Tag: Triple H

Triple H says there’s ‘no real clear moment’ where he took over WWE creative

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s ascent to head of WWE creative was more of a gradual process than an immediate transition.

While appearing on Cody Rhodes’ “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast, Levesque was asked if he considers WrestleMania 40 to be the first WrestleMania where he was fully in charge as WWE’s Chief Content Officer. Levesque said he believes it was, but there’s no “real clear moment” in his mind where he became the sole voice leading creative. There was a transition period where Vince McMahon was still around before resigning from WWE in January 2024.

“I think so,” Levesque responded. “Though, there was — and again, this is where I’m terrible with times — but it’s not like one day, ‘Here, it’s yours’ and everything else went away. There was so many aspects to that of, ‘Hey, Vince is stepping away. You’re going to take this spot, but he’s chiming in.’ And he [was] still meeting with me all the time and still, you know, directing traffic from the side. And there’s no real, it’s a weird, no real clear moment for me. But I would consider it that, yes.”

Levesque said the difficult part of the transition period was that decisions were being made that weren’t fully his. When that’s the case, it can be hard to explain why things are happening.

“At the end of the day, when people are like, ‘Yeah, but it’s your decision, right?’ Yeah, sort of,” Levesque said. “You know what I mean? Like you’re — yes, and you have to defend your position and you have to be able to sell that to people and explain it to people. If it’s a little bit not your position or a little bit, ‘Well, why did this happen?’ And you don’t want to say, ‘Well, because, you know, it wasn’t totally my decision.'”

Levesque added that creative in general is a more complex process than people think. We don’t live in an ideal world, and the public isn’t always aware of why things can’t happen. Sometimes there are injuries or behind-the-scenes issues between talent that limit what’s possible.

In 2022, McMahon “retired” from WWE amid a sexual misconduct scandal. He later forced himself back into power before resigning in 2024 after former WWE employee Janel Grant filed her still-ongoing lawsuit against McMahon and the company.

Levesque was named Chief Content Officer in September 2022 and has held that title since. This week, unearthed text messages between Levesque and Nick Khan showed how concerned Levesque was about McMahon meddling in creative before he was fully gone from the company.

2023 text messages reveal Triple H’s concern about Vince McMahon’s WWE involvement

Posted on by Josh Nason

More unredacted documents from the ongoing WWE shareholders lawsuit revealed some concerns from Paul “Triple H” Levesque over his WWE creative role as relates to Vince McMahon’s return back in 2023 in addition to Levesque’s belief that Nick Khan saved his job.

First reported by Brandon Thurston for Post Wrestling on Tuesday, more text messages sent via WhatsApp were disclosed last week as exhibits for the ongoing lawsuit in which shareholders are disputing the process in which WWE was merged with UFC by Endeavor to create TKO, saying it was unfairly steered toward Endeavor despite other bids.

The messages began on September 11, 2023 — the night before the merger became official. These are all from Levesque to WWE president Nick Khan, a person who Levesque confides in frequently as a friend and power player inside the Endeavor/TKO structure.

Levesque wrote to Khan, “How’s it going so far ? Man, I’m wound tight today …. DDay tomorrow, expecting the worst” to which Khan replied twice but later deleted the messages, a trend throughout the disclosed exchanges. Khan said in legal filings that he doesn’t remember what he said.

Later that same day in which post-merger layoffs were being planned, Levesque texted Khan, relaying a message about McMahon reaching out wanting to discuss talent releases:

“Vkm. Btw I need to meet with all of U tomorrow re talent releases which coincides with all corporate releases Thx” with Levesque asking Khan to speak if he had time.

At the time of the merger, McMahon was the executive chairman of the TKO Board.

Two hours later, Levesque texted Khan again, “While I’m SURE you like to be done with this shit for today ….. Please let me know if you speak to AE” in which AE is assumed to be Endeavor head Ari Emanuel. Khan replied three hours later saying that he would. Levesque asked Khan if he was ok to which Khan replied “Yes sir! How you ?”

