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WWE has faced criticism over the years regarding the way talents are handled, particularly regarding the division between people who are close to the authority figures.
Has it changed under the new regime of Triple H? 'Triple H guys' and 'Non-Triple H guys.' Is this creating a major problem for the company? In this video, we break down the distinction between wrestlers favored by Triple H and those who aren’t.
You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe
#tripleh #codyrhodes #rhearipley #bobbylashley #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
WWE has faced criticism over the years regarding the way talents are handled, particularly regarding the division between people who are close to the authority figures.
Has it changed under the new regime of Triple H? 'Triple H guys' and 'Non-Triple H guys.' Is this creating a major problem for the company? In this video, we break down the distinction between wrestlers favored by Triple H and those who aren’t.
You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe
#tripleh #codyrhodes #rhearipley #bobbylashley #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling
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SportsTranscript
00:00Triple H, the head creative officer of WWE, has changed the company for the better in
00:05the eyes of many during a tumultuous period, and some cite him as possibly the biggest
00:10anchoring reason for WWE's creative resurgence and their overall resurgence across the board
00:17in the last few years.
00:18To many, the best that wrestling has been since the early 2000s has been in the past
00:23few years under him since the last regime that ran WWE.
00:29When you look at the star power and the quality of storylines, the moments, and those numbers
00:33that WWE likes to tout, it's hard to argue against it.
00:37Do not claim that we're being biased, it's all there, you guys can see it as well.
00:41For years under the previous regime, WWE fans felt like they were banging their head against
00:46the wall, watching three hours of Raw where it would be good, then it'd be bad, then
00:50it'd be good, then it'd be you know what we're going for, and only the most hardcore
00:54dedicated group would stick around beyond the traditional high-end WrestleMania season.
00:59Still that's a lot of people.
01:01In 2022, it presented a breath of fresh air when the man responsible for tearing scripts
01:06at the last minute and the man responsible for a lot of the other issues that we are
01:10all aware of was taking a step back from that role as the most powerful man in the wrestling
01:17industry.
01:18The new vision appears to be a collective effort with ideas flourishing and old-school
01:23refocusing approach to long-term storytelling combined with the demands of modern, drastically
01:28different audiences who are on a 24-7 media consumption cycle with social media and other
01:34things to take it all in.
01:36There has been a debate, a fickle one, yeah it's not a huge debate, but it's brewing
01:41that there are some superstars who clearly have been worse off after Triple H took over
01:46as the head of WWE's creative vision, and there's been some who have not been worse
01:51off.
01:52The argument is that Triple H, like the regime before, has a clear set of men and women they
01:57prefer and a set that he doesn't have as much interest in working with.
02:03You know, subjective views on everything that's creative and entertainment?
02:07That's a hard idea for people to understand.
02:10The implications go a little bit deeper, but keep it in light, it has a lot to do with,
02:14you know, just really speculation.
02:17So this is purely speculative, and there's some information there, but you know, don't
02:21say that these are hard, factual things that we're presenting.
02:24Just a general conversation that's starting to grow.
02:27In the comments you can see how Triple H has people that he's truly trusted and have
02:31ran with the ball when he gave it to them during his time with WWE NXT, while not favoring
02:36many superstars who thrived, or thriving under Vince McMahon.
02:40He trusted people, and when they delivered for him, he would certainly make it pay off
02:44for them.
02:45So we're here to look into whether, you know, this Triple H team indeed has their
02:49favorites, and if they do, that's okay.
02:53That's kind of how these things work, guys.
02:55For argument's sake, we're going to create a few different categories so you can follow
02:59this.
03:00Number one category is the guys that either already had top positions or were on a career
03:04trajectory where it didn't really matter if Triple H chose them, they already earned
03:09their spots.
03:11Second category is the guys that you can see in WWE that most definitely benefited from
03:16the regime change.
03:17The circumstances were in their favor, and it was time for them to maybe get a new shot
03:22under the new regime.
03:24The third category will be superstars who have almost undeniably maybe fallen down the
03:30card and maybe, you know, that's a part of the circumstances that they didn't benefit
03:36from.
03:37The fourth are the ones who are neither here nor there.
03:40The category features superstars who might be getting some television time, but they
03:43haven't become necessarily bigger stars in the process.
03:47The fifth category is superstars who have enjoyed TV time and continuously have been
03:51popular and they aren't necessarily in a better position.
03:54They are just...
03:55You think you know all the wrestling stories?
03:58There's more you haven't heard yet.
04:00Join us on Backstage Pass.
