Triple H Talks NXT and Vince McMahon, Finn Balor's New Look, More in WWE Roundup

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

Triple H Downplays Vince's Involvement in NXT

On a week-to-week basis, NXT is WWE's best product and arguably the best wrestling brand in the world. It's developed superstars in-house, created a platform for some of the biggest independent stars to shine on a brighter stage and told rich, engaging stories that enraptured the wrestling public.

Well, as we all know, the little boutique shop is going mainstream. USA will be broadcasting NXT live for a two-hour block every Wednesday beginning next month, and with that comes the end of an era—along with speculation about how much Vince McMahon will be involved in the product.

When NXT was only on WWE Network, Triple H essentially handled all things developmental. McMahon has taken a majority of the flak for the shaky storytelling on Raw and SmackDown in recent years, often rewriting scripts that aren't to his liking.

With reports that Vince would take a more hands-on approach with NXT going live, Triple H shot down those rumors in an interview with talkSPORT's Anthony McCarthy:

"Let's be honest, there's a lot of things that people like Dave [Meltzer] say that don't make sense, because they don't approach things from a business standpoint. Put it this way, we're going to be live on Mondays, we're going to be live on Wednesdays, we're going to be live on Fridays. There's so much bandwidth to go. And the truth is that it's just funny, the small-mindedness of it, that people don't give Vince credit for being the businessman that he is. The speculation and rumors, and it's easy when people leave or they go their own way, to fan and to jump onto speculation and rumors, and a lot of it is, that's just what it is.

"So, when people talk about him as a businessman, there's just so many crazy misconceptions. The truth is, all of what we're doing right now, this business, is because of him. They took a failing industry, so to speak, in a period of time in the 80s, and turned it into a global phenomenon, when nobody else had the foresight to do it. All the things that he's done and where it is today, and people look at where it is today, and you hear them say negative things, and I'm like, 'Really?' Because we just signed billion-dollar deals with Fox and USA. I'm not sure it's crumbling.

"He's also smart enough to understand the things that we do, and where they go and how, and the pieces of it. If you're asking the simple term answers... he's not involved, you know what I mean? Yeah, he's gonna have some say in some things, as far as like the brand sits and the marketing of it within USA and clearly, whatever he wants to do at the end of the day, but at this point in time, he's basically just said, 'Go make this thing a success.'"

On one hand, it's easy to take a look at Triple H's quote and be relieved. A two-hour NXT that's run by Triple H could, in theory, continue to churn out the high-quality content we've come to expect.

But on the other, a quick look at this part of the quote: "Yeah, he's gonna have some say in some things, as far as like the brand sits and the marketing of it within USA and clearly, whatever he wants to do at the end of the day..."

For anyone concerned about the future of NXT, "whatever he wants at the end of the day" isn't exactly encouraging. If NXT starts out slow in the ratings, don't be surprised if McMahon or people at the network start pushing a broader product in an attempt to boost ratings.

Finn Balor Is Bald

That's it.

That's the news.

Court Bauer Talks MJF Working for AEW/MLW

Because most members of Major League Wrestling are independent contractors rather than exclusive talent, they're allowed to compete in other promotions. We've seen the likes of MJF, Jimmy Havoc and Brian Pillman Jr. make appearances in AEW.

MJF signed with the promotion and is expected to be a major player, especially after being in Cody's corner for his win over Shawn Spears at All Out. Havoc went over in a Triple Threat at the same pay-per-view against Darby Allin and Joey Janela. These are big names who are a big part of the future of AEW who also just so happen to be a huge part of MLW's programming.

Court Bauer spoke about the possibility of those guys staying on once AEW begins weekly programming in October.

"There's this misnomer that it's like Cinderella at midnight and things are gonna automatically change when [AEW] go on TV. That's not the case because we have pre-existing contracts and the guys that are with us are for the duration of those contracts. At that point we'll have a conversation on if we continue to work with them or they go their separate ways," Bauer told WrestlingInc's WINCLY podcast.

It seems highly unlikely that AEW will want guys like Havoc and MJF working additional dates—and appearing on TV—for MLW. Bauer might be able to turn this into a financial opportunity for his company by having AEW buy out the contracts of the guys they want to keep exclusive while having a loose partnership on others who could appear on both programs without ruining any continuity.