Levesque then said “Good anxious for tomorrow and beyond ……”

It’s unclear if Levesque and Khan spoke separately outside these texts.

**********

On the day the merger was made official (September 12, 2023), Levesque messaged Khan again at 6:58 AM:

“Nick , just wanted to take a moment before all the craziness today to say THANK YOU !!!!! Thank you for getting us here … if it wasn’t for you , I would have been gone a long time ago. I appreciate you and all you have done and gone thru …. And I appreciate our friendship… It means the world to me
Thank you and Congratulations”

Khan then replied, “You are my guy. You got me here. I want us to do this for 20 years and call it a day. I appreciate and admire you.”

Levesque then appeared to relay a message from McMahon:

“Just fyi

Morning! VKM looking to set an in person meeting for today at 4pm with you, Bruce and Ed regarding Talent Policies”

Khan replied something, but later deleted it. Whatever it was, Levesque replied, “Done.”

**********

Fast forward to Saturday, December 9, 2023, when Levesque texted Khan the following at 8:17 PM: “Was just told by security that VKM is coming to Cleveland TV Monday. What’s that about ??????”

Khan replied three times, later deleting all of them. Levesque replied “Is he in nyc yet …… When is their meeting?” Khan then replied again, but deleted it.

Some sort of talk between Levesque, Emanuel and possibly Khan appeared to take place — one Levesque was “disappointed” with.

From Sunday: ” the more I think about it the more I’m kinda disappointed in that Ari convo…… Seems like we are in the same place , “I’m gonna tell him to stay out of it or else” that’s way different than “I’m telling him he’s done ….. it’s over” Kicking the can down the road”

That appears to imply Emanuel was going to speak with McMahon about staying out of WWE creative due to concerns Levesque had. After another deleted Khan reply, Levesque asked, “What do u think about me hitting Shapiro to get his take and let him push or better direct to Ari?” followed by more deleted Khan replies. Shapiro is Mark Shapiro, the head of TKO.

The conversation kept going an hour later.

From Levesque: “Between you and I, It feels like they are both backtracking on the “he’s out” narrative. It’s back to the “well if he wants to go to the show now and then” and “if he gives notes and wants to have a 30min meeting now and then, ok”

That was followed by “He just sent an email re script for Ari” to which Khan said “Seems off. Lemme call him.” and later “They know already. No need to send.”

Later that night, Levesque intimated to Khan that McMahon and CM Punk were going to be on the same plane and questioned if that was going to be an issue:

“So he’s on the AM plane ….. I just remembered punk is scheduled to be on it as well. You think that’s an issue ?”

McMahon resigned from his post on January 26, 2024, amid sexual misconduct allegations from Janel Grant in a still ongoing civil lawsuit.

WWE to announce WrestleMania 42 cards on ESPN

Posted on by Joseph Currier

It won’t be long until we find out how WWE is dividing up the cards for each night of WrestleMania 42.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque sent out a tweet this morning announcing that WWE commentator Joe Tessitore will be on ESPN’s Get Up this Tuesday at 9:35 a.m. Eastern time. During the appearance, Tessitore will break down the WrestleMania card and reveal which night each match will be happening on.

“Every match on this year’s #WrestleMania card has the opportunity to steal the show and both nights are STACKED,” Levesque wrote. “SmackDown’s @JoeTessESPN will be on @GetUpESPN tomorrow at 9:35am ET to break down which matches will be featured on Saturday and Sunday.”

It’s expected that Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton will be the night one main event, with World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns closing out the weekend in the headlining spot on night two. The show is being held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for the second straight year.

Heading into tonight’s Raw, there are 12 matches officially announced for WrestleMania. Two more bouts are likely to be added to the April 18-19 event, giving each night a seven-match card.

