Triple H clarifies what he and NXT are looking for in new signings.
After conducting WWE tryouts in Las Vegas, Triple H sat down for a media scrum. He was asked by Wrestling Inc. about the rumors of NXT changing what they are looking for in new talent like we reported last week.
“It’s a funny thing, people talk about the shifting if what it is. It never really shifted,” Triple H said. “So if you go back and look at the hiring process, not the hiring process of a television show, the hiring process of who we’re looking to train and make WWE Superstars. Long term. If you go back and look at it, it hasn’t shifted. It’s been the same process. I don’t negate anybody.
From a standpoint of ‘I wrestled some independent stuff. ”Well all right, you’re out!’ That’s not a factor to me, but it’s also not the factor that makes me go ‘okay, you’re in.’ When they get in here today, if somebody goes in and hits the ropes perfectly every time, has every roll perfect, does all the stuff, (makes) it look easy because they’ve been training, that’s not really showing me anything. You should be able to, if you’ve been training, if you’ve been working indies you should be able to do all of that.
To me, what is the potential long-term? What is that potential? And are they willing to do the work to live up to that potential. Vince used to always say ‘we’re a variety show. We are. In some manner, you need a little bit of everything. That’s the key to all of this. But people hear one statement and then make one (assumption). ‘Now it’s that. No, now it’s this.’ It always has been.”
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This has definitely been the process over the years for NXT. We hear about wrestlers who are big names on the indies trying out for WWE and not getting signed occasionally. They didn’t see their potential at least at the time. However, this doesn’t answer if this policy will stay in place or change in the new future like the rumors have said.
Triple H was asked about how many people were signed from the tryouts in Las Vegas. He didn’t have an exact answer – “I don’t count” – but he gave a ballpark answer and further explained what he and WWE are looking for when they sign new talent.
“We had thirty eight talent here today, we had one drop out from yesterday to today. We had an injury and then we had another, not dropout, but we cut training short today. And I’d say somewhere, in the ballpark, of thirteen and sixteen I’d say. There’s a lot passion here in the last couple of days and a lot of drive. And clearly we’re looking for something different. You’ll hear Vince say it a lot. It’ll sound wrong to a lot of people, but it’s right. ‘We’re not looking for professional wrestlers, we’re looking for Superstars.’ We’re looking for somebody that can break through that. The rest of it takes care of itself.
You’re looking for the diamond in the rough, you’re looking for the one in a million, you’re looking for those things. That’s the difficult part. The rest of it takes care of itself and it happens. And you go about that process. So to me, right now it’s about giving opportunities. And there was a lot of people here that have the tools to break through, that stood out when they walked through the room. You’re like ‘alright, who’s that?’
They had that some type of it factor, and then proved it to us here how much they wanted it. And I think, in this moment in time, to be able to go a little bit beyond and bring in these people give them that shot. Are they going to make it? No. It’s a long hard journey. But if everybody made it it wouldn’t be that special when you got there, right?”
Being A Wrestler Is Hard But Finding The “Diamond In The Rough” Just As Hard
To have what it takes to be a wrestler in general is hard. To be a successful one is even harder, but to be a WWE Superstar is just the top level and almost impossible to reach that level. It takes so many little things coming together just to make it to that level.
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Triple H talked about the “diamond in the rough” which makes that search even more difficult because they aren’t looking to make Superstars. They are looking for people who are already Superstars and just need some dirt brushed off. However, as far as shifting what NXT is looking for I don’t know how you would even see that in some 18 year old who has never wrestled a day in his life if they will truly start looking for under 30 year olds.
Triple H also talked about the “It” or “X” factor or whatever you want to call it. He was also asked if that special something they are looking for changing when looking at men vs women.
“People use that term “It” factor, “X” factor, charisma. It’s hard to put your finger on what it is,” Triple H said. “Sometimes I feel like, for women, there’s this emphasis on ‘oh man she looked like a million bucks when she walked in here.’ They’re dressed a certain way, makeup is a certain way, hair’s a certain way, doing all those things. It’s important.
At the end of the day though, it’s more personality to me. I don’t care if somebody doesn’t have the money and they don’t wear makeup? I mean present yourself well, but you don’t have to have high dollar hair extensions and a bunch of makeup on and do all these other things in high dollar clothes to come in here and go ‘oh yeah, they’ve got it.’ To me it almost has nothing to do with it.
It’s personality, it’s how they engage with you, it’s how they connect with you. Do they make you feel something when you them when they’re working? What’s that connection point that you have with these people? Do you feel something from them? Do they engage you in some manner? Some people you don’t see that when they’re here. Sometimes the red light goes on and they got it ‘boom.’ I’m sure you’ve heard people say ‘the camera loves them.’ Yeah they take great pictures. I’ve seen that a lot too. When you get to a tryout you’re like ‘this person looks great.’
Then they get there and you’re like ‘when do they get in?’ It’s not the same person. In person it doesn’t resonate. On camera it does. There’s factors that but it’s not an image thing. That’ll fade. I feel like that’s part of the process of the two day journey or the three day journey or the four day journey, depending on the tryout style that we’re doing.”
The Always Important “It” Factor, Triple H Claims
It looks like Triple H is more focused on the charisma side of the “It” factor. I think that is the right way to look at it as opposed to the physical appearance when it comes to both men and women. People can lose weight, gain weight, build muscle, get a haircut or change their appearance in general. However, charisma is something they have or don’t. They can pull it out to the surface, but it can’t be created.
Triple H continued talking about appearance and how it isn’t the most important factor and it can only take a person so far in wrestling.
“Yes somebody walks in the room, those things might catch your eye for a minute,” Triple H said. “And then very quickly, that person’s not really doing anything else, and this person is. And they don’t have any makeup on, they don’t have their hair done. So it’s never those other things. You can look past those. What’s really in here, that’s what “It” factor, charisma, all those things. Part of that is a passion and a connection to the person, and if you feel that, that person has charisma, that person has an “It” factor. It’s funny because I look at these tryouts sometimes totally differently. I find myself catching myself, looking back at the same person in the first half of the first day.
I find myself constantly looking back at that same person for some reason, or the same ten, fifteen whatever people. Like constantly find myself, catching myself interested in what they’re doing. And if I mentally see that, I put a check there. I check that person out ten times, I keep seeing that person do this. They might be terrible. But I keep going back to it. There’s a reason, they’re drawing my eye for whatever reason. I don’t have to figure that out, I don’t have to tell you what that reason is, I just have to know that it’s there.
So I don’t know, I just look at it a little differently. But that’s a factor. Is it different for men and women? It’s different for every single person. It doesn’t matter, man, woman, it doesn’t matter. It’s different for everybody. You just got to open to it.”
Triple H says it’s different for everyone what draws him to them, but it doesn’t seem like it is. It doesn’t matter if the smile draws him over or the way they talk because it isn’t those types of things that draws him. It’s the charisma and the “It” factor which draws him and not how it presents itself.
It looks like WWE or at least Triple H hasn’t changed what they are looking for in their new recruits. However, we don’t know if age plays a factor in his decision making process which was what the NXT changes were centered around. A person could have everything Triple H was looking for and be 32 years old so WWE doesn’t sign them. Time will only tell if the NXT wrestlers start getting younger and less experienced over the next few years.
Do you think Triple H focusing on the wrestler’s personality and charisma over physical factors is a better choice? What is the main factor you look for when watching new wrestlers on TV? What do you think makes them successful? Leave a comment below and let us see your charisma.
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Source: Wrestling Inc.
