Vince McMahon apparently asked Triple H to tone down NXT TakeOver: Phoenix so that the Royal Rumble would be the best show of the weekend.
The dust is currently settling on what has been a whirlwind Royal Rumble weekend. Well, that is until Raw tonight and SmackDown Live tomorrow. It began with another tremendous installment of NXT TakeOver on Saturday. The main roster Superstars then took the reigns and put on a very long Royal Rumble PPV on Sunday night.
It has become tradition that for five weekends of WWE' calendar, there's an NXT TakeOver event on the Saturday night. For the five biggest WWE PPVs of the year. Makes sense. However, since NXT really started to gain traction, many fans have considered TakeOver to be the highlight of the weekend. When NXT is overshadowing the main roster in a major way, it is not a good sign, at least not for Vince McMahon.
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In fact, according to a report from Slice Wrestling, this time around Mr. McMahon addressed the popularity of TakeOver events. The chairman apparently asked Triple H that this past weekend's TakeOver in Phoenix be "toned down." That way, the Royal Rumble PPV on Sunday night would stand more chance of being the best and most memorable show of the weekend.
If you watched TakeOver this past weekend, and the above is true, then certain Superstars clearly didn't get the memo. Most notably, Johnny Gargano and Ricochet. The pair put on what was perhaps the best match of the whole weekend. Mr. McMahon obviously wasn't that upset with the new North American Champion as he appeared in the men's Royal Rumble match 24 hours later.
If the chairman really did make that request, there is so much wrong with it that we don't even know where to begin. If he has a word with anyone, it should be the main roster Superstars. Many fans prefer TakeOver because the main roster isn't delivering, not because the NXT Superstars are over-delivering. Personally, we don't feel like TakeOver: Phoenix felt toned down. However, we are on the fence as to which show we preferred this past weekend.