Triple H Talks CM Punk's Promo, WWE's Rebranding, PG-TV
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 09.07.2011
See what he has to say...
Triple H was on Busted Open on Sirius and XM Radio today. Check out the highlights:
On CM Punk's June 27th Promo: "Punk said something about doofus, but he called John Laurinitis douchebag, which is way worse, right? The joke in the back was "at least I'm just a doofus, you're a douchebag." If you look at it from that standpoint, he called me a doofus, Stephanie an idiot and Johnny a douchebag, and everyone said "Oh my God!" He tore the roof off the place! He ripped the veil off! And it was like the most crazy promo of all time!" 5 years ago, no one would have blinked. That would have been a tame segment. Everyone would have looked at that promo and said "So what?" he didn't say anything. In order for that to get the reaction that it did, we had to go where it had to go. I think sometimes, people think we bumble through this. Especially, and I don't mean this disparagingly, the internet fan I think sometimes thinks that we throw darts at the wall and fumble around to see what we can come up with next. I mean there is actually a plan to a lot of this stuff, but things change. It's live television, and people react certain ways and things don't happen the way you expect them too, and you have to make changes. But there is a plan to a lot of this."
On whether the midcarders will be affected by the brand split ending: "Well I don't think the end of the brands is here at all. I think it's for a period of time, it's trying to give the best shows that we can. If I was a mid-card guy or lower end, certainly I would look at that and go "Oh man, the spot that could have been mine is now Randy Orton's". To me, I'm a big believer, You know everyone thinks we make the stars. The guys make themselves. We follow what the fans want. Make yourself relevant. Go out and make yourself relevant. If you have been doing the same thing for years, and you have been getting the same reaction, and you're in the same spot, change. We tell the guys that all the time and yet they don't do it. We try to help them. There is just a different mentality, guys have to be willing and I think a lot of them think that they do, but they have to be willing to go out there and take it. They got to be willing to step on toes. They got to be willing to jump ahead. It's a business. Be willing to step up and not take no for an answer. I have been a big believer that if you're good enough, the cream rises to the top and you will get the spot."
On the product being PG: "We had pushed the envelope so far and you get to a point that after a while, its like, Vince will always use this expression, even though it was completely irrelevant from a timeframe standpoint, but we had "Chainsaw Charlie". Where do you go after a guy with a chainsaw? But there is a certain point and time where you heard all this stuff on TV you have to pull it back to a point where it almost becomes sterile to get back to a point where you can begin to touch the envelope again where people go "OOH! Like we made it so sterile, like when CM Punk said Ass for the first time, people were like "Oh My God, he said ass!" Where ass was said every 4 seconds for a while. We have to pull it back. Will we ever get where we were before? No, because the world has changed. I just don't think you can kind of do that programming now, with the way that the world is. We will never get back all the way there. But I think there is definitely a huge gap between where we were and where we went to. But I think for the right reasons. You have to get to a point where you almost sterilize it to make it seem edgy again. If you just back it off a little bit, it kind of seems a little watered down. So we just took it to where it needed to go to get it back to where it needed to be."
Triple H says the WWE is amazing, everything they're doing is awesome, it's the superstars' fault when they get future endeavoured, and internet fans are stupid.
News at 11.
Posted By: Eric (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:32 PM
The H's have a great mind for the business and will run the company very well when Vince is gone. The company HAD to go PG so promos like CM Punk's COULD be super edgy. He's not bashing Punk here. He's stating the truth. If Punk cut that promo in Russo's WCW it would have been nothing. It's all about context. And in the context that WWE created, Punk became a hero because he stood up against the PG that the WWE created.
Posted By: Guest#4524 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:38 PM
What a bag of wind....
Posted By: SPOTtheOX (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:41 PM
Triple H hit the nail on the head with his sledgehammer here.
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:53 PM
He is still a doofus
Posted By: PipeBomb (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:58 PM
Triple H says the WWE is amazing, everything they're doing is awesome, it's the superstars' fault when they get future endeavoured, and internet fans are stupid.
News at 11.
Posted By: Eric (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:32 PM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This
Posted By: rafiki (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:59 PM
Yea, but Hunter, if you don't put the midcard guys on TV, they can't get the character over...
