Lane points out that Scott Steiner ripped Triple H this past week for not ‘passing the torch’ to the new wave of WWE talent after Triple H appeared on Jimmy Fallon to promote SummerSlam. Russo says he’s not sure of the history between these two men but there’s certainly heat there. Russo adds that he wouldn’t want to have heat with Steiner because when you get on his bad side, he absolutely rips you apart.
Lane informs that Triple H recently stated that when discussing recent call-ups with Vince McMahon, he pleaded to leave Asuka in NXT because Asuka was the one talent that NXT couldn’t lose. Gilbertti points out that Triple H must have forgotten what the purpose of NXT is. There are no draws in NXT in Gilbertti’s opinion, and nobody is that important to that brand. Guys like Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode were there too long in Gilbertti’s opinion, and they should have been on the main roster long before their call-up occurred.
Russo wonders why WWE is concerned with building NXT as a third brand. Gilbertti wonders the same thing and says WWE’s focus should be on RAW and Smackdown Live. NXT should be strictly a developmental territory and the Full Sail crowd would still support it the same anyways. If guys who can already work like Roode and McIntyre are available, they should be on main roster right away.
Gilbertti says that maybe Triple H is too close to this now, and since it’s his baby, he’s doing everything in his power to build it as a competitive third brand. Russo agrees and says that maybe there’s a competitive thing between him and Vince at this point. He adds that this whole situation is all about Triple H’s ego now.