10 Things To Expect With Triple H Running WWE Creative

6. WWE Is Now A Far More Attractive Proposition For Talent

Triple H Johnny Gragano
AEW

When Triple H began crafting the NXT brand, his aim was to make this a veritable 'super indie' promotion.

He may not have been able to land every best independent talent out there, but Paul Levesque's mission objective was to hoover up as many of the best indie stars available, in addition to pulling in certain names from other promotions.

The Florida Championship Wrestling days may have been responsible for signing up the likes of Seth Rollins and Jon Moxley, yet it was NXT that went hard in signing IWC favourites such as Finn Balor, KENTA, Samoa Joe, Asuka, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Bobby Roode, Kairi Sane, Ricochet, Aleister Black, Shinsuke Nakamura, Andrade 'Cien' Almas, Apollo Crews, Io Shirai, Karrion Kross, Dominik Dijakovic, Keith Lee, Mercedes Martinez, Solomon Crowe, Adam Cole, reDRagon, Roddy Strong, KUSHIDA, and Austin Aries. Likewise, the brand took cups-of-coffee looks at talents like Alex Shelley and James Storm.

If it was instead early-2022 when the aforementioned names were presented with the opportunity to sign with WWE, it's extremely likely the vast majority would instead opt to test the waters with All Elite Wrestling. In fact, eight of those names are currently with AEW.

Upon seeing Triple H's track record in NXT, WWE is now a far more appealing destination than it was only a week ago.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.