In anticipation of this weekend’s NXT Takeover in Chicago, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative, Triple H held a conference call for the pro wrestling media on Wednesday.

The conversation turned quickly to the upcoming WWE UK Tournament, and Triple H was asked who of the UK-based talent he sees as a possible future WWE World Champion.

“Obviously a guy that stands out the most to me is Pete Dunne” Triple H said. “I think his ability to take a style from years ago, in a classic wrestling sense, a joint manipulation sense, and bring that classic UK style back style back, but to do it in a modern form which kind of blends the two, his ability to be comfortable in what he says and what he does… he’s one of those guys that just eats, sleeps, breathes [wrestling] and is constantly learning, he’s like a sponge every time that I see him. So that to me is impressive. If I had to pick one guy, it would be Pete, but there’s a lot of talent out there.”

The call moved on to a variety of topics, including:

  • Triple H brought up the idea of WWE main roster talent “guest starring” for a run in NXT. He also noted that this would be tough because the NXT roster is so deep right now.
  • Triple H provided an update on a rumoured injury to Ricochet. Triple H said that the high-flyer tweaked his shoulders in Paris, but he should be fine for TakeOver.
  • Triple H shot down the rumour that WWE has plans to expand the current WWE Performance Center or build a new one.
  • The upcoming UK tournament had to be pre-recorded, because they wanted to host it at Royal Albert Hall and the venue’s best available dates were on a Monday and Tuesday.
  • Though he hasn’t been seen since splitting from the Authors of Pain, Triple H mentioned that WWE are still looking for a way to use Paul Ellering in some role with the company
  • Triple H revealed the WWE doesn’t really spend that much on marketing and most of their buzz comes from social media

You can hear the full call with Triple H here: