Following what was overall a pretty damn good WrestleMania 39, Triple H addressed a rabid crowd at Monday Night Raw and told the fans in attendance and those watching at home that nothing was changing following the recent sale to Endeavor. He was widely applauded, and the initial response to his segment was very strong on social media. But then the rest of the show happened, followed by an avalanche of rumors, and now he’s set to address the WWE fans on SmackDown this Friday.
Let’s back up. Something on Monday Night Raw just felt off to regular viewers following Triple H’s first segment. The pacing was strange. There were a ton of changes from the rumored show outline, and for some reason Omos got a bunch of time in the first hour after getting basically squashed at WrestleMania. Reviews were not good.
Afterwards, several outlets started reporting that instead of Triple H, who has been running the show for nearly the last year, Vince McMahon (and his mustache) actually sat in Gorilla Position. He allegedly cancelled two matches, booked at least two new ones and supposedly even made changes while the show was on the air. In the aftermath, there was a flood of scary reports about wrestlers being furious and threatening to demand their releases if McMahon stays that involved, and the fanbase is I’ll politely say not in a good mental place.
On Thursday afternoon, WWE released a statement on social media saying Triple H will address the crowd during a segment on Friday Night SmackDown. No further details were given, but many are assuming it has to be related to the response after Monday Night Raw. Triple H hasn’t appeared on screen a ton since he took over creative following Vince McMahon’s retirement last year. It made a lot of sense for him to do it following the sale, but there was initially no expectation from fans that he would appear again on SmackDown. Now that he is, speculation amongst fans is at a fever pitch.
People seem to fall into three distinct camps. Some think he’s essentially going to give the same speech he did on Monday, as not everyone who watches SmackDown also watches Raw. Some think he’s going to try to reassure fans that he is, in fact, in charge, and Vince is merely an advisor who was a lot more hands on since he was in Los Angeles for WrestleMania and at the Raw taping because of it. And then there are others who think he’s going to quit because he’s been kicked out of the driver’s seat, and he’s not going to play second fiddle to his father-in-law.
To be honest, I have no idea what’s going to happen. Maybe there will be some scoops about what we’ll see that’ll drop tonight or tomorrow morning, but right now, everyone seems mostly confused and clueless. If I had to guess, I think we’re going to get option two. Some fans don’t think WWE ever listens to the negativity, but they’re in the process of the biggest sale in the company’s history. Endeavor has no doubt noticed all the ugly hashtags and fans freaking out online.
Given Vince McMahon is 77 and has said he doesn’t want to be in the weeds creatively, I think Triple H is going to say he is still calling the shots and is here to guide WWE into its next chapter. I don’t think he’ll tarnish Vince in any way or try to make him look bad, but I think it’s in WWE’s best interest, both for fans and for the locker room, that he show himself as in control. But ultimately, who knows? WWE has missed a lot of lay-ups in the past, and it’s also possible Endeavor’s purchase of WWE was at least with the quiet assumption that Vince would regain control of creative and become the top decision-maker again. We’ll just have to wait and see.
For now, all we can do is collectively smile and reflect on what it means to be a wrestling fan. I’m not sure any sequence of days has better illustrated the highs and lows we all feel as this past week. Night 1 of WrestleMania was an all-time banger. I was there and the crowd high we all felt was something else. Then we got rumors of a sale. Then we got a Night 2 that was mostly good but ended with a booking decision fans will be debating for decades, and then we got rumors about Vince McMahon being back in charge. I’m emotionally exhausted, and this is all I’ll be thinking about for the next day.
