One Count Kickout – Game Changer

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Sometimes art imitates life, and other times, inspires it.  This past Monday while WWE was knee deep in their process to insult the intelligence of it’s audience by pretending for five seconds, let alone the entire two hours of the show, that John Cena would get fired, we heard that familiar song and witnessed the return of “The Game” Triple H.  Of course this wasn’t the return that many expected.  There was no sledgehammer in hand, leather jacket, wet hair and angry scowl leading to a battle against someone.  No fast action, no violence, no rage.  One could even argue no “game” as this was not Triple H that came walking to the ring but Paul Levesque.

The King of Kings, the man we haven’t seen since Wrestlemania and his classic match against the Undertaker, the one so many people believed could come back to step back into the ring and lead through example returned for one reason only; regicide.  Triple H came back, under authorization of the “board of directors” to overthrow Vince McMahon and to assume control of WWE.  Obviously Vince is still in control, and this may only result in ultimately being the end of his television character, it will still be an interesting experiment.  Despite the fact that Triple H is close to Vince and obviously looks up to him and respects him it is common knowledge that these two men have different views on the future and creative direction of WWE.  One has to wonder if Triple H will be tighter about creative now since it will be directly affecting him.  It seems unlikely that he’d be willing to return as an onscreen persona if he thought they were going to have him perpetuating some of the incredibly stupid storylines we’ve seen in the past two years.

WWE is teetering at the moment.  The CM Punk storyline and Money in the Bank results led them up the side of the mountain and now that they’re standing at the peak it could go either way.  Obviously there is a certain fear that WWE will blow this and lose momentum, a lot of twitter was alive this past Monday with complaints about the mediocrity of the show though it seems improbable to believe any Raw short of triple threat match between Rock, Austin and Punk could have surpassed the fantastic show which was Money in the Bank.  Either way, Triple H has now entered the picture which could either be seen as very intelligent planning or a desperate attempt to keep the fans interested in this storyline now that Punk is gone.  That idea is only supported by the fact that Punk was at Comic-Con stirring it up with the Game and his panel.  Is this ultimately leading to Triple H vs CM Punk?  Hopefully, if that is the case, it is a long time away.

Triple H hasn’t been a dominant name in WWE for quite some time.  Even if you take his return match against the Undertaker into consideration it has been a while since he was in the ring regularly playing out the storylines.  His return seems more promo than action, although there is certainly a possibility that with Triple H as the new “Mr. McMahon” we’ll get to see him step into the ring and mix it up where Vince McMahon himself wasn’t really capable of it.  I mean, let’s face it, has Vince ever put on a match that anyone though was well wrestled?  The return of Triple H does bring up a fascinating question:  will this spell the end of the anonymous GM or will Triple H co-exist with this force?  Only time can tell.

Triple H’s return leaves us with several questions that could lead to some interesting events in the future of WWE.  What comes to my mind immediately is how long will Triple H resist the urge to bring in some friends?  One already knows he is in communication with X-Pac and that Kevin Nash is on a legends contract.  It seems only logical to assume you’ll see one or both of them coming walking out onto Raw at some point in the future even if only for a one-off or two.  Then again, Triple H’s best friend is Shawn Michaels so there is always a possibility we’d see him popping up from time to time though that seems less probable.  Will Triple H step back into the ring on a regular schedule or will his matches now be special attractions, will we see Triple H take on CM Punk and will we see Triple H interacting with The Rock when he begins popping up to promote Wrestlemania?

Will this succeed, and if so, could it be viewed as a dry run to see if Triple H can handle things when McMahon really does retire and also, does Triple H have control backstage or is he only an influence?  The final question this raises which I’ve seen a lot of discussion and interest in:  Does the return of Triple H lead to the return of Stephanie McMahon?  And if so, will her return be as the loving wife or the jealous, power hungry wannabe owner of the company?  No matter what happens, this is absolutely a game changer.