These are the bouts that have been confirmed so far:

  • World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk defends against Roman Reigns
  • Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes defends against Randy Orton
  • Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer defends against Liv Morgan
  • WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill defends against Rhea Ripley
  • Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi
  • Seth Rollins vs. Gunther
  • Unsanctioned match: Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu
  • Women’s Intercontinental Champion AJ Lee defends against Becky Lynch
  • United States Champion Sami Zayn defends against Trick Williams
  • Ladder match: Intercontinental Champion Penta defends against Je’Von Evans, Dragon Lee, Rusev, JD McDonagh
  • Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax & Lash Legend defend against Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss, The Bella Twins, and Bayley & Lyra Valkyria
  • Finn Balor vs. Dominik Mysterio

Triple H says Nick Khan is ‘the most incredible businessman’ he’s worked with

Posted on by Ian Carey

WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque says that Nick Khan is the most incredible businessman he’s ever worked with on a day-to-day basis.

Levesque was featured in a video posted by TKO Group Holdings on Wednesday. In the video, he reflected on the more than 30 years he has spent with WWE after signing with the company in early 1995.

Triple H said:

“I am Paul Levesque, sometimes known as Triple H, sometimes known as the Cerebral Assassin, sometimes known as the King of Kings. I have a lot of names.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have been here in WWE for 30 years. To see changes of the guard, I’ve seen talent come and go. I’ve seen ebbs and flows of the business. But I think having been through all of those, having been a key component in the Attitude Era, which many people see as one of the all-time great eras in our business, I’m fortunate that I experienced all of it.

Early in my career, I sort of fell in love with the behind-the-scenes of the business. I was very interested in the creative process of putting the shows together.”

Triple H also spoke about Khan and what he has brought to the company, saying:

“Nick is the most incredible businessman I’ve ever worked with on a day-to-day basis. His business sense and acumen and all of that and his experience are second to none. But he’s also a huge fan of WWE. He sees the things that work and don’t.”

Also in the video, Triple H spoke about the difference between being a wrestler and being an executive with a wrestling company.

“When you’re a WWE superstar, you’re focused singularly on you. When you switch to being an executive, it’s about everybody else. Your job goes from being singularly focused to just this wide net of everything that you have in front of you, and it’s dealing with people. But it’s a lot easier to deal with them when you get to slam them than it is when you can’t slam them and just have to talk to them.”

The full video is available below:

Triple H has already made his Godfather trilogy, and WrestleMania 42 is a Part IV no one wants

Posted on by Jake Skudder

If you want to understand where I think WWE creative sits right now, think about The Godfather trilogy. The first two films are widely regarded as among the greatest ever made and the third is considered a disappointing mess that tarnished the legacy of what came before it.

WrestleMania 39 and 40 were Godfather Parts I and II. WrestleMania 41 was Part III and because of how much of a mess that show was, 42 feels like the Part IV that nobody wanted, because ‘Mania 42 is arriving off the back of a year that fundamentally damaged confidence in Triple H’s longterm creative vision and ability to do anything meaningful beyond The Bloodline storyline that started while Vince McMahon was still in charge.

It’s worth remembering just how good 39 and 40 actually were, because the contrast with where we are now is really stark. Having Cody Rhodes not win at 39 was a genuinely bold creative decision, the kind of creative you only make when you know exactly where you’re going and you trust that you can keep an audience happy after years of terrible Vince McMahon stop-start booking decisions.

The payoff at 40 delivered. Roman Reigns, The Rock, John Cena all folded into the conclusion of the Cody story in a way that felt genuinely earned. For the first time in a long time, WWE felt like it had a vision and the conviction to actually see it through.

Then came 2025, and the wheels came off.

The John Cena Retirement Tour

The John Cena retirement tour should have been one of the easiest briefs in wrestling history. Book him against former rivals and use the platform to elevate some newer names. Give one of the greatest careers in WWE history a send-off that felt worthy of it, simple isn’t it? What we actually got felt like a week to week scramble from start to finish. Cena’s retirement tour felt like it was booked as a reactive, directionless mess that seemed to have no idea where it was going from one month to the next.

The Cena tour exposed something really glaring about creative that we already really knew…the ambition that drove 39 and 40 was largely built around one story and there’s nothing beyond that. Once that story was told at WrestleMania 40, there wasn’t a clear next chapter already in place. WrestleMania 41 became The Godfather Part III, so not just a disappointment in isolation, but something that tarnished beyond the sum of its parts.

