A response to Mr. Tito's column about Triple H Submitted by Josh Mansfield on 02/06/2021 at 08:47 AM
Triple H’s “Failure” is the Failure of Vince McMahon: A Response to Mr. Tito
The other day, Mr. Tito wrote a column stating that the reason that Edge was the winner of the 2021 Mens Royal Rumble is because Triple H has failed to create any new, bright, main event stars and so Vince is forced to continue to use part-timers like Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and other legends. To try and prove this, he lists the men who have been WWE, World Heavyweight, or Universal Champion since 2012 when Triple H took over as head of Talent Relations and how the majority of them are Superstars signed by Jim Ross or John Lauranitus and how only Braun Strowman, A.J. Styles, and Kevin Owens have been Triple H Champions (funny he leaves out Finn Balor). He asserts that this is proof that “Triple H Superstars” don’t work on the main roster and is why they constantly fizzle out minus rare exceptions, leading to wrestlers such as Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, and Tommaso Ciampa wanting to remain in NXT, thus concluding that Triple H needs to be stripped of his job in Talent Relations and Creative and the Performance Center.
That is the biggest load of crap that I have ever heard.
The reason that Triple H’s stars have failed on the main roster is actually quite simple: because Vincent Kennedy McMahon wants them and NXT to fail.
The simple fact of the matter is that Vince McMahon is Vince McMahon and thinks that his way is always the correct way despite how many times the fans and people in the back tell him, “No”. And Tito saying that it’s just the IWC that’s behind that is just straight nonsense. Looking back 7 years ago, if Vince wouldn’t have been literally forced at the point of WWE revolt to put Daniel Bryan in the main event of WrestleMania 30, Bryan would’ve just been wrestling Sheamus in the middle of the card. That wasn’t just the IWC - that was every wrestling fan telling Vince McMahon “ENOUGH”.
All Vince wants, all he’s ever wanted, is the next Hulk Hogan. All he wants is the big muscular man to be the face of WWE. Vince got that in Brock Lesnar, he got that in John Cena, he got that in Batista, and now he has that in Roman Reigns. Vince doesn’t understand what he hasn’t created and so if can’t understand it, he won’t want it. And that right there is one of the biggest flaws of Vince McMahon in wrestling today and why NXT and its main roster stars have not succeeded in the way that they should: because Vince can’t stand anything that is not his being better than him.
Make no mistake: Vince does not claim NXT as his. Vince has never once shown up on NXT. Vince may like his pet projects that he can make in the mold of Lesnar, Reigns, etc. (see Kieth Lee, Lars Sullivan, etc.), but if Vince doesn’t have any clue about how to actually utilize his pet projects, they quickly fall into obscurity because he doesn’t understand them. And that isn’t to the Superstars detriment (although Sullivan did not help himself except into the unemployment line), that’s to Vince’s. Vince can’t get out of his own head what has always worked for him in the past and can’t understand why it’s not working now. And that’s why Vince cannot stand to see NXT succeed because Vince cannot stand being wrong. If Vince wanted NXT to succeed, they would be beating AEW in the ratings every week. People think that Triple H has unlimited power over NXT, but if that were true, NXT would be beating AEW. Triple H has even admitted that every decision on NXT has to go through Vince and so it is Vince that continues to let NXT continue to lose in the Wednesday Night War. Vince doesn’t care if NXT wins, so long as they just keep AEW at bay. And the fact that they are only keeping AEW at bay and not beating them is another way for Vince to keep Triple H down and doing what Vince wants BECAUSE VINCE IS THE REASON FOR IT. If Vince wanted NXT to beat AEW this past Wednesday with Edge on NXT, they would’ve announced it Monday night on Raw. But no, they waited until Tuesday evening, when only a limited number of fans would see the breaking news when many had already planned to watch AEW. If Edge would have been announced for NXT on Raw, then more eyes would have been on the Rated R Superstar’s showdown with Finn Balor and Pete Dunn and not on whatever AEW had running that night. NXT fails because Vince wants it to fail minus the stars he sees as the next big guy.
At the 2018 Royal Rumble, everyone thought Vince had finally seen the light. Two of the hottest stars in the business had won their respective Royal Rumble matches in Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka. But then, Vince said, “nah” and both lost their title matches with both stars falling into obscurity fairly quickly. Why? Because Vince didn’t understand their popularity, so he took it from them.
