Triple H interview on Grantland
 

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...ficer-triple-h

Pretty great read. Touches on a lot of topics. I'm not gonna add my thoughts, just wanted to share with people who are interested in this kinda thing

Was gonna copy/paste it but a lot of information is in the footnotes so it's best to just click the link

Can we lock this? #Hating

was it posted before, I DON'T FOLLOW WRESTLING FORUM

i liked it

thank you

good read. i particularly enjoyed the devlopmental bits.

I was being a hater :) I also liked the read too, like hearing backstage stories of wrestlers.

Great read, thanks for sharing.

great read.. real honest approach

That's interesting, but is it me or does HHH always take shots at Mick Foley in interviews?

if there's one thing i learned from reading this, it's that wwe is making another leprechaun sequel starring hornswoggle :wtf:

I don't think that was a shot. He said Foley himself stated those matches weren't great.

Really good read. The greatest thing he's done so far with his backstage role has been being hands-on with the NXT stuff mainly because he realized its a lot better to build for the future than to have to scramble at the last moment and hope something sticks enough to start a new era.

Probably fibbed a bit in regards to the section about wrestler inputs and being competitive with other wrestlers considering the way he says it, he rarely complains or puts himself over on purpose when there is a lot of actual evidence of the opposite being true.

Oh, fuck off. What actual evidence is there other than pure smark bitterness because Mr. flavor of the month didn't beat him in 5 minutes?

settle down buddy

Mostly from a few former writers who worked with him in the past or got his input when he looked over storyline ideas and scripts.

Bitter ex-employees are beacons of truth. :roll:

Realistically, the truth is probably somewhere between the two. Nobody is going to want to go on record to trash their own credibility in a position they are currently holding so yeah he prolly bent the truth a bit. On the other hand, some has-been over-the-hill wrestler who may be bitter over the way his career has gone, yeah no doubt he has a skewed perception. I'm inclined to err closer to Triple H's side of the story. There's so many things we as (internet) fans think we fully know that are honestly all just heresy.

He will make a fine CEO one day.

This guy knows the business inside and out, and I have no doubt the WWE will thrive. The Performence Centre was a great idea, and the future will be bright.

that's what really excites me. you can see the passion and dedication he has to developing new talent. and it's really shown over the last few years. there have been hits and misses, obviously, but the effort is really quite impressive. that NXT is one of my highlights in each week's wrestling output says an awful lot about the direction the company is headed.

they just need to get creative to keep their heads out of their asses a bit more often on the main shows.

I dunno about anyone else, but I think most of the footnotes are hilarious, having to explain stuff that we all know. Forget sometimes that some person who has never watched a WWE show in their life might actually read that :$

Yeah the site is primarily a sports (typically the "big four" but there are articles on golf/tennis/etc, and this author, "The Masked Man" writes a wrestling piece usually once a week or so) site and pop culture, so wrestling isn't the primary focus. Gotta put things in layman terms sometimes. Plus Bill Simmons is amazeballs.

I loved when Simmons said they had the interview coming up on his Cousin Sal podcast, saying how the interview took place while Simmons was drinking a Perrier and eating a super salad in front of Triple H.

Damn I missed that one. I usually only listen to the BS Report during NFL season for guess the lines :o Might have to give it a listen on my drive home this weekend

HHH was in nearly all WHC matches from 9-02-02 to June 2005

To be fair, HHH has consistently been one of the best main event performers over the past decade or so, so it's not like he was unfairly put in that scene.

By 2004 I was dying for something different

And this proves what? As if there was a surplus of main event talent in that area? Yeah RVD vs Scott Steiner would have been a fabulous main event program.

Like WWE didn't have a shit ton of main eventers in 2003, what are you thinking?

Can I just post the Smackdown HCTP Roster?

Are you saying we couldn't have WHC matches with

HBK/RVD
HBK/Kurt Angle
HBK/Big Show
HBK/Hogan
HBK/Rock
HBK/Cena
HBK/Anyone :shifty:

To say there weren't other wrestlers in 2003-2004 who could main event during those years is downright wrong.

As successful as guys like Lesnar, Orton, Angle, and Eddie Guerrero were, I think the WWE made mistakes with these guys by turning them face *way* too soon instead of letting them remain heel and having the fans cheer on their characters anyways (I.e like they did with Austin in 1997 and Rocky in 1998). CM Punk might belong on this list now as well.......and Dolph Ziggler might be headed in this direction as well.

That seems to be more of a reflection of the writers than of Triple H politicking however.

I will say this though: I think guys like Jericho, Orton, and RVD were unfortunately, buried by Triple H in their primes. No proof, but call it a gut feeling.

RVD should always be in this discussion.

My point is that they main-evented......and enjoyed some solid success, but could have been much bigger than they turned out. Most of it due to bad writing.....which may or may not have been Triple H related.

In the cases of guys like Lesnar, Angle, Orton, Guerrero, etc, I think bad writing (I.e. turning them face too prematurely) hurt them long term.

Guys like Jericho and RVD in their primes (2000-2001) could have really benefited from clean victories over a guy like Triple H, but it never happened. And no - Jericho "flukely" going over Austin and Rock on the same night doesn't count.

No way in hell Orton should have turned face after Summerslam 2004 and then jobbed the belt to Hunter a month later. IMO - that was the worst example of booking......that may have been Hunter related.

Hopefully, the bigger reason as to why they stopped his push had more to do with his backstage conduct (I.e. him being a dick) rather than him just being overly buried.

Even aside from the 2004 debacle........the WWE actually did a tremendous job of rebuilding and rebranding Orton about 5 years later when Orton became leader of Legacy and faced Triple H in the main event at Mania.

But again - Orton.......who had TREMENDOUS momentum heading into the main event, was defeated by Triple H.

The E will be in great hands with Triple H.