Where the hell is Gunther?

Nothing illustrates where Triple H’s creative bankruptcy currently sits better than the Gunther situation heading into 42. The former World Heavyweight Champion has in very recent times retired AJ Styles, John Cena and Goldberg. These are three of the most significant names of the 90s, 00s and 2010s, all put to bed by the same man. By any reasonable measure, Gunther should be one of the marquee stories of WrestleMania 42.

He currently has nothing of significance for the show. Like how? How does that happen in a company that makes money based on writing stories?

That is not an injury problem. There is no bad luck excuse here. That is a creative team that handed themselves one of the most compelling narratives WWE has produced in years, gave him three genuinely historic moments, and then had absolutely no idea what to do with him next.

Part IV

Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton and CM Punk vs Roman Reigns are perfectly serviceable main events, but neither feels like the destination of a journey that began with genuine long term intent behind it. They feel like matches that were assembled because WrestleMania is on the calendar and something needed to fill the top of the card. Even with Randy and Cody having so much history, this feels like something cobbled together at the last minute. That’s almost impressive levels of dropping the ball.

Triple H’s Godfather trilogy is done. The problem is WWE still has to continue to produce shows every week, something that feature films don’t need to, and right now they’re doing it without the creative vision that made that trilogy, well, two thirds of it, genuinely so compelling in the first place. The blueprint from 2023 and 2024 still exists, the bones of something great are still there.

But until the creative team starts building stories with patience and destination again, rather than just reacting to whatever is in front of them week to week (or what fans are saying online) WrestleMania 42 is exactly what it looks like right now, a Part IV that exists because it has to, not because anyone had a great idea.

Nickelback song announced as WWE WrestleMania 42 theme

Posted on by Rosanne Raphael

Nickelback is reuniting with WWE for WrestleMania 42.

Triple H announced on X that the band’s latest single “Bones for the Crows” will serve as an official theme song for the event.

“They’ve rocked with us for over 20 years, and their new song will soundtrack the Grandest Stage of Them All. @Nickelback’s “Bones For The Crows” is an official #WrestleMania theme song.” tweeted Triple H. 

From 2009 to 2012, Nickelback’s ‘Burn it to the ground’ was the official WWE Raw theme. A few other tracks like Rockstar, Edge of a Revolution & more have been featured for WWE programming over the years. Bones for the crows was initially created for the Dungeon Hunter 6 game in 2023. This is the band’s first single release since their ‘Get Rollin’ album in November 2022.

Aerosmith and Youngblud’s version of ‘Back in the Saddle’ was earlier used in WWE’s promotional material for WrestleMania 42. 

WrestleMania 42 will take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18 and 19, 2026. Roman Reigns and CM Punk collide for the World Heavyweight Championship. Randy Orton takes on Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship. From the women’s division, Rhea Ripley challenges Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Title as Stephania Vaquer defends her Women’s World Championship against Liv Morgan. 

Trick Williams shares the differences between Triple H & Shawn Michaels

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

Trick Williams believes NXT’s Shawn Michaels and WWE main roster’s Triple H have two very different management styles.

Following a successful WWE NXT career, Trick Williams recently made the jump and joined WWE’s main roster earlier this year. Shortly after his transition, Williams became one of the most popular names on the roster.

Recently, speaking on My Mom’s Basement, Williams opened up about the different approaches used by Michaels and Triple H in NXT and on the main roster, having worked under both.

“I think both are great in their own right. Shawn Michaels has to babysit a little bit more because NXT is younger talent, newer talent who are still trying to figure out their way in the business. So he has to be hands-on and probably, like I said, babysit way more,” Williams said.

Whereas Triple H is awesome. He just kind of… he sits back and sees who you are, and he decides how he wants to present you. So he’s more doing the polishing and the brushing up. At this point, SmackDown and Raw, you’re supposed to be a pro; this is the big leagues. He’s not babysitting. He’s making you a star to the next level.”

