10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About 2022
5. They Were More Returns Than Return Pops
Somehow, the 'Triple H Infinity Gauntlet' meme is not ironic in some circles.
Some people think that Top Dolla and Dexter Lumis are vastly powerful weapons with which Triple H can take WWE to new, hitherto unknown heights.
The idea of bringing these various names back was better than the actual returns, very few of which generated a massive reaction. WWE wants you to forget that barely anybody reacted to the (nonetheless welcome) return of Tegan Nox. They want you to think Triple H will eventually do right by "his" acts.
"Eventually" is the word, because - and this is heavily ironic - Triple H has debuted many of these returning names in much the same way Tony Khan does - except Khan actually achieves the intended reaction and gets buried for it. These old/new WWE names are only contextualised very briefly on commentary, vignettes don't herald their arrival, and it was up to the crowd to react and allow the televised audience to infer that they are stars. Only...they didn't; AEW fans are more likely to react to a surprise appearance from a NJPW wrestler than WWE fans are to a WWE NXT wrestler.
Many of these acts are already treading water, too, which is cause for concern. Hit Row don't win anything important, Johnny Wrestling barely wrestles, Karrion Kross went 50-50 with Drew McIntyre, and the bell has already rang with Dexter Lumis, whose match with the Miz, which was built towards strongly over months, elicited hardly any reaction.
You're meant to forget that Triple H hasn't done enough to get these acts over, and think instead about how swell he is for trying.