WWE News: Rusev praises Triple H over his developmental system
What's the story?
Triple H has been heavily involved in the developmental scene of the WWE since 2012, bringing the WWE Performance Center to Florida and repackaging it as NXT and their new developmental territory.
He has done a lot in the past five years to make sure that the up-and-coming talents are ready to hit the ground running when they get to the main roster, and many newer talents, like Rusev, are grateful for what he's done.
In case you didn't know...
In 2012, WWE ceased operations with its territory Florida Championship Wrestling and began filming NXT at Full Sail University.
They later added the WWE Performance Center in 2013, a place to train wrestlers as well as give older vets a chance to train the newer talent coming up through developmental.
Triple H's plan for NXT was a place where the new Superstars could have a chance to, not only be seen by the WWE Universe before their main roster debut, but adjust their style to fit Raw and Smackdown.
The heart of the matter
In a recent interview with The Sporting News, Rusev discussed WWE's developmental system, and how Triple H influenced his career.
The best thing that ever happened to the developmental system is Triple H being in charge."
Everything happened really, really fast. I was picking up steam a little bit and I wasn't even on TV in NXT. I had a dark match with Dolph Ziggler, and Triple H was there at the time and, he had never seen me before, and he was like, 'Oh, who's that kid?' I was very fortunate that Triple H was there that day to see me perform.
Rusev also spoke about his finishing sequence in his matches, saying that Terry Taylor suggested the Accolade, while Arn Anderson suggested he stomp people in the back before locking it in.
What's next?
At Summerslam 2017, Rusev was on the wrong end of a squash match at the hands of Randy Orton, when he lost to "The Viper" in no time.
As for Triple H and the developmental system, NXT had their third TakeOver in Brooklyn on August 19th, and are looking forward to their next TakeOver in November, adding Adam Cole to the roster and teaming him up with the reformed ReDragon.
Author's take
Whether you love or hate the man, you have to agree that Triple H has done wonders for WWE's developmental. Between repackaging NXT into their new minor league, to bringing in the Performance Center, he's done a great job in making sure the next generation of stars knows what to do when they hit the main roster.
One of the most important things that NXT alumni usually bring up is that NXT helps them learn how to wrestle around the hard camera. Not to mention things like promo classes at the Performance Center.
Since 2012, we've had talent come from the indies and put on fantastic shows in NXT, but we've also had home grown talent learn their craft at Full Sail, and it's clear that what they're doing is working. People like Baron Corbin, Tyler Breeze, even Roman Reigns, benefitted from Triple H's developmental system.