Vince has plenty of new mega stars right in front of his face if only he will get his head out of Brock Lesnar and Goldbergs respective behinds and realize that wrestling has changed. Because at the end of the day, creative can suggest to push whoever they want, but the buck always stops with Vince and that is the exact issue. Vince only has himself to blame for no new mega stars because he refuses to push the ones right in front of him because his own ego can’t get over the fact that he is indeed out of touch. There’s a reason why back when Takeovers were placed the night before the Big 4 that they would typically rival or surpass Survivor Series and SummerSlam in ratings and perpetually wrestle circles around the main roster. And that isn’t saying the main roster isn’t full of incredibly talented and awesome Superstars, but they are bound by the chains of Vince McMahon who can’t get over that he isn’t the master genius he used to be.
Now, onto Triple H as a talent scout and the Performance Center.
Firstly, the Performance Center. The Performance Center had many issues when it first started out and has many skeletons in it that I’m sure Triple H wants to make sure stay locked tighter than whatever was in Shane McMahon’s lockbox (big Shane fan here, but that’s for another time). I will give Tito this, and this only, that the Performance Center could bring in additional trainers and coaches to who they already have. Bringing in the trainer who taught Pat McAfee to look like a million bucks in his first match would be a great idea. But to say the Performance Center has done virtually nothing is absolutely kidding yourself. To say that the WWE doesn’t need some place to actually train its next main eventers is crazy. Now, of course, the argument to that is “that’s what the developmental territories were for”, and fair enough, but with the Performance Center, you have that training ground where new stars can get the actual training that they need and really focus on getting into that gear, not just working on a territory and hoping you make it. Now, the future stars are evaluated right there under the watchful eye of one of the best in the ring in Triple H. There they get help from pros, legends, and hall of farmers. Where did you get all that at once in OVW or FCW?
Now, onto The Game as a talent scout. Triple H has signed absolutely amazingly talented Superstars that are truly capable of main eventing WrestleMania. Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Kieth Lee, The Undisputed Era, Johnny Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa, and so on. Now, of course, the counter argument will be, “But they’re all already established indy darlings”. Yes, they are, and THAT’S THE POINT. Triple H knows how to take these already beloved independent favorites and make them the biggest draws in wrestling. Vince just sees a bunch of wrestlers who made their name elsewhere and, to him, have no place in WWE. And that’s the difference between Good Ol’ JR and Johnny Ace with the Cerebral Assassin. The former only looked at stars from the perspective of the business and if they could be submitted into the mold already prepared by Vince. With Triple H, despite his time as a shovel enthusiast, he knows what it takes to bring in stars that can wrestle and do their job, not just as a pretty face, but with true passion and desire for what they love. Edge was absolutely spot on in his promo on NXT this week: NXT puts the W in WWE. Because, unlike Vince’s former “yes men” talent scouts, Triple H isn’t searching for the next Brock Lesnar big man, nor should he. Triple H isn’t searching for the next John Cena, nor should he. Because Triple H knows that the next big stars will be themselves. Yes, Dean Ambrose is compared to Mick Foley. Yes, Ryback was always compared to Goldberg, and yes late 2014 - mid 2020 Roman Reigns will always be compared to John Cena. And those comparisons will always be made by the fans. But the company shouldn’t try to plaster that image or definition onto their new stars. They should be themselves and Triple H knows this better than anyone. That’s why Triple H signs wrestlers, because WWE needs to get back to the most important word in WWE: wrestling. And that is exactly what NXT has done with its stacked and talented roster of future stars.
NXT is a third brand, it’s title is an officially recognized and sanctioned world championship since 2015, so every NXT Champion is considered in the official record books of WWE as a world champion and so its title should rightfully be defended at WrestleMania in what would probably be match of the night. But Vince will never himself admit to it being a third brand. His own ego and pride will not let something that he doesn’t understand be better in his eyes than what he creates. That’s why NXT wasn’t a part of Survivor Series this year because when it was, NXT dominated every part of the night and looked better than Raw or SmackDown. Vince won’t showcase them again like that because he knows the same result will happen again. NXT fails because Vince cannot stand something that was created in his own company, that he did not create, be better than his own creation, stifled by his own incompetence. So, yes, at the end of the day, the fault once again lies with Vince McMahon.
