On July 18, 2011 (hmmm, there's that year again...), Triple H showed up on Raw to tell a tearful Vince McMahon that he had been relieved of his duties by WWE's board of directors, and that HHH himself would now serve as the company's Chief Operating Officer. WWE has a habit of booking to undermine their babyface authority figures, though, and even Triple H was not exempt from the trend -- two months later, he found himself facing a talent walkout. After repeated attacks by The Miz and R-Truth, the WWE roster decided that they faced a hazardous work environment. Only John Cena, Sheamus, and CM Punk -- the guys WWE actually cared about protecting -- stayed, with Sheamus wrestling Cena, Punk on commentary, and HHH as referee. All of the other wrestlers on the roster, heel and babyface alike, left because they were afraid of being at a WWE show. These dozens of men and women were made to look like wimpy fools, ones who weren't hard-boiled old-school tough guys like Triple H. The match ended when Vince McMahon returned, announcing that now Triple H was being relieved of his position. Replacing him -- and taking on the role of Interim Raw GM -- would be John Laurinaitis.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
