Triple H comments on his “The Game” promo with Jim Ross from 1999 being unscripted
While speaking to Cody Rhodes, Paul “Triple H” Levesque discussed the development of his heel character in 1999. Triple H brought up how his nickname “The Game” originated during a sit-down interview with Jim Ross…
“So I was already trying to find the change, right? You go through a sequence of events in your career that open up opportunities for change. I knew where I wanted to be, and I knew where I was, and I knew there were certain changes that needed to happen—but you kind of can’t force those without the right things taking place.
I knew that promo with JR—I knew it when we did it, and I felt it—and there were changes happening in the business. The line was pretty much off the cuff. I’ve seen people take credit for it, saying ‘I wrote that script,’ but there was nothing written at that time. It was, here’s what JR is going to ask you—these couple of questions—how are you going to answer them?
At best, you jotted down a couple of bullet points to have them in your head. And I remember we did a take where I said ‘the f*cking game,’ and they were like, ‘You know, that’s okay. We’re just going to show it from the other side where we don’t see your mouth. It’ll be alright—we’ll beep it.’ And I was like, oh sh*t, okay. So if they think that’s good enough, there was something there.
When I really realized it was the following TV. If you’re in tune to it and you do something—this is where live events come into play—you try things, then you gauge the reaction, and you move with the reaction. If you’re smart, you’re following the tide of where things are going.
When I came out that next TV, I remember stepping on the stage and looking out over the crowd and seeing five or six signs with ‘The Game’ on it, and thinking—we’re onto something with that ‘Game’ thing. I’ve got to jump on that now. I need to say it all the time.
JR and I had a conversation about it, and he started to—JR was, I can’t give him enough credit for being the soundtrack of our generation.”