Williams was recently a part of the 2026 men’s Elimination Chamber match and is also reportedly on his way toward a babyface turn.

Danhausen, Triple H comment on WWE debut

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Both Triple H and Danhausen are speaking out following the latter’s WWE debut.

During a backstage interview on the Elimination Chamber post-show, Triple H commented on Danhausen’s WWE debut, which took place earlier in the night.

“Michael Cole got a nice bucket of teeth. I think we’re in for a fun time…whatever it is, it’s gonna be a blast,” he said.

Danhausen later took to social media to confirm that he is, in fact, alive.

“Danhausen is ALIVE and back inside your television,” he wrote.

The longtime AEW talent ended up being in a crate that had been seen in recent weeks both on Raw and SmackDown, with a note on the box saying it was not to be opened until the Elimination Chamber. The crate opened on Saturday to reveal a coffin. Dancers wearing Danhausen’s face paint emerged from the coffin then Danhausen himself. They all ended up making their way to the ring as Danhausen posed for the crowd. The lights then went out and when they came back on, everyone was gone.

Danhausen’s AEW contract had been frozen for some time, having not wrestled for the company or ROH since 2024. His contract was extended last year against his wishes. On Friday, he gave indications that he had finally been freed from his contract, with his profile being removed from AEW’s website the following day.

May 5, 2008 Observer Newsletter: Triple H wins 12th WWE world title, Michael Hayes suspension fallout, Keiji Muto wins IWGP Championship

Posted on by F4W Staff

It’s the second of two retro issues being added to the archives this weekend as our run toward uploading the entire set of Wrestling Observer Newsletters between 1991 to current nears its end.

In this issue from May 5, 2008, Dave Meltzer recaps WWE Backlash which saw Triple H win his 12th WWE world title in a four-way elimination main event.

Dave also recapped the fallout and entire situation of Michael Hayes’ WWE suspension following some words toward Mark Henry.

The issue also recaps another big title win with Keiji Muto returning to NJPW to win the IWGP Championshp.

All that and all the wrestling & MMA news from nearly 6500 days ago in a much simpler time.

Subscribers can click here to read (and check out our entire archive)

Triple H reveals official WWE Elimination Chamber poster

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Two hometown stars are featured on the poster for WWE Elimination Chamber 2026.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque unveiled the poster on social media today, with it showcasing Chicago native CM Punk and his wife AJ Lee. The PLE is taking place at the United Center in Chicago on February 28. Punk and Lee’s plans for the show are already confirmed. Punk has a World Heavyweight Championship defense against Finn Balor, while Lee is challenging Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental title.

Lynch vs. Lee being announced for Elimination Chamber was a surprise given that it was expected to be part of the WrestleMania 42 card. But a WrestleMania matchup between Lynch and Lee is likely still in the cards. This will just build on their story in advance of WrestleMania.

WWE has already announced Punk vs. Roman Reigns as one of the main events for Mania, so it would be a surprise if he were to lose to Balor in Chicago.

SummerSlam 1994 was the last time WWE held a PLE/PPV at the United Center. The Allstate Arena in nearby Rosemont, Illinois has traditionally been the location for WWE’s major events in the Chicago area.

Elimination Chamber, with a start time of 7 p.m. Eastern, will stream live on the ESPN app in the United States and on Netflix elsewhere.

WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 (Saturday, February 28) —

  • World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk defends against Finn Balor
  • Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch defends against AJ Lee
  • Women’s Elimination Chamber match: Tiffany Stratton vs. Rhea Ripley vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD
  • Men’s Elimination Chamber match: Randy Orton vs. LA Knight vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD

Nia Jax explains how WWE changed under Triple H

Posted on by Joseph Currier

When Nia Jax returned to WWE in 2023, the company felt like a different place than it was during her first run.

Jax was released from WWE during a round of roster cuts in 2021 but was brought back in 2023, returning after Paul “Triple H” Levesque gained power as head of creative. On a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Jax opened up about how she benefitted from that two-year absence.