04:03Category one will feature Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Kevin
04:08Owens, Rhea Ripley, Bayley, CM Punk, Gunther, Randy Orton, and celebrity superstar Logan
04:15Paul.
04:17Category two will feature Jey Uso, Damian Priest, Sami Zayn, LA Knight, Johnny Gargano,
04:22Tommaso Ciampa, Nia Jax, Liv Morgan, Chelsea Green, Bo Dallas, Chad Gable, Dominic Mysterio,
04:32and Pete Dunne.
04:33Category three, Bobby Lashley, MVP, AJ Styles, Austin Theory, Omos, The Street Profits, Braun
04:40Strowman, Baron Corbin, Lacey Evans, Veer Mahan, Shanky Elias, Dana Brooke, Dolph Ziggler,
04:47Jinder Mahal, Rick Moss, and Rick Boogs.
04:52Category four, Tegan Nox, Karrion Kross, Piper Niven, Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell, Naomi,
04:59among others.
05:01Category five, Finn Balor, Otis, Rey Mysterio, Sheamus, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Maxine
05:08Dupree, Shayna Baszler, Selena Vega, Bianca Belair, Ivar, The Miz, and R-Truth.
05:15If you look at category five in particular, you'll notice that the lines get a little
05:20bit blurry, but this is kind of the depth chart we're eyeballing here.
05:25R-Truth and The Miz, two guys who've had some real success in the past few years, but their
05:30overall careers will absolutely earn them a place in the WWE Hall of Fame while under
05:35the Triple H regime, they got to be WWE Tag Team Champions.
05:39Finn Balor has been a part of the massive storylines and massive title reigns related
05:43to the Judgment Day.
05:44Maxine Dupree is arguably in a better spot than she was before Triple H took over the
05:49company and she certainly has improved her stock with her improved overall performance.
05:55Bianca Belair, the EST, her role specifically is to help build up Jade Cargo as a future
06:01superstar and she's doing that.
06:03She's also won two tag team titles since that partnership began, so everyone at every level
06:08seemingly has something special to do, especially if they're featured in WWE television under
06:14Triple H.
06:15So that's when you can kind of see how it isn't a very black and white situation.
06:19There are shades of gray here.
06:21These are the names of superstars who are likely to get big opportunities in the future
06:26if you're watching this video, but they're not in a position right now where organically
06:30they're slotted for that tomorrow.
06:32While not everyone is the names you're going to see make it big and be at the top of the
06:36card, it's safe to assume that the very best ones will likely get huge chances in the future.
06:42Liv Morgan is one of the only few names who look like she wasn't preferred by the new
06:47regime maybe when it started, but to her credit, she has managed to snatch an opportunity in
06:522024 and run with it, caused by various circumstances and yeah, she's running with a ball and also
06:59the hand of Dirty Dominic Mysterio.
07:01And that's the beauty of wrestling.
07:02All it takes is maybe circumstances, someone being injured, and someone gets to have another
07:07shot to fight their way up the card.
07:09Putting these superstars into these categories makes it a lot easier to understand who's
07:13benefiting and maybe who isn't on a spectrum of severity and, you know, positivity.
07:20In category three, the biggest disappointment can be seen in how WWE's new regime, we're
07:27playing that word out, I know, has handled the likes of former WWE Champion Bobby Lashley,
07:32ah yes, the very McMahon love mid-card heel Austin Theory, the big, very muscle-bound
07:38Braun Strowman who's recently done some big things but also had to deal with some
07:42injuries since the Triple H regime, and the Street Profits who at one time were seen as
07:47one of the top tag teams in all of professional wrestling but now, they're not seen as that.
07:52But on the other hand, there's names that were released and weren't necessarily setting
07:57the world on fire, even if they were reported Vince McMahon hand-picked superstars like
08:02the guitar-slaying Rick Boogs, who had an unfortunate injury and put him on the shelf,
08:08and the Indian Monster, Veer Mahan.
08:12These are superstars who unfortunately get lost in the ever-shuffling shuffle of WWE.
08:17It's worth noting in all of this, you're saying, oh, well, this person's favored and that
08:20person's favored.
08:21Remember, they're all competing for these spots at the same time.
08:25And also, there's the reality of roster cuts and clean-ups and roster shuffles and
08:29call-ups from NXT being a part of the overall WWE game for a long time now.
08:34You're all of you saying, how did they cut this guy, how could they even do that?
08:38You know, at one point, even John Cena was on a list of possible cuts in 2002 before
08:42he really broke big with the first incarnation of his rapping character on a tour bus catching
08:47the eye of Stephanie McMahon and the rest became history and then he became one of the
08:51most biggest names that there possibly could be.
