Since Triple H assumed creative duties in July when Vince McMahon retired as WWE CEO, he has made big changes to the WWE product.
He's done things suck as bringing back previously released talent, adding extra emphasis to the Intercontinental and United States titles, giving wrestlers back their first names, and more. Fans have taken notice of the changes Triple H has made, believing that he's "fixing" things of the past regime.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Triple H explained why he's made the changes he's made.
"I don't look at anything and go, "I need to fix that.' It's just what works for me. That's really where it's at. I look at things a certain way. To me, if I want to have the Intercontinental Title mean something, I need to make it mean something. I am a big advocate of the past. Sometimes, when you lived in the past, you don't see it the way other people do that were outside looking in on the past. When I look at some of that past stuff, I see it differently than anybody would, that maybe Vince would or anybody that was there. I saw performers of that generation differently than Pat (Patterson) saw them because I would see them and go, 'Oh my God, that was amazing.' Pat would go, 'He's an idiot.' He knew them, knew the ins and outs, knew what they were like to work with. If you're making ice cream, I'm just making the ice cream I like, and hopefully, everybody else likes that too," he said.
Triple H continued by saying, "I approach this, and Vince is the one that taught it to me, 'put yourself in the seats. If you put yourself in the seats and you're just a fan and book it like a fan, you'll never go wrong.' That's what I'm doing. It's not a matter of 'I need to change that, I need to fix this, this is wrong, I don't like that, this was done wrong.' In the moments I'm going through this, I think to myself, 'What seems right?' You mention the Matt Riddle thing, we're going into this moment in time where this is super real and they're going to hit each other in this super real manner and these promos and get into it in a different way than we've traditionally done. He's got a first name, it feels like we should give him that first name. If we're going to hyper-real, we should go hyper-real and bring the reality in more and still...I 100% agree that being a WWE Superstar is more meaningful than being a pro wrestler. That will rub a lot of people wrong, but anybody can be a pro wrestler. There is a guy in front of five people at some place right now who is a pro wrestler. It's like saying, 'I'm a cage fighter.' I've been to a million gyms throughout my career and when MMA got big, every place you'd go to, you'd be working out and some guy would come up to you with a shaved head and tattoos, mostly tribal, and would say, 'I'm a cage fighter.' The truth is, 'Are you in the UFC?' That's sort of the standard bearer. I'm sure others get that. It's not a knock, it's just a different level. Anybody can play football, who plays in the NFL? It's a different level. Anybody can wrestle. Who makes it as a WWE Superstar? It's a different level."
WWE has used the terms "wrestling" and "wrestler" more on television. McMahon famously transitioned away from "wrestler" and into "superstar" and away from "wrestling" and into "sports entertainment."
Elsewhere during the interview, Triple H discussed the advice he got from Vince following Vince's retirement. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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