“I feel like I changed in a better way. Like, I got better and I elevated my game a little bit more,” she said. “Not that I didn’t think I had the opportunity in my first part, but I think because it was a different schedule and — I wasn’t really, like, locked in as I could have been. When I had the break and I was able to see what I could improve on, I was able to change it coming back.”

Jax’s first stint with WWE happened while Vince McMahon was still in charge of the company. During that time, she felt like WWE had to be her entire life and everything else needed to take a backseat. Now, there is a healthier balance where she is still passionate about her job without it becoming her entire existence.

“Some of the girls that I came up with, we all kind of made WWE our whole lives. Like, morning, noon, and night, storylines, talking about it all the time and worried about our bookings,” Jax said. “Back in the day, if you got hurt, you were forgotten about. It was hard to get back in the rhythm, so we pushed through things. Like, ‘I’m not hurt, I’m fine, I’m going to stay and I want to skip on all my friends’ weddings and baby showers.’ And then coming back, it felt different to where it’s like, no, WWE is my passion and I love it and I want to be a part of it, but it’s not going to be my entire life. I’m not going to make it like the focal point.”

When McMahon ran WWE, Jax felt like she was working for an audience of one and had to wrestle in the way that McMahon wanted her to. There is now more freedom with Levesque encouraging Jax to show the audience what she can do in the ring.

“I was taught a certain way, like, ‘You’re a certain size, you can’t do these things. Stay away from this. Don’t let them do this to you.’ So I was kind of pigeonholed into a little bit of — and I was afraid to get out of it because, you know, the person telling me is somebody who runs the show and you work for an audience of one. And so this time around, Hunter was more like, ‘Be you. Be you, do you, show them what you can do.’ Because he’s like, ‘I know what you’re capable of.’ So I feel like the difference is just me kind of being myself a little bit more. I’m more adding who I am into my character instead of, like, I’ve got to stay here and make sure that, you know, somebody’s happy.”

Jax was a Women’s Champion under both the McMahon and Levesque regimes, most recently holding the WWE Women’s Championship on SmackDown from August 2024-January 2025. She also won the WWE Queen of the Ring tournament in 2024.

On Insight, Jax noted that she has lost 100 pounds from her highest weight. She participated in the women’s Royal Rumble last weekend but was eliminated by Charlotte Flair.

Triple H: AJ Styles ‘made it very clear he was just done with the in-ring’

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Triple H is saying that AJ Styles was done as an in-ring wrestler.

During the Royal Rumble post-show, WWE’s COO said that based on conversations he had with Styles, he had made it clear the Royal Rumble was it for him when it came to being an in-ring competitor.

“Obviously, we expected it later in the year. We had a lot of conversations about it. AJ is one of those people that absolutely wants to give back and be a part of this business,” he said. “I don’t want to speak for him but the conversations that he had with me, he made it very clear that he was just done with the in-ring. There’s a point where you just reach in your career where you say ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ And when your heart goes, no matter how good you are, he hasn’t lost a step…but when you say ‘I’m just at a place where I don’t want to do this anymore,’ it’s time before you get hurt, before you get told you’re not allowed to do this anymore. I think he was there.”

Triple H also hoped that Styles would continue to contribute to the business in a non-wrestling capacity.

“I’m hoping that he will contribute because again, he’s one of the most influential people in the business and one of the greatest minds in the business and I think when you see somebody like what Shawn Michaels is doing in NXT, I think that’s a path and career for AJ Styles, beyond this period that he’s in.” he said.

Styles wrestled his final match on Saturday, losing to Gunther at the Royal Rumble in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Although it was a competitive back-and-forth encounter, Gunther once again was able to take credit for another career after Styles passed out while in a sleeper hold.

Triple H visits new WWE Saudi office ahead of Royal Rumble

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Ahead of the Royal Rumble, Paul “Triple H” Levesque stopped by WWE’s new office in Saudi Arabia for a visit.

The office, located in Riyadh, opened in the latter half of 2025, with WWE calling it a key step in strengthening their presence in the Middle East/North Africa region. Levesque tweeted out a few pictures from his visit today and hyped that exciting things are being planned for the future.

