During a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross spoke on Triple H having backstage heat in 2008 over some of his actions surrounding Chris Jericho and Booker T. Here’s what he had to say:
He’s a human being, and I’m sure he made some statements he wished he could retract. He was very outspoken. He wasn’t the only one outspoken, but his voice seemed to cut through the clutter more than a lot of people. The Booker T thing – losing a talent like Booker was not good, he’s a quality guy. He can make everybody he worked with better. He’s colorful, exciting, charismatic, and he could wrestle. The Jericho thing I think – Jericho had a load of charisma naturally that Hunter may not have had at that point in time, and the fact that Jericho was under six-foot tall. It’s petty bullshit. You can look at it any way you want to look at it.
He probably meant what he said. You think a guy was confident in his work ability that he would want great talents surrounding him because they have the ability to make [Hunter] or anyone else look better. I don’t know – people’s age, their maturity, their professional lot in life – all those things come into play. Sometimes it breaks out the blemishes in somebody’s personality. At that point in time, if all these things that Bryan Alvarez is reporting – I’ve got no reason to think Bryan is bullshitting – is probably indicative of Hunter’s attitude at that point in time and maturity and how you handle being a top guy. He’s obviously better at that now than he was then because he’s managing a lot of top talents and doing a good job. It was regrettable, especially when you talk about two guys like Booker T and Jericho. You really make yourself look bad by inferring that they don’t belong for whatever reason.
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Credit: Grilling JR. H/T 411Mania.