Posted By: Guest#4284 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:00 PM
The same tired speil about people needing to make themselves get a reaction. It's a double-edged sword, if the company doesn't get behind you it doesn't matter what you do.
Posted By: G-Walla (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:00 PM
"...but we had Chainsaw Charlie. Where do you go after a guy with a chainsaw?"
Pipe Bomb Punky?
Posted By: Mando (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:00 PM
The H's have a great mind for the business and will run the company very well when Vince is gone. The company HAD to go PG so promos like CM Punk's COULD be super edgy. He's not bashing Punk here. He's stating the truth. If Punk cut that promo in Russo's WCW it would have been nothing. It's all about context. And in the context that WWE created, Punk became a hero because he stood up against the PG that the WWE created.
Posted By: Guest#4524 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:38 PM
You got something brown on your nose. I know you can spell it
Posted By: Guest#8698 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:09 PM
Same reason why they got rid of chairshots to the head etc. So when HHH destroyed Taker with one at Mania it looked *brutal*. It took the best part of 2-3 years to re-sensitize the fans to violence, foul language etc.
The key will be making sure they *don't* go full Attitude Era again, so these things keep their shock factor. Punk's promos are already getting stale after a few months.
Posted By: b (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:20 PM
would have been better if he said...
"i got two words for ya!"
Posted By: Stupid Guy (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:26 PM
You know, I've been watch HHH since 97. I was his biggest fan in 2000 - 2002. I thought he was a great worker, had respect for the BUSINESS. And I feel I can honestly say, watching his persona grow since then...
What a douchebag.
Posted By: Ronald Reagan (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:27 PM
Again...
PG = Perfectly acceptable if done properly and you don't insult the audience's intelligence. You can be edgy without being sleazy. Now that we have some real life language back in there, let's get some blood back where it's warranted...like the PPV you have specifically to settle blood feuds (Hell in a Cell)!
WWE PG FOR KIDZ~!~ = A steaming bag of shit. Midgets, poopy jokes, dancing with kids, stopping matches for blood, going grayscale for blood footage, bleeping tame words that can be heard on Nickelodeon, and flirting with changing PPV names to remove the word "hell" (when WWE strongly considered making Hell in a Cell "Rage in the Cage." That's the shit that needs to go.
Posted By: Brad B (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:30 PM
Great interview, you people say he doesn't know what's good need to open your eyes.
Posted By: Guest#0360 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:35 PM
I actually agreed with alot of what Trips said :/
Posted By: Guest#6273 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:37 PM
Nice interview Huntor
Posted By: blah (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:39 PM
Yes he said it. Raw will be TV-PG forever but he didn't say the real reason why. WWE has to please the shareholders and they will not allow the E to go back to the golden era. Can't have violence on TV because then it will get blamed for some school getting blown up or some student will shoot their teacher and they will say he did it because of WWE. CANT have that happen
Posted By: mikecheck (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:45 PM
Hi Hunter.
Posted By: Zack Ryder (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:45 PM
Say what you want about HHH, not too many guys in the wrestling business possess the mind for the business that HHH possesses. A lot of wrestlers THINK THEY HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS, but very few of them actually possess the mind for the business that HHH has. HHH gets it. He might be an asshole but when it comes right down to it, the man gets how you run a wrestling promotion.
Posted By: TK03000 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:46 PM
Triple H has a point. Look at Zach Ryder was a jobbing to guys like Ezekiel Jackson and other also-rans. Then he started his internet show and drew a large following. Now, he's on TV more...and losing to Ezekiel Jackson and other also-rans.
Posted By: Guest#7496 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:55 PM
TV-14 is in the WWE's future!
Posted By: Guest#6313 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:59 PM
this doesn't even make any sense coming from this guy!! Triple H caught his break because he was friends with Shawn. And he was friends with Shawn cause he was sober and they needed someone who didn't drink to drive them around. Period. He didn't just 'make his own break' he caught one. And he busted his ass from there and got himself over, which is fine, but he lucked into it.
Posted By: come on!! (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:03 PM
Get yourself over, does this mean HHH is gonna push Ryder.
Posted By: TD (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:04 PM
"The guys make themselves. We follow what the fans want. Make yourself relevant. Go out and make yourself relevant."