“So great to spend some time before #RoyalRumble in our brand new KAFD [King Abdullah Financial District] @WWE office with our amazing GEA [General Entertainment Authority] partners,” Levesque wrote. “Exciting things to come in the future.”

When opening the office, WWE said it would help bring the company closer to its partners.

Saudi official Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, is the key person in the government handling the WWE partnership. The controversial relationship between the two sides began in 2018 and has grown recently with Riyadh set to host Royal Rumble 2026 this afternoon and WrestleMania 43 in 2027. This is the first time either of those marquee events is being held in Saudi Arabia.

A temporary outdoor stadium that was built over just a few short weeks is the venue for today’s Rumble.

Triple H on temporary venue hosting WWE Royal Rumble: ‘Not bad for a month’

Posted on by Ian Carey

Triple H posted a video on Friday speaking about the temporary stadium built in Riyadh that will host today’s WWE SmackDown and Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble.

Construction on what has been referred to as the Riyadh Season Stadium began roughly a month ago. The structure was built in the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh’s Al-Aqeeq neighbourhood.

“Not bad for a month,” Triple H says about the venue in the video.

“When you see the initial concepts of it, it’s really hard to picture the size and scope and all the stuff of it and how it will actually look. I’m excited to go back there and look at it with the city behind it.”

“As cool as it looks now, I think tonight, it’s designed for dark. This is pretty cool.”

“Hard to picture that this was like a strip of dirt a month ago. From that to this, it’s crazy.”

Dave Meltzer addressed the temporary structure in Friday’s edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, writing:

“The event will be held in a 30,000-seat stadium in Riyadh that was built in a few weeks. The reason is that all four stadiums in the city already have soccer games that day so they needed to build another.”

WWE SmackDown will air from the temporary venue beginning at 12 p.m. Eastern time on Friday. The show will air live for international viewers and in its usual 8 p.m. Eastern time slot for viewers in the United States. Saturday’s PLE will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Triple H’s video is available below:

A time lapse of the venue’s construction is available below:

Triple H weighs in on ring work vs. mic skills debate

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Paul “Triple H” Levesque believes charisma is the most important element in making a successful professional wrestler.

Whether ring skills or mic skills are more important has been a frequently debated topic among fans — and Levesque weighed in during an appearance on ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike this week. He was asked whether he would rather have a wrestler who is an A+ in the ring and a C on the mic or a wrestler who is an A+ on the mic but a C in the ring.

“I’ll go on the mic,” Levesque responded. “The thing about our business, when people ask me what’s key in our business, the king is charisma. It always is, it always will be. It’s not a knock on anybody, but as you go through the years, you can make a list of the biggest stars, the people that transcended the business in the biggest way, the biggest stars. Sometimes they weren’t the most athletic. Sometimes they weren’t the best wrestlers. They weren’t the best technically skilled wrestlers, but they captivated people’s emotions. It’s what they did. John Cena captivated people’s emotions. Hulk Hogan captivated emotions. Hulk Hogan wasn’t the most athletic by far of his generation, but [he] was the biggest star by far of his generation because he had charisma. It is the biggest thing that you can have.

“I think that you see it in other sports as well. I think that sometimes charisma can carry people to unbelievable moments in their careers, and it makes them bigger stars all the way around. So that’s king in our business. Look, I’m not going to say that in-ring skill doesn’t matter. It absolutely matters, especially in today. You have to be able to deliver in that ring, but you’ve got to be able to get them to tune in first.”

Elsewhere in the Unsportsmanlike interview, Levesque was asked to name the one wrestling storyline that he did not write but wishes that he did. Levesque chose the Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon rivalry, saying he doesn’t know if he could have made that story even bigger than it was but would have liked to give it a shot.

Levesque appeared on both Unsportsmanlike and ESPN’s Get Up during his media tour to promote the Royal Rumble, which is being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this Saturday. Levesque hyped that there are a lot of surprises in store at the PLE.