Triple H says he knew the business was changing even back in 1996.
The Game recently spoke to Greg & The Morning Buzz. He talked about things such as Raw moving to Netflix, his booking philosophy and more.
When the topic of the infamous Curtain Call was brought up, the Chief Content Officer claimed that even then he could see that the business was moving towards a more reality-based programming and he told as much to Vince McMahon:
“When all that went down and I took the brunt of the heat for it, because I was the only one that could. Kevin and Scott were leaving. Shawn was World champ. What were they going to do to him, right? So I took the heat. No problem.
But as I was leaving Vince’s office, after a thorough ass [whooping]. As I was walking out, I looked back at him. I said, let me ask you this, Vince. I said, ‘If this is so wrong, lifting that curtain is so wrong, why was it the loudest thing at Madison Square Garden that night?’ It was sold out. The biggest reaction by far was that.
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That Was The Truth: Triple H
The infamous moment took place back in May 19, 1996, during a Madison Square Garden taping. Both Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were on their way out of WWE to join WCW. After the main event of the show, both Hall and Nash shared a group hug with fellow Kliq members Shawn Michaels and Triple H to end the night.
This was seen as highly unusual as HBK and Hall were babyfaces at the time. Triple H and Nash on the other hand were heels and the top brass were not happy with them breaking character so publicly.
With the eventual rise of the internet and social media, Triple H proved to be right in his assumptions about the business. Though it didn’t stop Vince McMahon from punishing him at the time:
“The business is changing. It’s passing people by and they’re not seeing it yet. He said, ‘You might be right, but that doesn’t change where we are right now. So the punishment is what it is.’ [laughs] But that was the truth. The business was changing, right?
You go fast forward years from there, the internet comes in. Everybody knows what we do. They know the real stuff. They know who’s married to who, they know who’s in relationship, or at least they think they do right. Half the stuff in the internet is wrong, but it’s all out there, and they know how this works.”
The Game then discussed how things have changed completely now and people are as intrigued by content that shows how they build the storylines as they are by the storylines themself. He named the most recent WrestleMania 40 documentary as an example.