More on Triple H Being Named Head of WWE Creative – Creative Update & Former Talent Reactions

Backstage Update on WWE Creative Changes & Status

As noted before, WWE announced on Monday that they have promoted Paul “Triple H” Levesque into their new Head of Creative within the company. Besides being in charge of WWE’s creative team, Levesque was also recently promoted back into his prior position as Head of Talent Relations.

Fightful Select reported that several talent spoken to stated that Levesque held a meeting with talent prior to the start of Monday’s RAW show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. This meeting reportedly involved Levesque promising talent an increase in the transparency in WWE’s creative process that some talent did not feel existed under the previous regime. Levesque reportedly also stated that he wanted open lines of communication between himself and talent and to lessen the amount of waiting time for talent to be able to speak to him directly. Levesque also reportedly stated that he wanted work in WWE to be fun.

In regards to the current status of WWE’s Creative team, Fightful Select reported in a separate report that Bruce Prichard is still working in a high level role within WWE’s Creative team but Levesque is now the “finishing” guy. It was reported that several high level WWE sources stated that Vince McMahon will still be around in some form to help out during his transition away from the company. Several talent spoken to stated that they were happy with the recent changes within WWE’s creative, especially Prichard’s removal as Head of Creative due to them not being fond of him being both in charge of creative and talent relations at the same time.

In regards to Monday’s RAW show, Fightful Select reported in another report that it was mostly put together by McMahon prior to his departure from the company and Levesque taking over creative.

---

Reaction from Former WWE Talent Over Paul “Triple H” Levesque Taking Over WWE Creative

In regards to outside reaction over Levesque taking over WWE’s creative, Fightful Select reported that the reaction from several former WWE talents spoken to was mostly positive. One talent spoken to who left the company in 2016 stated that at the time it appeared that Levesque had a lot of say in the hiring, firing, and creative process in the company. This same talent reportedly stated that they did not believe if Levesque had full control back then that it would have led to them staying but it could have led to them gauging WWE’s interest in a different light.

Several former NXT talents reportedly had a mostly positive reaction to Levesque being fully in charge of WWE’s creative. Most spoken to stated that they likely would have not left the company had Levesque been in charge at the time. A few former NXT talents spoken to stated that even had Levesque been in charge of WWE’s creative back then, they still would likely have left due to them feeling they were not being utilized or progressing fast enough in their careers in the company. One talent stated “at some point, someone had to be cut, so I wouldn’t be realistic to say that it couldn’t or wouldn’t be me just because the person who got me hired had more power.” Another talent reportedly stated that they did not think they would have been protected to any degree over their booking since they had not been used on NXT television for months.

In an interesting note, one former NXT talent spoken to stated that he had felt an incredible sense of loyalty to Triple H for giving them a job in the company. This same talent reportedly stated that had Levesque been in charge of managing their creative future “things could have been much different.” This same talent and another former NXT talent who later signed with AEW stated that they had no confidence in being creatively satisfied on WWE’s main roster under McMahon’s leadership. One former NXT talent stated “I’m glad that I went to AEW, but if I was graduating to a Triple H-led Smackdown or Raw, I probably would have re-signed with WWE before my deal was up.” Another former NXT talent who is currently a free agent stated that Levesque and Stephanie McMahon taking over greatly increases the possibility of them eventually returning back to the company. This reportedly was a similar view several other former talents who are free agents also currently hold. Another former NXT talent spoken to stated that they preferred a “wait and see” approach on if they would consider returning to the company now that Levesque is fully in charge of creative.