Triple H: Empty Arena Shows Won’t Last Forever But The Cream Will Rise To The Top

Triple H is proud of what the NXT brand has been able to do while dealing with the new frontier that is wrestling during the global pandemic.

The empty arena shows have been the norm in wrestling ever since the global Coronavirus pandemic took a turn for the worst in March.

The first WWE branded event from an empty WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, was WWE SmackDown on Friday, March 13, 2020. The show featured Triple H quite heavily due to his familiarity with the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Now, as the state of Florida enters Phase 2 of Coronavirus recovery, Triple H is taking some time to reflect on what these empty arena shows have been and how proud he is that NXT, along with Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown, has continued to entertain the WWE Universe.

“Look, I’m very proud of the product we’ve continued to put out. The one thing with NXT, we sort of had to drift along on the tail of Raw and SmackDown, so as things were moving, we were kind of the last in the movement. A lot of times we were kind of scrambling to pick up the chains last and move with it. That was difficult to do. I think talent has done a remarkable job. I read a quote the other day where a talent said everybody hates doing these empty-arena shows. Of course, they do. No one wants to wrestle in an empty arena. No one wants to get COVID either,” said Hunter. “These empty-arena shows are what they are. We feel like it’s really important right now in the world for people to be entertained. We’ve done everything we can from a safety standpoint and from following guidelines to continue putting on a product. It’s a different product and it’s hard for talent, especially in NXT where some of the talent are younger and newer. I can’t even imagine if I’d only been in the business for a couple of years and I’m just starting to get used to having a lot of fans at the shows and now they take all the fans away and I’m expected to do the matches still and put 100% into everything else. It’d be really hard. It’s a tough thing.”

He continued, “Everything we’re taught to do is in reaction to where fans are going and being reactive to that. You guide them and be reactive to that. There’s nothing there now to guide you and react to. It’s really tough. This isn’t going to last forever, and I’m just a big believer the talent will rise to the top, the cream will rise to the top. If we continue to put out great shows, people will continue to watch. That’s truly what I believe.”

Elsewhere in the interview, he spoke about the revival of the WWE In Your House brand, calling the past events very fun for the performers and fans. You can read the full interview at this link.