Triple H: Internet Complaints Don’t Reflect Reality in WWE – Triple H recently addressed fan criticism of WWE’s creative direction while appearing on the latest episode of FLAGRANT. Since taking over main roster creative in mid-2022, Triple H has led WWE through a new era that’s garnered both praise and scrutiny. However, he made it clear that internet commentary doesn’t necessarily match the reality inside arenas.
“Here’s the beautiful thing about our world. The internet is not real life and the bitching and the complaining that is on there is not real life,” Triple H said. “You could read the internet and it’ll sound like this thing is dead. I’ll use Cody [Rhodes] as the example, ‘Cody’s already jumped the shark, he’s dead as a babyface’. He goes ‘really? I don’t know, I’m in an arena with 10-15,000 people every night going ape shit for me, selling the most merchandise’, but sure whatever you wanna say on the internet, that’s the golden rule — It’s just opinion of a few people.”
He compared WWE’s live programming to stand-up comedy, where constant audience feedback allows performers to fine-tune their material.
“The beautiful thing for our business, unlike a movie, a TV show, a book, or anything else, is that we have a focus group… You go out, you go up, and you do standup, right? You do your standup for a year before you do the TV special or whatever, a lot of times, right? Because you’re trying out….and you’re seeing what works and what doesn’t,” he explained.
Triple H emphasized that unlike static forms of entertainment, WWE has the ability to adjust its stories in real-time. He noted that even if online sentiment is negative, in-arena reactions and merchandise sales often tell a very different story.
“If you’re terrible at your job, you just do it the way you want to do it and it bombs. If you’re good at your job, you tweak things, you change things, make it seem fresh all the time… As we begin to tell these stories, this is working, this is not working. And whether people are bitching online or the reaction of people live… ‘Jey’s terrible?’ merch, the reaction in the crowd, everything he does, like, yeah, it’s just opinion of a few people.”
He concluded by reinforcing WWE’s ability to pivot when needed.
“So if a story piece bombs, you guys can get back and be like, all right, let’s just pivot and then we can save it. ‘Hey, that didn’t go the way I thought it was going to go… What if we do this instead?’ And you pivot and you move, right?”
During the same interview, Triple H also discussed Donald Trump’s charisma.
Triple H: Internet Complaints Don’t Reflect Reality in WWE