08:55Yeah, there's a future for people at all levels of the WWE roster.
08:59When you have a roster that big, people are going to be that competitive and having people
09:03fall back in line seems like inevitable, if not natural.
09:07There's also a clear philosophy that Triple H has had for not putting people on television
09:11just for the sake of doing it.
09:13Everyone has to have something defined to do.
09:17Defining a character, defining their presence, defining the consequences of what they do
09:22on screen matters and building to those consequences also matters.
09:27It's all dialed in and a little bit more focused front and center under Triple H.
09:32Take example, Gunther, the Ring General.
09:35Between May of this year and July of 2024, even after winning the King of the Ring tournament
09:41where he crushed some really big names including Randy Orton in a controversial finish, he
09:45took a clear step back because there was no need for him to be front and center on TV
09:50until Summerslam season when he would get the title shot that he earned by winning that
09:55tournament.
09:56There's also a harsh reality to be overlooked at a certain superstar just simply not getting
10:01their spot and who haven't done well in either regime.
10:05That argument is that they haven't shown very much in justifying a big spot on television.
10:10It's simple case, natural selection and the pecking order of pro wrestling.
10:14Wrestling has always been a fiercely competitive industry and that wasn't going to stop in
10:172024.
10:18Whether you agree or not, that is up for you to decide.
10:21From a certain perspective, to deny that there are guys that seemingly are more Triple H
10:26dudes and some people are less Triple H dudes, I mean it's, like I said, it's speculative.
10:32But the difference between the two regimes is that these don't seem to be a direct viciousness
10:37or pettiness or fruitlessness.
10:40They're going to try something, they're going to give it a go and if it doesn't work, they
10:43pull back on it.
10:44It doesn't seem like backstage politics are something that drives it nearly as more or
10:48are as flippant, maybe less dedicated to people trying some things as we saw under the most
10:54recent years of Mr. McMahon and John Laurinaitis being in some controlling position of creative
11:00and talent relations.
11:01Now that isn't to say that all of those, you know, up and down roles for wrestlers on the
11:05roster were attributed to these people, but a lot of people are going to put the flak
11:09up at the top, aren't they?
11:11And when AEW started to announce in the world that they were coming in 2019 being a real
11:16game-changer and challenger to WWE, specifically for acquiring talent, it promised a completely
11:22different direction in the eyes of televised wrestling for fans, including how things would
11:26be operated backstage, too.
11:29But we've seen several situations with the likes of big-name superstars like CM Punk,
11:33The Elite, Britt Baker, and MJF, among several others, that backstage drama and politics
11:38and just, you know, the BS that go hand-in-hand can affect the overall picture on screen.
11:44We can only hope that WWE has implemented some level of safeguards to avoid those mechanisms
11:50of just gigantically competitive egos in a gigantically competitive environment with,
11:56you know, a lot at stake from getting in the way of delivering what matters, a great show
12:00in the ring every single week.
12:02You don't really hear much about the toxic backstage culture in WWE, but considering
12:06how Triple H is a human like all of us and also understands what it's like to compete
12:11within WWE, he's bound to have biases and preferences, people he trusts, that he's
12:17safe, he feels good about giving the ball to that person, that's fine, that's part
12:21of being a coach on any team.
12:23Obviously, there is a part where it's a job and not a lot less is involved with biases
12:28beyond that and a way of looking at superstars objectively and purely based on what they
12:32bring to the table, but in his mind, that's probably what it is anyway and it's safer
12:37to think of it that way.
12:39This isn't to say that WWE should be free of criticism for, oh, just not making it work
12:44with a certain guy when the opportunity was there, Bobby Lashley, heck, we did a whole
12:48video about it, but we would argue that despite many names who maybe were negatively affected
12:54by the circumstances of the RUSHING CHANGE, Triple H's vision has been seen as a very
13:02beneficial thing for several new superstars or people that simply didn't get the go
13:07they deserved before.
13:09More than anything, WWE feels great to watch again, everything makes sense, stories are
13:15more inclined to start and have an ending, not just start, go nowhere, and we never find
13:20out what happens with them, at least on the overall.
13:23So while Triple H is bound to have his guys and his girls in some capacity, he's also
13:28very likely to be open about putting a new person in a position to try something, and
13:34he recognizes talent and potential, and he recognizes people who've been there a long
13:38time and what they can bring to the table and mix with new people.
13:41There might be a new system in place, but one thing that will never change is that among
13:46all the tens of thousands of aspiring pro wrestlers around the world, only a tiny number
13:51of them ever get to say what Macho Man Randy Savage did years ago, and that is that they
13:56are the CREAM OF THE CROP!