Zach Ryder is proof that making yourself relevant does not guarantee a solid push. He is finally getting some TV exposure now but it has taken far too long and is for the most part not very positive. I wish that what HHH said were true but history/the facts simply do not back it up.
Posted By: Just Stating The Obvious (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:10 PM
No, people, he wasn't undermining Punk's promo. He was merely saying that if this was done 5 years ago, or in the Attitude era where damn near everything was a worked shoot, it wouldn't have as much impact because of the high abundance of similar angles.
Posted By: JJ (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:20 PM
The absolute truth...
Posted By: Guest#8098 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:31 PM
He is saying the right things, but we know how that can go. I will give him a chance because its either watch it or don't watch it. I do feel that things are changing here. Just not sure if its for the good OVERALL; big picture.
Posted By: Random Thoughts (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:39 PM
Lets call it what it is...a WWE employee being a WWE mark.
While the WWE is the greatest wrestling product of the face of god's green earth, I don't know how useful he will run things and it might now matter anyway. It's not like its amatuer hour like some "other" promotions...
Posted By: drallam recneps (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:52 PM
Triple H says the WWE is amazing, everything they're doing is awesome, it's the superstars' fault when they get future endeavoured, and internet fans are stupid.
News at 11.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
x3
The more things "change" the more they stay the same.
Also, doesn't it sound like H is taking credit for Punk's promo? Or is that just me?
Posted By: afanbeforeitall (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:55 PM
How many guys have got themself over with the crowd in the last 10 years only to get cut off at the knees?
Taz was over as hell when he was going back & fourth with SCSA, so were Booker, RVD, Jericho, Christian, Edge (first title run in 2006). Eddie got bumped back to the mid-card after his title run, MVP, Kennedy, Swagger, the list goes on. All of these guys at one point or another were over as hell no matter what you think of their talent or lack thereof.
I'm a fan of the guy but Trips is full of it.
Posted By: Guest#4425 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 10:01 PM
So THAT pretty much means that the WWE DELIBERATELY tanked it for the last few years, so that when they decided to get edgy again the fans would eat it up?
Posted By: Guest#2202 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 10:02 PM
Interesting what he says about "sterilizing" the product to make it edgy again. It's something that actually shouldn't be said by a promoter to his fanbase but it is absolutely necessary. You can't keep pushing the envelope because it de-sensitizes fans to a point where nothing is shocking or edgy or amazing. You have to strategically change reel things back a bit and kinda reset so that fans can learn to actually appreciate greatness again.
Posted By: bighustle (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 10:04 PM
What Hunter says might have a kernel of truth to it but he shouldn't be the guy to say it.
Hunter NEVER got himself over. He was a guy who sat in the midcard for years getting absolutely zero reaction from the fans. He got over because he hitched himself to Shawn Michaels' wagon.
It's not that hard to get over when you're tied down to someone else who is insanely over. It's the same reason why no one cared about X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Billy Gunn after DX.
Posted By: Ron Mexico (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 10:06 PM
"But the cream, rises to the top!"
OOOOOOHHHHHHH YEAH! DIGIT!!!
Posted By: ThehoocH (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 10:40 PM
this doesn't even make any sense coming from this guy!! Triple H caught his break because he was friends with Shawn. And he was friends with Shawn cause he was sober and they needed someone who didn't drink to drive them around. Period. He didn't just 'make his own break' he caught one. And he busted his ass from there and got himself over, which is fine, but he lucked into it.
Posted By: come on!! (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 09:03 PM
You know who else lucked into their break? Stone Cold. And he happened to luck into his break because HhH was friends with HBK. It's not about what lucky breaks you get, it's about what you DO with your lucky breaks. Austin and HHH made the most of them.
