WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque addressed a range of topics on Saturday night during the WWE Fastlane press conference.
On business, without providing exact figures, he said that the Fastlane PLE was the “highest-grossing event that we have ever done in Indianapolis.” He added that the city had hosted WrestleMania in 1992, as well as a SummerSlam in 2008.
He seemed to confirm that Carlito’s appearance was not a one-off, adding:
The return of Carlito tonight — long overdue and very excited for him. And as he would say, that’s cool. Just excited to have him back, excited to have him back home and excited to see what he can do on this run.
When asked when Jade Cargill would appear in WWE “officially”, Levesque responded:
When she’s ready to blow the roof off of everything we do, right?
One thing that I am is patient for stuff like this. Her ability and her rise has been incredibly quick. This is a different system. This is a different level of everything. And what doesn’t exist elsewhere exists here.
That opportunity for her to learn at a different level and get to a different place is just the way it is.
One thing that I have learned about her in the short period of time that I’ve known her is she’s ready for it all and she’s ready to dig in. She’s ready to work her ass off. She wants to be the best. And when I talked about that team thing, she’s ready to be on this team and drive everybody in the team. And it’s exciting to see.
He added that a lot of people internally in WWE are responsible for each brand, and everyone is “chomping at the bit to work with her.”
When asked about Edge’s departure from WWE, Levesque responded:
Time, right? The time was right for him. The time was right for us. I think he had an amazing career and an amazing sendoff here. And I think he felt like he had done what there was to do. I think we sort of felt, “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
And I wish him the best. I think he said it the other day, right? There’s no animosity here. There’s no hard feelings. He’s doing what’s right for him and his family. And I’m happy for him — very, very happy for him. I sent him that in a message: “I’m happy for you,” and I’m proud of him and happy for him.
This has to be right for you. This is a grind. It’s a lot of hard work. It’s got to be right for you. And if somebody feels like a different opportunity is better for them, great. That’s wonderful. But the machine doesn’t stop for anyone.
Finally, Levesque was asked about the future of NXT once media negotiations are settled. He answered:
In the future, going forward, the sky is the limit. I say this all the time and I said it then, college football to some is just as popular as the NFL. And there’s a market for it. There’s a market for it globally.
I think in this moment in time, one of the things that TKO/Endeavor brings to the table is a growth pattern that we’ve never seen before here, because of the ability for us to do things that we couldn’t do.
You’ve all heard me talk about it before — international markets, international growth, global localization of developmental systems. That’s a very, very difficult thing to do. The intent is still there.
We are just now positioned with a group that has — we want to go to Timbuktu — they got 35 people on the ground there, probably. You know what I mean? The setup is so much easier, 10 years ahead of us on where we can go and what we can do.
So when it comes to stuff like NXT with a leader like Shawn and Matt Bloom and the people that are there, their growth is unlimited. But now we have the infrastructure to continue to build it to where we wanna build it, no different than Raw and SmackDown…The international growth will be different. It will be wonderful and it’ll be massive now for WWE. As global as we are, I don’t think we’re nicking the surface yet.
