WWE Star and Executive Paul “HHH” Levesque was recently interviewed by Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated on a number of topics, including putting NXT Great American Bash head-to-head against AEW Fyter Fest, saying that it is absolutely part of healthy competition.
Below are the highlights from the interview:
On putting NXT Great American Bash head-to-head against AEW Fyter Fest:
“It absolutely is part of healthy of competition. Anyone that thinks it isn’t, to a degree, is being naive to the situation. You saw that back in the day when Clash of Champions was counter-programming [to WWE’s WrestleMania IV in 1988]. At the same point, it can’t drive your booking decisions. Obviously there are counter-programming decisions, but I can tell you exactly how this came about. Almost all of these storylines were headed where they are now. There was a gap, timing wise, between In Your House and what will become the SummerSlam TakeOver, and you need a halfway point and a build. This is that halfway point. So it doesn’t change our decision-making process. I don’t counter-book, I book what’s right for NXT.”
On if anyone is performing at the level of Sasha Banks right now:
“If there is, it’s a very short list, and that’s a list that also includes Bayley. They’re on fire right now. Sasha-Io, that’s a match people say was a four-day build, but it was built much earlier than that. You just couldn’t promote it until we did. Sasha and Bayley, having them on the show is awesome. We have this collegiate-type pride where people want to come back to NXT. People carry that pride, and almost everyone that leaves calls me up and says, ‘Hey, I’d love to find a way to do something.’ Sasha and Bayley blow up my phone with ideas, and you can see the spark in their eye when they walk back in. It’s so much fun.”
On the potential spoiler for this week’s GAB main event:
“I thought we had an epic show last week, and this week’s show is something special. I know there is a little bit of controversy around it, and this won’t be the first time I’ve taken it upon myself to manipulate that process, but what I can tell you is that this main event delivers. Adam Cole and Keith Lee, I think it’s a dream match between our two top performers from 2019, and they deliver here. People are going to be very entertained. When you look back in a year, a match like this is going to make the demand even greater for the Great American Bash next year.”
