10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Triple H

3. NXT Lost The Wednesday Night War

Triple H
AEW/WWE

Recent enough that very little needs re-litigating but far enough into the past that those viewing the current landscape of the industry might not believe it, Triple H's black-and-gold baby was absolutely trounced by All Elite Wrestling in a ratings war created by WWE to try and limit their new rivals' success straight out of the gate.

In one respect, the plan worked. Audiences were divided, so AEW undoubtedly lost some viewers to the action on the other side, but the weekly television ratings painted a damning picture of how few that accounted for. In truth, Hunter's creative flare on the show had reached its apex the prior April. The last thing it needed was energised competition making it look as dated and tired as it actually was, but 'The Game' was still very much at the whims of his Father-In-Law back then, and said whims were remarkably familiar to some former ones.

The pandemic scorched what buzz might have remained around NXT, not least because of AEW's incredible handling of the enforced circumstances just a year into their existence as a weekly episodic. A long drawn out head-to-head continued well 2021, but that suggests the war wasn't already over before the pandemic took hold. NXT's extended stay on Wednesdays concluded in April of that year, and by September, a post-cardiac event Paul Levesque had to look on from the sidelines as the entire brand was rebadged in an effort to revitalise it after the bruising perception and optics bludgeoning. 

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett