10 Banned Photos WWE Don’t Want You To See
2. Global Localisation
Before he resurfaced as a huge power player in WWE, as head booker, Triple H failed.
He was instrumental in building the NXT brand, presenting several lucrative and well-attended TakeOver events - but what did NXT actually accomplish, beyond staving off the rise of the real alternative for a few years?
Levesque built some stars at the midpoint of the 2010s, absolutely, but after a couple of years, he relied on PWG imports to stand front row, soak up the pop, and win the belt in under a year.
The jaded primary audience loved NXT, but not enough: what became a drab and all-too-intense show bombed when it made the jump to TV proper in 2019. This was no surprise, when you recall that the one-hour NXT show was sometimes defeated by Table For 3 in the Network rankings.
Triple H thought NXT had a more far-reaching appeal, intending, once upon a time, to launch it worldwide. He wanted to do NXT Japan, NXT Mexico, as part of the Global Localisation initiative - but only got as far as NXT UK, which was a tedious, pathetic, minimally watched misfire. The worst pilot imaginable. Vince McMahon took over the world with Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper; Levesque attempted to follow in his footsteps with Gallus.
This image (and indeed all of them) is not “banned”, per se - but it’s a terrible reflection of Paul Levesque’s business acumen.