Posted By: Guest#1113 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 10:52 PM
If you understand the reasons why wwe pushes people the way they do, you understand why Zak Ryder didn't get pushed until recently. Triple H is right, you have to have the charisma first. But you also need to fight for your spot. You have to scratch and claw and truly earn your spot. You go on the internet and you help create interest. Great. Now, what can you do to take that interest and make it marketable to a larger audience? Guys like Hogan and Savage didn't have anything handed to them in the beginning. They busted their butts for years before they made it to the top. Stone Cold was the Ringmaster until he fought for the name change. Read Mick Foley's book as he talks about Austin trying to get a shirt made for himself. John Cena got destroyed by Undertaker, Lesnar, and Angle. But they scratched and clawed their way to the top. They wouldn't be ignored. Look at the people who have failed. They often whine about how misused they were. Maybe they just didn't fight hard enough. They sat back and waited for their turn, instead of taking their turn, stepping on whoever got in their way. Look at Matt Hardy and Edge. Matt Hardy cried and whined about his place in WWE. Edge used Matt as a stepping stone to get ahead. Edge retired as one of the legends of wrestling. Matt is still waiting for someone, anyone, to notice how great he is. In any corporate environment, you have to work twice as hard as everyone else if you want to get noticed. Greatness isn't handed out. You have to take it.
Posted By: Guest#5335 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 10:59 PM
Hell in a cell name won't go away and wwe doesn't even stop the matches when someone bleeds anymore. WWE say they are PG but they are really PG13.
Posted By: Guest#3501 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 11:07 PM
TV14 will come back when the time is right.
Posted By: Guest#1295 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 11:08 PM
A lot of trolls hating on HHH. How sad.
Posted By: Guest#5540 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 11:09 PM
hahahahahaha.
Posted By: Guest#1511 (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 11:09 PM
Triple H says the WWE is amazing, everything they're doing is awesome, it's the superstars' fault when they get future endeavoured, and internet fans are stupid.
News at 11.
Posted By: Eric (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:32 PM
So what your post implies is that you either didn't read or comprehend what he said in the interview.
Also, it shows that your irrational hate for HHH is so great, that you will never read it, thereby leaving yourself able to deny your own stupidity.
I bet you think it is still cool to hate Cena too, don't you?
Posted By: Darth Mortis (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 11:39 PM
"The H's have a great mind for the business and will run the company very well when Vince is gone"
Vince won't ever die. They will put his head in a jar of formaldehyde and attach it to a robot body like Futurama.
Posted By: #Imjustsayin... (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 11:40 PM
Again...
PG = Perfectly acceptable if done properly and you don't insult the audience's intelligence. You can be edgy without being sleazy. Now that we have some real life language back in there, let's get some blood back where it's warranted...like the PPV you have specifically to settle blood feuds (Hell in a Cell)!
WWE PG FOR KIDZ~!~ = A steaming bag of shit. Midgets, poopy jokes, dancing with kids, stopping matches for blood, going grayscale for blood footage, bleeping tame words that can be heard on Nickelodeon, and flirting with changing PPV names to remove the word "hell" (when WWE strongly considered making Hell in a Cell "Rage in the Cage." That's the shit that needs to go.
Posted By: Brad B (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:30 PM
You see?
Do you remember earlier when you had the audacity to call other people out for their lack of wrestling business knowledge, and I told you that you had no right to talk about how little anyone else knew?
THIS nonsense is why I said that.
The whole point of catering to children is to get them hooked now and keep them as life long fans.
They have done this in wrestling for the last 5 - 6 generations, so I think THEIR knowledge about how to hook the kiddies is a little better than yours.
Please, I am begging you, learn to think outside your own opinions,, and when you grow up, never ever get into business unless you do.
You will fail as hard then as hard as you are going to fail your grade 7 PoliSci test next week.
Posted By: Darth Mortis (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 11:48 PM
HHH going the apologist corporate stooge route? How...sad.
I can't believe that he thinks guys nowadays make themselves relevant when their promos are written for them and any attempt at taking initiative (SEE: Ryder, Zack) is met with punishment...until very recently.
Burying Punk sure isn't constructive, either.
Posted By: Pillman9mm (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 11:50 PM
I believe when he says that WWE needed to scale back, even 5 to 10 years ago, you could hit a guy unprotected in the head with a steel chair, and really bloody him up, and no one would bat an eye.
That's not the problem at all though, WWE's problem is that while they lay out some general rules every now and then, their deeper detailed plans mean absolutely nothing.
CM Punk became the only person to beat Cena clean for the WWE title ever, but instead of running with him as champion, they give the belt to Del Rio, who they've been jobbing out for months, and instantly put Cena back in the main event. Nobody in the world is going to buy Cena vs. yet another guy who doesn't matter.
