Championship. Taking those next steps, international shows, making international brands and bringing those to those local markets and putting them on in those time slots that are meaningful to those markets.”

Triple H on British wrestling talents becoming big stars in WWE:

“You’re going to see those talents thrive locally and then go beyond that nationally, as we’ve seen with Pete (Dunne) and Tyler (Bate). In a few years, those are the stars you’re going to see on Raw and SmackDown, those will be the stars you see headlining WrestleMania.”

Triple H on Undertaker’s future as an in-ring competitor in WWE:

“I think there’s one person who has the rights to call the shots and that’s The Undertaker. I think it will all depend on him and I think it should all depend on him. At this point, it should be what he wants to and feels comfortable doing.”

“I know that he, as a performer, always wants to be able to give his best and, if he can’t then he doesn’t want to do it. When he’s in a position where he is right now, I think he feels great and wants to be able to be out there and show The Undertaker to the world, but it really comes down to himself, as it should.”

Thanks again to Sportskeeda for the quotes.

TJR Thoughts: The comments about the possible UK PPV are very vague. Triple H is very good at answering a question at length without really saying anything at all. It could have been easy for him to just say no to the possibility of a WWE UK PPV any time soon, but if he does that it may hurt ticket sales for the European tour coming up next week. I think when you have something like WWE Network, you should be willing give the WWE UK fans a live PPV event.

I know the time difference is a big thing. It’s obvious that WWE wants their PPVs to be in primetime for the North American audience. If they did a PPV in England that started at 8pm then that’s 3pmET or 12pmPT and it’s not ideal even on a weekend. The good thing about WWE Network is fans can watch it any time they want, but I assume WWE figures that fans would have the results spoiled.

Fans in the UK are rightly asking if WWE can do a show in Saudi Arabia on a Friday that airs int he afternoon in North America, why not England? The main reason they did that Saudi show was because they got paid a ridiculous amount of money rumored to be over $100 million and the UK market isn’t going to pay that much for a show.

There’s no WWE UK PPV this year because we already know the main PPV schedule and all the shows are in the United States. Perhaps that will change next year. The WWE UK fanbase certainly deserves it.