Paul 'Triple H' Levesque talks NXT Takeover: San Antonio, Shinsuke Nakamura, United Kingdom and more

WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque fielded questions from the wrestling media once again Thursday to promote NXT Takeover: San Antonio, which will emanate from the Freeman Coliseum in the Alamo City Saturday night.

He began the call by saying that the event was sold out despite having what he called a "unique build" leading up to the event. He said that it was challenging due to the quick turnaround from NXT Takeover: Toronto back in November to the next Takeover taking place this weekend.

"There were a lot of changes that were made strategically within WWE that changed the landscape of NXT and given the holidays and our shooting schedule, where we already had taped shows for the end of the year that ended up being the [Osaka] Japan show and the Melbourne [Australia] show, those kind of changed how I would have built this show and promoted it," he said. "That being said, the card is stellar."

The changes within WWE Levesque was referring to was partnering each NXT Takeover show with the company's "big four" events — WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble.

Technically, NXT Takeover: San Antonio will be the fifth live special to coincide with one of the "big four," but the permanent change in strategy wasn't made official until late 2016.

He then previewed each match on the card for NXT Takeover: San Antonio, including the main event, which is an NXT championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Roode.

He then spoke about the United Kingdom Championship Tournament from earlier this month, saying that he was proud of how it was executed.

"I can't say enough good things about the talent over there," he said. "I knew it watching them. I knew it as we were recruiting them. The talent that was in that tournament was amazing. Working with them was a wonderful experience."

"They're very polished and I look forward to the future of working with them in a bigger way and hopefully, we're be able to get everything lined up to make that a weekly U.K. show," he added. "That's the goal."

He then opened the call up to questions with the first being about the wrestling scene in the United Kingdom and how multiple wrestlers that participated in the United Kingdom Championship Tournament have been pulled off U.K. shows at WWE's request, which struck fear that WWE may be planting the seeds for a hostile takeover of sorts.

"There's a lot of confusion based on that," Levesque said. "A lot of the confusion is based on people's refusal to acknowledge the reality of the situation."

"We signed talent as part of this U.K. tournament and are looking forward to doing hopefully what will become a weekly show over there," he added. "The talent knew going in what the deal was. They knew what the restrictions were and they knew what the restrictions weren't. We're not restricting them from working for anybody as long as it's not distributed. As long as there is no distribution outside of the live event.

Some of these promotions tried to come in after the fact and add a distribution component to that. The talent didn't sign up for that to start with. They just had that added coming off the success of what we did or whatever they were working on. That's a change. That's a change in how the talent was being dealt with. The talent has an agreement to go to an event, compete on a live event and not to do other things and that's changed."

He also said that the company is not trying to strong-arm any promotions in the United Kingdom. He said if anything, WWE wants to work with the U.K. promotions, mainly the ones that cultivate talent and not groups that are "one-offing" talent.

Levesque admitted again that there is a lot of confusion, but none of it lies with WWE or the talent. He said that the confusion comes from the promoters that are attempting to capitalize on the tournament's success.

He was then asked about a possible timeline of when a weekly U.K.-themed show could come to fruition.

"Doing a weekly television show is a lot different from doing a tournament," he said. "There are a lot of factors that are involved in this. Yes, do we have the money to run out there? Yeah, but we'd like it to be beneficial to everybody and be financially the right thing."

Levesque then said because of that, he could not give an official timeline on when the weekly show would finally premier.

He was then asked about whether he preferred the format and structure of the United Kingdom tournament, which played out over the course of two days, or the Cruiserweight Classic from last summer, which played out over the course of a couple weeks, for WWE's next tournament.

"I think it depends on the goal of the tournament," Levesque said. "The goal of the Cruiserweight Classic was slightly different than the U.K. tournament and where we were doing and operating those."

The major difference between those tournaments Levesque pointed out was that WWE brought 32 wrestlers from around the world to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. for the Cruiserweight Classic, whereas the United Kingdom Championship Tournament was held in another country, and having that play out over the course of weeks would have been difficult.

"I think they both have their place and they both can work well," he added. "I think people enjoyed the intense, fast programming aspect of the U.K. tournament. […] On the other hand, I think the cruiserweights exposed you to a lot of different talent over a longer period of time, but you got to see different variations of styles over every single week. It was something different and changing every week.

The next question was about his thoughts on the progress of the cruiserweight division since its arrival on Raw and the introduction of 205 Live on the WWE Network.

"I think it's a work in progress," he said.

"205 [Live] being it's own platform gives those guys a different vantage point to be able to showcase what they do in a much more effective manner," he added.

"I still believe in that show. I have high hopes for that show. I think it's one of those deals where a few years from now it just feels like a staple part of what we are and what we do and has a really robust following. That's truly my belief."

He was then asked about his philosophy on using Nakamura as the face of NXT despite him having plenty of experience and a resume worthy of being on the main roster.

Levesque answered by saying that there are a lot of different components to whether someone gets called up to either Raw or Smackdown Live.

"We are a TV product," he said. "If you talk to any of the talent, the curve of coming in is not to be believed. When you talk about a guy that's comes in from another country with a different style with a language barrier with no real knowledge of television production, that's not how it works for us. We're a television show and that's a completely different thing."

He said that he heavily pursued Nakamura and thinks the world of him, but even he needed to spend time in NXT to gain the experience needed to have success on the main roster.

"He's there," Levesque added. "Now it's just a matter of time of when he fits into moving up to that main roster. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."

The next question was about the effect ventures like the Cruiserweight Classic has had on the NXT roster and whether there was concern of spreading it too then.

"There's talent being spread in different places, but I also believe it is just more opportunity for more talent to work different places. I believe that eventually, as these things begin to cultivate, you might see guys migrate out of 205 Live over to a U.K.-based product or you might see the U.K.-based guys migrate over to NXT," he said."

"I'm not looking at this as just the moment for right now," he added. "I want that pipeline for five years from now or for 10 years from now, and by increasing those opportunities and increasing the opportunities everywhere, it increases the pool."

The next question was about Levesque's long-term vision for the United Kingdom.

"I want guys to work," he said. "The only way you get great at doing this is by doing it. You can teach guys at the Performance Center all day long or in a school or you can take them through the process of how to be a performer, but how do they get great at it?"

"The idea for me is to be able to take a weekly show in the U.K. and be able to run live events off it, but also be able to support the other groups that are over there as well."

Levesque reinforced that he wants to work with quality U.K. promotions that will put an emphasis on cultivating talent.

Later in the call, Levesque was asked about his thoughts on former mixed martial artist-turned-wrestler Matt Riddle. Levesque said that Riddle had a tryout for WWE at some point and thought that he had a lot of promise, but given some of the baggage that came along with him, decided to let him gain more experience to see if he was more than just potential.

"He's done very well with that," he said of Riddle. "What the future holds I'm not 100 percent sure. He's a very, very talented kid."

One of the final questions was about whether the idea of airing an NXT Takeover special on the USA Network has come up.

Levesque said that one of the things he likes about NXT is that it is an exclusive property of the WWE Network, which gives it leeway to be different than the rest of WWE's programming.

He also said that NXT is still in the midst of a rebuilding process, but that he's not happy with where it is at the moment, but understands that it is a process.