WWE Hall of Famers Triple H and Shawn Michaels addressed social media’s impact on WWE during an interview with Inside the Ropes. The WWE Legends acknowledged how social media has impacted upon not only WWE’s creative process but how fans interact with the product and Superstars.
Triple H spoke about how everybody has an opinion. He pointed to how some characters are positioned to be a heel but end up being cheered. Conversely, they will position someone to be a babyface, only to have a large chunk of the crowd dislike them. He admitted how it’s tougher than it ever has been to create a character that is universally liked or disliked.
He stressed that this isn’t just isolated to pro wrestling, pointing to the music industry as a comparison. Triple H noted how artists will put out an album and how social media will display extreme opinions on both sides.
Using Triple H’s album analogy, Shawn Michaels added how “After you purchase the album we’re good. You know what I mean? Whatever decision you want to come up with after that, knock your socks off.”
Triple H & Shawn Michaels On Encouraging The WWE Universe
Triple H expressed how he loves the passion from the WWE Universe, regardless of whether it’s positive or negative. He called it “funny” how some people believe WWE manipulate crowd noise to try and convince them to cheer or boo a Superstar. It’s something he staunchly denies, adding how “It’s just what’s happening.”
“But they’re so passionate about it, but the fact that, we love the fact that they can express their opinion. We love the fact that they can go out there and say, ‘This is great,’ ‘This isn’t great,’ ‘This guy’s a good guy,’ ‘That person’s a bad guy,’ whatever that is, right, and yet, if they also, if they tell us they dislike something, if we’re smart, we listen to that. Might take a while but we can fix it.”
Michaels added how he believes it’s better to have fan engagement rather than total ambivalence. If nobody had an opinion on what they were doing, that would be the time he’d be concerned. “[…] what’s gonna really suck is the day when nobody cares, when nobody wants a picture, when nobody wants an autograph. So, no matter how much, better to have that ‘hassle’ than no hassle at all, and I think that’s how all of us in this line of work look at it.”
Triple H recently celebrated his 25th anniversary in WWE.
