During an interview with WFAN, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque spoke about various topics, including his choice to make SummerSlam a two-night event.
This is what Triple H said, “It has been successful for us on the WrestleMania side for sure, the two night WrestleManias, destination weekend for people that can come in, I think people plan their year, their vacation around it, a lot of folks do. Whether they are coming in on the Thursday, they’re going to the World, seeing all the memorabilia, getting autographs, coming to Smackdown on Friday night, the Saturday and Sunday events, NXT on the afternoon sometimes on Saturdays, all the way to Monday night, this time at Barclay Center. It creates a destination event. So if you are a WWE fan, a sports entertainment fan, it’s the ultimate. You come in, you’re there for that whole weekend, everything you do, everything you see, when we say we come in and take over, that New York, New Jersey area will just be WWE central and if you’re a fan, there is 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. The business is there, so let’s take it.”
On his first exposure to Hulk Hogan:
“My first exposure to Hulk was when he came to WWF, the first time, when he was a heel, and Freddie Blassie was his manager, coming in to work with Backlund and do all that stuff. I remember being, as a kid, wow, this guy is incredible and is gonna take this to another level, and then he left. Where I grew up, I was fortunate to get, we were one of the places to get cable television as it started to come into all the areas, so I would see the AWA, I would see all that, different stuff, as he went down to Florida, occasionally we’d see that. When he was in the AWA, working Vern and Nick Bockwinkel and all of that, I would see it, so when he came in, I was well aware of who and what he was, and what he brought to the table, but the rocket ship that it was in that moment of him coming in and setting the place on fire and then beating the Iron Sheik and and just starting a run that really is comparable to nothing else, just taking it to a whole other level. Then of course becoming Hollywood Hulk Hogan and just, again, once again, any dip that there was in him, transcending the business, sort of got re-captivated with the NWO. Two separate, generational runs.”
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(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
