Triple H made plenty of headlines during WrestleMania 41 week, but one particular comment sparked a lot of discussion. In an interview with Peter Rosenberg, he said, “This will sound defensive. I wish I could tell people ‘f— off’ being a critic. Be a fan. Go watch this and be a fan.”
Naturally, fans and critics alike had strong reactions to his words.
Addressing the controversy on today’s edition of “The Pat McAfee Show,” Triple H offered some clarification. He said,
“If I tell you I saw a movie and thought it was great, and you should go see it — you just go see it as a fan. Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t. But if I tell you to go watch that movie and give me a report on what worked and what didn’t, you’re going to watch it differently. That’s my point.”
He continued, “At some point, you loved this. You were a fan first. But then maybe you got asked to be a critic or chose to be one, and now you’re hypercritical. To me, that ruins the experience. I don’t want to watch something just to pick it apart — I want to enjoy it. That’s how I feel about wrestling too. People are going to criticize, and that’s fine. But I don’t put much stock into what’s said online unless it aligns with what we’re seeing in real life. When Jey Uso won the Rumble, there were plenty of opinions online. But in the arena — 15,000 people, sold out, losing their minds when he came out — that’s who we’re listening to. Every night, we have a live focus group of passionate fans. Not critics. Just fans. And that means more than a handful of voices online. At the end of the day, people are allowed to like or dislike whatever they want. Opinions are opinions. But you can’t base decisions on the opinions of a few when the majority feels something else. When the majority shifts — that’s when you pay attention.”
The excitement around an international WrestleMania continues to grow, and WWE appears more open to the idea than ever before. Despite the complexities involved, Triple H says they’re ready to tackle them.
While speaking to The Daily Mail, the WWE CCO stated, “WrestleMania is our Super Bowl, so taking it to another country is no small task. People don’t always see the behind-the-scenes work that goes into it. Even hosting it in Las Vegas requires weeks of preparation, with teams on the ground long before the event. Now imagine that on a global scale—the logistics get even more intense. But that’s part of the challenge, and we’re absolutely up for it.”
The WrestleMania 41 Kickoff Special will be taking place from Las Vegas, NV at 5:00 PM EST. You can check out the livestream for the event below:
(h/t – Fightful)
