Triple H has opened up about the ups and downs of working under Vince McMahon during his time rising through the ranks in WWE, revealing moments of personal frustration with the WWE Chairman's leadership style and creative approach.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, the WWE Chief Content Officer looked back on his journey from wrestler to executive, acknowledging the major influence McMahon had on his path. Triple H made it clear that despite any personal differences, he would not be where he is today without McMahon’s guidance.
“I got involved in creative early on,” he recalled, stressing how much of a mentor McMahon was in those earlier stages of his behind-the-scenes career. However, as he transitioned from performer to a creative figure, their differences in philosophy became increasingly clear.
“From when you learn, especially from mentors, you learn what to do and what not to do,” Triple H explained. “There were things that bothered me about the way he did things. Certain things with his personality. He would run things totally different than I would, and we’ve talked about that before. Even when I was running NXT he would be like, ‘Why do you do it like that?’ I’d be like ‘Because it’s working for me.’”
The tension between their methods became more apparent over time, especially as McMahon took a more hands-on approach to controlling WWE’s creative direction. Triple H recalled one particular shift that came as a shock—when performers, including himself and Shawn Michaels, were suddenly handed scripts for their promos after years of creative freedom.
“He was much more controlling, especially as he got older,” he said. “When I first came in, when we started DX, it was funny, we were just doing our own thing. Nobody was scripting anything, we were doing our own thing. Most times we were coming back and he was mad at us and screaming at us, ‘You’re gonna get us thrown off the air, God damn it, don’t do that again.’ We were just like, ‘Whatever,’ and we’d go do it again the following week.”
According to Triple H, this freewheeling, rebellious approach began to pay off in terms of ratings and business. But soon, the creative environment changed dramatically.
“Now all of a sudden we show up to TV one week and they hand us a script, ‘What is this?’ ‘It’s what Vince wants you to say tonight.’ ‘What? He doesn’t tell us what to say.’ Well now he wants to start. We’d go into his office, ‘What is this?’ ‘It’s a script. It’s what I want you to say.’ ‘This is terrible. It’s not funny. It’s not us.’”
Triple H then shared how Shawn Michaels, frustrated by the direction, stood his ground.
“We’re sitting in the meeting, we read it a couple of times, we had the argument with him and he said, ‘That’s what I want you guys to do. Just go do it.’ Shawn crumpled up the piece of paper and said, ‘I ain’t saying any of this sh*t.’ He threw it at Vince and we walked out of the office. I was like, Wow, we’re getting fired.”
While those tensions flared, Triple H recognized that McMahon’s controlling nature stemmed from a desire to protect and shape his product. There were moments where even McMahon’s most trusted lieutenants questioned the direction.
“We would all talk about it and would all be like it would be better if we did this. Even Pat Patterson would come to me, ‘Vince wants to do this thing and it’s so stupid. Let’s do this instead. It would be better, we should talk him into this…’ I’m like, ‘Pat, I talked to him until I was blue in the face. You go talk to him.’”
Despite the creative friction, Triple H emphasized that McMahon did some things exceptionally well, particularly in dealing with talent. Even now, as he oversees WWE’s creative direction following the Endeavor takeover and McMahon’s resignation in early 2024, Triple H acknowledges the legacy left behind.
“I would see how he dealt with talents and there are some things he would do way better than I do and some ways he handled talent where I think I wish I could handle talent that way but it’s not just how I am.”
