Triple H has been working overtime for the past handful of years to reshape his own image in the mind of the average diehard wrestling fan, and thanks to the success of NXT, he’s pretty successfully done so. But his vision in NXT has crept onto the main roster slowly but surely, which means WWE Superstars, overall, tend to look a bit different than they did a decade ago.
During a recent interview with NBC Sports, the NXT paterfamilias was asked about how the modern-day WWE roster is undeniably more varied in body types than it was in the Hulkamania or Attitude Eras, for example, and how Triple H (and the company) worked to start bucking that trend.
Even if it weren’t interesting to hear some realtalk about how the mindset is completely different than it was eight or ten years ago, or to have him acknowledge the importance of “diversity on all levels” in the modern product, it’s amazing to imagine Triple H busting out his Vince McMahon impression to imitate the CEO gushing about the size of Braun Strowman. It’s a shame that this interview wasn’t taped.
“So, I’m a big believer in talent is talent. It comes in all shapes, sizes, looks, feels, everything. I think sometimes there’s been a bad rap of like take this as the thing that’s most successful, so that’s what we’re going to give.
I think that’s happen here in the past. People can say whatever about WWE and look, is there a particular style of athlete [we look for]? Sure, it’s like that in anything.
If you’re shown steak all of the time, it’s no surprise that you’re going to eat steak. So when everybody coming to you with the same look and feel, a certain pattern begins to develop because that’s what being put in front of you and that’s what you have to select from.
My selection process is different. Yes, I understand what Vince likes and what Vince sees in an ideal archetype performer, but I also know him well enough to know that he likes a lot of different archetypes, so I’m not going to give him one; I’m going to give him a little bit of everything.
He’s going to see a Bray Wyatt and go (Vince voice) ‘That’s great!’ He’s going to see a Braun Strowman and go ‘Ah yeah, that’s my wheelhouse right there. I love that.’ He’s going to see Finn Balor and hear the girls going nuts and then see the paint and go ‘Geez look at that, I love that!’ That’s something that I don’t think would have been put in front of him eight years ago.
I sometimes wonder if Bray Wyatt would have been put in front of him 10 years ago. I don’t know that he would’ve. That doesn’t mean that Vince wouldn’t have loved him back then.
I want there to be so much diversity on every level. I want it to be international diversity. I want there to be something for everybody within WWE so you can gravitate towards characters that you can relate to. That’s still a work in progress.
It’s a work in progress when you look at the Performance Center and you look at the talent there and see that 40 percent of the talent is international now, there’s 17 countries represented. A quarter of the talent there is women. The diversity level is at an all-time high and that’s on purpose. We’ve done that for desired effect.
Is it showing right now on the main roster? Nah, not necessarily because it’s going to take a little bit of time to percolate up, but it’s there.
I want that diversity. When you talk about the women, I want there to be a Sasha Banks; the smaller, run her mouth, cocky, arrogant, little athlete. I want there to be a bigger, dominant athlete like a Charlotte. I want there to be a Nia Jax that brings a whole different danger component. I want there to be a Bayley that is this naïve, fan-friendly, little girl centric character that everybody loves.
Then you still want there to be the Bellas, who are like the Kardashians of the women’s division. You want that variety.
It’s the same with the guys. I want there to be a Cena, I want there to be a Randy Orton. But I also want there to be a Bray Wyatt. I want there to be a Braun Strowman. I want there to be a Finn Balor. I want there to be a Samoa Joe or a Kevin Owens. Big Cass and then a little guy like Enzo that can run his mouth nonstop.
I want that diversity.”
That’s all a response to just one question! You can head over to NBC Sports to check out the full interview, because as expected, Triple H talked about a lot of topics.
More cynical fans might dismiss his comments about “diversity on all levels,” and I don’t have to tell YOU how divisive the “women’s revolution” in WWE has been, or point out what the top of the card tends to look like. But if you take a trip back through the different eras in wrestling, it sure seems like we’re looking at a positive trend. A slow trend! But a positive one.
Now feel free to walk around your house all day doing your best Vince impression of the Gary Strydom routine.
