Triple H Comments on Reason for Why SummerSlam Is Now Two Nights & Potential Hulk Hogan Tribute At This Weekend’s Event
WFAN held a recent interview with WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque. One of the topics discussed included Levesque’s thoughts about the reason why WWE’s SummerSlam event is now a two-night event.
“It creates a destination event. So if you are a WWE fan, if you’re a sports entertainment fan, man, it’s the ultimate. You come in, you’re there for that whole weekend and everything you do, everything you see, when we say we come in and we take over, that New York, New Jersey area will just be WWE central.
And if you’re a fan, there’s nothing like it. It’s going to Disney for pro wrestling. It’s worked for us at WrestleMania, it’ll work for us at SummerSlam. It’s going incredibly well. You know, the business is there, so let’s take it.”
Levesque also gave his thoughts about the potential of WWE holding a tribute to the late WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan at this weekend’s SummerSlam 2025 event.
“We’re working through the show now. And it comes down to finding the right mix — and I think you just mentioned it a second ago as I was getting mic’d up here, right? Like, what is the right level of respect? Obviously you cannot tribute enough as his accomplishments in WWE or in wrestling in general — I mean, you could make the argument that none of us would be here in this industry without him, the rise of Hulk Hogan in the 80s, really catapulting the business to another level.
So, you know — but there’s not without its controversy. So we want to be aware of that and we’re making those decisions in real time, I think just like everybody else is.”
Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com
Karrion Kross Comments on His & Scarlett’s WWE Contract Statuses
As noted before, Karrion Kross and Scarlett’s contracts with WWE is currently set to expire this August.
A recent episode of the Battleground Podcast featured Kross as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Kross’ thoughts about the current status of his and Scarlett’s expiring contracts with WWE.
“I don’t think I should talk about any of it right now but I am hoping that when the time is right, everyone will know what’s going on, including us.”
In a separate recent interview with Rock 105.3, Kross gave his thoughts about his current journey in WWE and how he would not have changed how anything played out because it led to him having a unique and strong relationship with the audience.
“I wouldn’t change any of the way it played out because it’s actually led me to have a very unique and strong relationship with the audience. I’m just going to state the obvious here, and it’s kind of the elephant in the room. When an entertainment corporation tries to shove anybody down the audience’s throat, whether its wrestling, music, movies, TV, you can feel it. I have not been somebody that they’ve done that with. I think that oftentimes, having an organic relationship with the audience and that connection comes with being a person who the audience can see if persevering against a lot of different invisible hands, so to speak. So, I wouldn’t change any of it. It hasn’t been perfect, it’s been very challenging, and it’s actually led to here. This isn’t something you can re-create with anybody. I have something special with the crowd and I feel so honored and privileged to have that. It’s a real thing. It’s even going on when people aren’t even seeing it. Everywhere I’m going, I have people coming up to me and telling me their stories and telling me they’ve been fans for years. Everyone has a story of where they were and what was going on when they saw me doing something. It hasn’t always been that way. That feels really amazing.”
Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2
WWE News & Notes
WWE did not air a new episode of WWE Speed on Twitter for the third week in a row. The reason for the recent lack of new episodes for WWE Speed is currently not known.
WWE recently revealed on Instagram that indie wrestlers Ben Bishop, Zoe Sager, Anita Vaughn, Will Kroos, D1 wrestler Aeden Begue, and Ariana Milian are among the indies talent and collegiate wrestlers that have been invited to their tryouts this week in New Jersey. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that indies talents Goldenboy Santos, Rayne Leverkusen, LJ Cleary, Omari, and CBL have also been confirmed to have been invited for these new talent tryouts.
TEDSports recently announced that WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque will be headlining their inaugural TEDSports event on September 9-11 in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was announced that “The WWE Hall of Famer will pull back the curtain on one of entertainment’s most powerful storytelling machines during this first-ever TED event focused exclusively on sports.”
Breath mints brand Breath Death recently announced that they have signed a partnership deal with WWE.
WWE Hall of Famer Sean “X-Pac” Waltman recently announced on Twitter that he will be making an appearance at Game Changer Wrestling’s WWE ID Showcase event this Friday for the crowning of the inaugural WWE ID Men’s and Women’s Champions.
WWE recently released one new video to their WCW Vault channel on YouTube. This new video was a tag team match of Sting & Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair & “Stunning” Steve Austin from the July 30, 1994 episode of WCW Saturday Night.
WWE also recently released two new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a “The story of The Fiend’s debut at SummerSlam 2019.” The second new video was a WWE Championship match of The Great Khali vs. Triple H (c) from WWE SummerSlam 2008.
In a recent interview with the Radio Times, Gunther gave his thoughts about wrestling Goldberg in his retirement match at WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event show on July 12th. Gunther stated “I was very happy with how everything went [against Goldberg] and I feel like we exceeded expectations for the match. For me, it was important to not go out there and have the typical three or four minutes of action and that’s it. I wanted time to tell a story and take the audience on a ride and make them feel bad for him a little bit before it all ends. I think we succeeded with that. He can be very happy with the match and the connection that he had with the audience because that felt very special.“
Episode One of the WWE Unreal docuseries on Netflix featured a segment involving CM Punk and WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque discussing their thoughts about their dynamic and the issues with each other prior to Punk’s walkout of WWE in 2014. Punk stated “Initially, Hunter and I clashed because I was a main talent roster full-time the same time he was a main talent roster full-time, so there’s that competition, and a lot of that generation was looking down at kids like me, saying ‘Oh, you’re here to take my spot. Well, I’m not gonna let you, or at least it’s gonna be a fight.’ Halfway through my career here, he becomes office and now I’m like ‘fuck you. You can’t tell me anything.’” Levesque responded stating “I always felt like my job was, I’m in between office and the talent. But Punk would never let me assist, and he would then sometimes attack me. There would be moments where we’d have a meeting, and he’d come at me and I’d leave there thinking, like, ‘this little motherfucker…’ Punk didn’t trust me, and I didn’t trust Punk.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)
WWE recently announced one new segment for the card of this Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Newark, New Jersey:
- Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena and Cody Rhodes to appear
TNA: Carlos Silva Issues Statement on TNA’s New TV Deal with AMC, Update on Future of TNA+ Service Following AMC TV Deal Announcement, Backstage Update on Several TNA Talents Expiring Contracts & Talks for Contract Extensions
Anything Goes Stip for ROH World Title Survival of the Fittest and Deonna Purrazzo vs. Billie Starkz for ROH Women’s Pure Title Tournament Finals Set for ROH Final Battle 2025
“Dynamite Kid” Tommy Billington & Adam Priest vs. LFI for Vacant ROH Tag Titles Set for ROH Final Battle 2025 [Update: Nigel McGuinness vs. Lee Moriarty in 30-Min Iron Man Match Added]
