Triple H was not a popular wrestler amongst the internet wrestling community in 2002. Fans were initially enthusiastic about The Game's return (you cannot deny that MSG pop) but that enthusiasm quickly waned and his matches and interviews were treated with apathy and outright contempt. The problem was that he came back carrying about thirty extra pounds of solid muscle. The upshot was that he moved a lot slower and more methodically than he had during his 2000-2001 peak. Then there were the tales of Triple H supposedly holding other talents, such as Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam, down and burying them backstage. In the absence of top stars Austin and The Rock, Triple H and The Undertaker took it as a sign that they needed to step up and lead the WWE locker room. In July during a closed-doors meeting between wrestlers and agents Triple H gave a motivational speech. Well, at least that's what he was doing in his mind. Vince's future son-in-law blasted the Raw undercard for being 'lazy' and 'not knowing how to work' before instructing everyone that they should turn up to the arenas early to work out and study matches instead of winding down in their hotel rooms and playing video games. The locker room were less than impressed with Triple H's stunt with one anonymous wrestler referring to him as an 'arrogant prick'. Worse still, WWE decided to publish the whole rant verbatim on WWE.com. The mind boggles.
