The Problem With Triple H That No One Wants To Talk About

If the go-home Raws and SmackDowns were shows Triple H was mostly stuck with, SummerSlam opened with his most transparent statement of intent.

Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair didn't need Hunter in the gorilla position to go and have another WWE stadium classic, but events in the post-match were evidently guided by his hand. Bayley's return was greeted with an enormous reaction, as were the surprising appearances of Dakota Kai and the renamed Iyo Sky by her side. Lynch joining Belair for a standoff generated a response just as enormous, and in one sequence Hunter had proffered the potential of countless new combinations in a women's division he's instantly sought to rebuild.

In his excellent tome Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW, WhatCulture's own Michael Sidgwick moved to note the difference in week one of AEW Dynamite against Hunter's NXT. Over on TNT, Chris Jericho shockingly formed a faction to combat The Elite; a group that already had sprawling rivalries and dynamics with others on the roster. The narrative potential was - and proved to be - vast. In contrast, NXT gave away the biggest match the show could promote, despite having nothing left on top in the aftermath. In presenting Bayley's new group against 'The EST' and her foe-turned-friend Lynch, this was Triple H attempting to learn a lesson from one of the biggest defeats he's ever experienced. Adam Cole Vs Matt Riddle for the NXT Championship was a total ripper, but it was used and abused right out of the gate simply to try and draw some eyes away from a new opposition.

Raw, SmackDown and indeed WWE in general no longer has that mandate to worry about. The aforementioned financials need to be upheld, but in the meantime, Triple H the booker has the lowest quality bar in mainstream wrestling history to step over. If the Madison Square Garden Raw was a sobering reminder of the job that needed doing, the post-SummerSlam edition made clear the first steps that would be taken.

This was 2018 NXT Black & Red, with matches high on dependable quality, logical (if basic) story progression, and heavy emphasis on the women's division and Tommaso Ciampa. The rebuilding of the United States Championship as something meaningful, the prominent and competitive featuring of eight women in and around Bianca Belair's Championship, and an episode centred around solid pro wrestling above else stood out as all very Triple H. As with Michael Cole's under-produced effort at SummerSlam, Jimmy Smith just saying "fans" was enough for some.

Hunter will get the benefit of the doubt a lot in the immediate aftermath of Vince McMahon's deluded stranglehold, and perhaps that's fair, but the praise he finds every time he refreshes Twitter over a morning coffee won't mean much if he's ending his day with a b*llocking off his wife Stephanie McMahon and co-COO Nick Khan.

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