In April, the Miz makes his Wrestlemania main event debut at the second highest grossing WM ever. Instead of making Miz look important, they have him get pulverized by a guy who hasn't worked a match in seven years in the worst WM main event of all time, and then have him lose to Cena at Over the Limit in the most embarrassing "I Quit" Match of all time.
A year ago, they were having deeply laid plans to turn Wade Barrett into a main eventer, and none of their plans ever materialized into anything, and Wade gets about 1/50th of the reaction he got a year ago.
18 months ago, Jack Swagger got his first WHC title run, not long after Sheamus. Neither guys reign went anywhere, and both guys ended up going months without even getting a win during late 2010-early 2011.
Around 20 months ago, there were serious plans to turn Kofi Kingston into the next big babyface, maybe have him main event Mania against Orton, but they just gave the title match to Cena, and the whole angle was dropped.
For a hell of a long time, WWE teased the members of Legacy being the next big stars, they gave them a clean submission victory over DX, and now both guys are actually lower on the totem pole than they were even before Legacy was formed.
Back in late 2009, serious effort was put in to make the tag titles look important. You had DX, JeriShow, the Hart Dynasty, Cryme Time, and even the Colon's making the division look semi important, and in DX's case, you had a team that actually drew money. Then they jobberized the division harder than ever before in 2010, and now people actively change the channel every time a tag match airs on TV.
These are not good signs. If WWE can't follow through on the details of making a star, their long term plans of scaling back then scaling up will mean jack shit.
They have two more guaranteed big buyrates left, Cena vs. Rock, and Stone Cold's return match. If they can't get their act together on those shows, they'll sink into a depression like they never had before.
Posted By: *Asterisk* (Guest) on September 08, 2011 at 01:21 AM
Even Triple H agrees that the WWE-IWC-Universe fans don't know anything about wrestling.
Posted By: Latex (Guest) on September 08, 2011 at 02:23 AM
Ah, so it's good to see Zack Ryder is doing all the right things, and therefore should be receiving a nice push...wait a minute...
Posted By: Matt Eli (Guest) on September 08, 2011 at 03:43 AM
Somebody has to say this guys. Ryder is not over. The reaction to him on TV is just starting to pick up. What his Internet show has done is get him noticed and get him a shot to get over which is happening now.
Posted By: gpjunk (Guest) on September 08, 2011 at 05:25 AM
"The same tired speil about people needing to make themselves get a reaction. It's a double-edged sword, if the company doesn't get behind you it doesn't matter what you do.
Posted By: G-Walla (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 08:00 PM"
R-Truth and Cody Rhodes are examples of people who did much more than they were asked to and in return became increasingly relevant. In Truth's case particularly his current character wasn't what they were going for at all. He got it over though and they moved him up the card. I'm not saying everybody who ever worked for the WWE got a fair chance, what i'm saying is that there is a bottom of truth to what he's saying.
Posted By: Guest#4813 (Guest) on September 08, 2011 at 09:14 AM
I am a business man and I understand the strategy to "sterilize" the product in order to renew the progressive violence of the Attitude Era and I also understand that catering to a PG audience will bring in more merchandise revenue as kids (parents) buy stupid crap but these guys need to understand they are in the pro wrestling business... it is low brow, doesn't appeal to everyone and can't be considered just another consumer product entertainment company.
Posted By: Dan (Guest) on September 08, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Sarky mode: And the creative team is not at fault when they tell the performers, "Sorry, we don't have anything for you to do. Best of luck in your future endeavors." Absolute Bollocks!
Triple H says the wrestlers have to change their personas, their gimmick, their style or whatever, if they've been doing the same thing for the last 5 years...fine & dandy, but the million $ question is, are they allowed to?
Posted By: Guest#8709 (Guest) on September 08, 2011 at 01:44 PM
*Asterisk* - Leave the business to the big boys. There were NEVER any plans for Kofi Kingston to main event Wrestlemania. I laughed so hard at that, nice job pulling things out of your ass.
Posted By: Dirk Diggler (Guest) on September 08, 2011 at 08:28 PM
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