Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the newly appointed WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, is reportedly making his way to tonight’s SmackDown tapings at the TD Garden in Boston.
As PWMania.com previously reported, WWE announced today that The Game is returning to his executive job as Executive Vice President of Talent Relations after taking some time off last autumn due to a cardiac event. Prior to assuming that position, he served as WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative for a while. Most recently, he held the position of WWE’s Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development. The news comes after Senior Vice President and RAW/SmackDown Executive Director Bruce Prichard was appointed Interim Senior Vice President of Talent Relations a few weeks ago while the WWE Board of Directors were looking into allegations of misconduct against WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon and WWE Board of Directors investigating Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis.
According to an update from Fightful Select, Triple H, WWE President & Chief Financial Officer Nick Khan, and Interim WWE Chairwoman & CEO Stephanie McMahon were scheduled to fly to Boston for tonight’s SmackDown. No specific reason has yet been given for their presence, although executives frequently hold talent meetings when there are significant changes inside the company, like today’s Triple H announcement, so one with the roster is probably scheduled for tonight.
As we previously stated, the Triple H announcement today suggests that Laurinaitis might leave the company and that Prichard is finished serving as Interim Senior Vice President of Talent Relations. According to Fightful Select, Prichard is no longer doing the interim Talent Relations tasks and will keep up with his other responsibilities.
Although having one individual fill both roles raised some questions among the talent, Prichard’s performance in both roles has been praised for its smoothness.
Sources say that they get along well with Triple H and that one top talent wasn’t sure why Triple H had ever been removed in the first place. Another source says that he’ll probably need to adapt to the new vision of talent hiring, as opposed to his vision that became clear during the WWE NXT black & gold era.
Another veteran performer allegedly expressed their happiness for the change, saying that Triple H is friendly, responds to them, knows what they’re going through, and doesn’t give them the “we’ll see” response.
Since Triple H has not been in charge of NXT for some time, the brand’s original goal has undergone significant alteration. WWE Vice President of Talent Development Shawn Michaels now oversees the brand. According to recent reports, NXT creative will not be immediately impacted by today’s announcement, even if Triple H will resume hiring and recruiting talent.
“I look forward to returning to my prior position as head of Talent Relations. I’m healthy, fired up, and ready to take charge,” Triple H said in a press release issued to us today.
Triple H made his official retirement from in-ring competition known back in March while still healing from the potentially fatal health scare he experienced last fall. He said farewell in style at WrestleMania 38. He has recently resumed a portion of his workload and has appeared frequently for the company, but he is now back to working full-time. In June, Triple H addressed the roster at the WWE Performance Center to announce his return, stating that he was there for business reasons that he could not elaborate on. He’s now “officially” returned.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
