Triple H participated in a “media call” today to promote NXT TakeOver and had a few interesting things to say about Shinsuke Nakamura. He basically said that he didn’t feel that Nakamura was ready for the main roster when he first joined WWE because he needed to learn how to work on television and that he had a different wrestling style and language barrier.
However, he also said that he feels that Nakamura is ready now and that “it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when” he gets called up to the main roster.
Triple H: “There’s a lot of different components to that. We’re not like anything else. We’re not just a TV show. We’re an athletic show with a massive TV component and that’s what WWE does that really kinda no one else does, is we are a TV product. If you talk to any of the talent… if you talk to Finn Balor… I just had this conversation with AJ Styles a few weeks ago… The curve of coming in is not to be believed. And when you talk about a guy who comes in from another country with a different style, with a language barrier, with no real – and this is hard for some people to accept – no real knowledge of television production. Who’s a wrestler and a performer who it’s irrelevant to him that there are cameras shooting him. That’s not how it works for us. We’re a television show and it’s a completely different thing and that’s a philosophical difference. Working with those talents to get to where they need to be to work television and to be able to succeed on that level is a different thing all together.
Even a guy as great – and believe me, I wanted him to be here, I sang his praises. I’m that one that went after him, all those things. But there was still a curve coming into the door that needed to… He needed to have that experience to be successful on the main event roster and he’s there. Now it’s just a matter of time of when when he fits in to moving up to that main roster. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”