Triple H Is Happy For WWE NXT Stars Who Left For AEW

The past year has seen a large number of former WWE superstars jump ship to AEW. Many of those stars spent a significant amount of time in NXT. Triple H has no hard feelings for those wrestlers.

Swerve Strickland, Keith Lee, ReDragon, Adam Cole, and several others were fixtures in NXT when the brand was focused on independent talent. Once it became apparent that WWE was shifting the focus of the NXT brand to purely developmental, many decided to take their talents elsewhere. There are no hard feelings from The Game, who recruited many of them personally.

Speaking with The Athletic, Triple H noted that professional sports players change teams all the time. Despite this, he maintains relationships with almost all of them. WWE helped teach them to be successful as a television wrestler.

“I like all those guys. They helped us get where we needed to get, and I’m thankful for it. The truth is there was a period of time where we were trying to build NXT. We built NXT. Then we were trying to build a brand that could get a television show and sustain it. All those names helped us get there. Whether anybody believed or not they fit on “Raw” or “SmackDown,” those aren’t necessarily my decisions solely, and they’re Vince’s (McMahon) decisions and fans’ decisions; and then, can we continue to do business with them?

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If they have great gigs, I’m happy for them. I stay in touch with almost all of them. I like to think they came into us here, we taught them a lot, got them to (a higher level) where they learned how to do television, how to be professionals and all that to be successful there. At some point, they might come back with us, or they might never because they don’t fit our brand as well, but that’s OK. They got us to certain places, and I’m thankful for that, and they’re thankful for that, and they’re off to different things. But that doesn’t stop the train. People leave football teams, move to different teams all the time, and it’s great.”

Wrestlers all have their reasons for moving from one company to another. Triple H understands that it’s just business. The WWE legend is happy for the success of his friends and former colleagues, even if it is in another company.

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