It should come as no surprise, after last night's offering of a live NXT event, that Triple H has cultivated a new Clique.
This time, it involves his hand picked group to lead WWE in the future: Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, and Hideo Itami.
These are the four guys that Triple H looks out for. Hell, they are exception to the rules there.
NXT is actually a lot harder on the boys than it is being on the road for the main roster. They have long training sessions, going late into the evening, and have crazy house show loops that take them all over Florida. At least, on the main roster, you get a few days off.
Matt Sydal got heat, and subsequently got fired, because he refused to go back to NXT. Not as a disrespect to them, but it's tough being there.
The entire roster is subjected to daily drills. That is, except for Triple H's clique. It's been known at the Performance Center that Balor will throw a bit of a hissy fit about doing them then just back away and Owens will nonchalantly not do them. If Bill DeMott gets on their cases about it, which he doesn't do often, they say they don't have to. Or, they call up Triple H and he tells the trainers to lay off. Zayn's been there long enough where he wouldn't get his balls busted about it, and Itami will do them every so often, but he's a quiet one and knows he's still trying to acclimate to his new digs.
Even when it comes to performing certain moves at house shows, if any of them are placed early in the card and want to hit big highspot moves, the producers will tell them no, and they will clear it with Triple H, who will give them the OK to go ahead and just do it