Triple H on the Mae Young Classic, Tegan Nox’s injury, in-ring storytelling

(Photo credit: CBS Sports)

In an interview with ESPN, Triple H spoke about the success of the 2018 Mae Young Classic and the depth of the women’s roster in WWE.

Here are highlights:

On using different styles of in-ring storytelling: “I think you have to adapt to what is relevant today. Everything morphs over time and changes, and I think what you see here, much like with NXT and the different styles that have kind of meshed together around the U.K., some of it is what’s old is new. I watch guys do joint manipulations in the U.K. and I’m watching the other kids go, “Oh my god, this is the craziest thing, I’ve never seen anything like that.” When this stuff was done [back then] it was redundant, and then everybody stopped doing it, and what’s old is new again and it’s awesome. I love the hybrid of everything we are doing. I’m the biggest fan of it in the world.”

On Tegan Nox’s injury: “Last year she had the ACL injury that prevented her from being in [the first Mae Young Classic]. It took her all year and she just got rolling and really feeling good and just gets cleared, I mean 100 percent, banging around on it and everything’s great — and then to come here tonight in a position to where, let me just say it couldn’t be any more heartbreaking for her, understand? Emotionally, it couldn’t have been any more heartbreaking. I don’t know at this point what happened. She landed funky on a dive and hurt herself.”

On the depth of the women’s roster: “When we went to do the first [Mae Young Classic] a year ago, I had been pitching to do it for a while, when we got the green light to do it, I remember having a conversation with Vince [McMahon] and he said, “What do you think you’re going to do for the tournament, 16 [participants]?” There was a period when I thought 16, but I was like, no, 32. And even with 32, there were some heartbreakers in there where I had to tell someone “you’re not in the tournament” that I wish would have been in there. You are trying to balance it all out stylistically and everything else, because the styles, and how people match up fight-wise is what makes these things unique. It was deep then, but along the way to finding the 32, or whatever we ended up with in total with all of the alternates, you’re digging up all of these diamonds that you’re going like, “Oh, yeah, we’re already packed, but next year [we will use you in the tournament].”