New WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations Paul “Triple H” Levesque is reportedly headed to tonight’s SmackDown tapings at the TD Garden in Boston.
As noted, WWE announced today that after taking some time off last fall due to a cardiac event, The Game is resuming his executive position as Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. He most recently held the title of WWE’s Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development, but before taking on that title, he worked as WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative a few years back. The announcement comes after Senior Vice President and RAW/SmackDown Executive Director Bruce Prichard was named the Interim Senior Vice President of Talent Relations a few weeks back due to the WWE Board of Directors investigating Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis over allegations of misconduct, along with WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon.
In an update, a new report from Fightful Select notes that Triple H, WWE President & Chief Financial Officer Nick Khan, and Interim WWE Chairwoman & CEO Stephanie McMahon were set to travel to Boston for tonight’s SmackDown. There’s no word yet on exactly why they will be there, but often when there are major shifts in the company like today’s Triple H announcement, officials hold a talent meeting, so a meeting with the roster is likely for tonight.
We mentioned earlier how today’s Triple H announcement indicates that Prichard is done with his role as Interim Senior Vice President of Talent Relations, and that Laurinaitis may be done with the company. The new report from Fightful Select confirms that Prichard is no longer working the interim Talent Relations role, and will continue with his other duties.
There were some concerns among talent over having one person work both of those roles, but there’s been no talk about things going anyway but smooth while Prichard worked both roles.
Regarding early internal reactions on Triple H’s new role, sources indicate that they get along well with Triple H and one top talent said they weren’t sure why Triple H was ever removed to begin with, with another adding that he’ll likely need to adapt to what the new vision of talent hiring is, as opposed to his vision that became clear during the WWE NXT black & gold era.
Another longtime talent reportedly said they’re happy for the move as Triple H is approachable, and he gets back to talent, understands what they’re going through, and doesn’t give them the “we’ll see” answers.
Triple H has not been in charge of NXT for a while now, and the vision of the brand was changed heavily from what he originally implemented. WWE Vice President of Talent Development Shawn Michaels currently oversees the brand, and word now is that while Triple H will be hiring and recruiting talent again, NXT creative will not be directly affected by today’s announcement.
“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.
While recovering from the life-threatening health scare from last fall, Triple H announced his official retirement from in-ring competition back in March, and had a formal goodbye at WrestleMania 38. He recently resumed some of his workload and has made a few appearances for the company, but now he is back to full-time work. Triple H spoke to the roster at the WWE Performance Center in June to tell them that he was “back,” noting that he was there for business reasons that he could not elaborate on. Now he’s “back” officially.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
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