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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
Details on Triple H Meeting with Talent Before Raw
On his first day as head of WWE creative, Triple H reportedly held a positive meeting with talent.
According to Fightful Select (h/t WrestlingInc’s Robert Gunier), the meeting occurred before Monday night’s episode of Raw at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was said to have gone “really well.”
Triple H reportedly expressed his hope that there will be an open line of communication between the talent, himself and other people in positions of power, which is something that may not have always been the case when Vince McMahon was in charge.
Also, Triple H reportedly told the wrestlers he wants “work to be fun.”
On Monday morning, WWE announced Triple H had taken over as head of creative in addition to his role as vice president of talent relations.
Last week, longtime WWE CEO, chairman and head of creative Vince McMahon announced his retirement at the age of 76 amid an investigation into him paying out millions of dollars to form female employees in exchange for their silence on alleged sexual relationships and misconduct.
When McMahon stepped down, he was initially assumed that one of his closest confidants, Bruce Prichard, would take over as the head of creative.
While Prichard remains in the fold, it is Triple H who will be the main filterer of ideas, which is a role McMahon had held since purchasing the company from his father in 1982.
Triple H is undoubtedly fit for the job, as he was essentially the McMahon of NXT from 2012-2021, giving him plenty of experience and perspective.
Many fans have longed for the day that Triple H would take over as WWE’s main booker, and now, he will get the chance to prove that he can consistently produce good shows on the main roster.
Bischoff Talks McMahon’s Retirement
WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff commented this week on Vince McMahon’s decision to retire as WWE’s CEO, chairman and head of creative.
Speaking on his 83 weeks podcast (h/t WrestlingInc’s Dominic DeAngelo), Bischoff discussed the surreal nature of McMahon’s retirement and the fact that it took him by surprise:
“It was shocking. I’m still processing it. It’s still hard for me to believe. I woke up this morning, and I saw an image on my social media, and it was a picture of WWE headquarters in Stamford. I thought, can you imagine what it’s like walking into that building knowing you won’t see Vince McMahon there ever again?
“It would be weird to walk down those halls and not anticipate his presence. It would be really weird. I try to place myself in the shoes of like Bruce [Prichard], our buddy, and a lot of other people that I know that I’m very familiar with and close to. Gonna be a weird day for them come Monday morning, man. Really weird.”
Bischoff has a unique perspective on McMahon in that he both opposed him and worked for him over the years.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, Bischoff was president of WCW and went head-to-head with WWE’s Monday Night Raw with the advent of Monday Nitro. Bischoff’s Nitro even beat McMahon’s Raw in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks at one point.
McMahon ultimately won the Monday Night War and purchased WCW, which led to Bischoff eventually signing with WWE as an on-screen character in the 2000s.
More recently, Bischoff had a brief stint as creative director of SmackDown in late 2019 and early 2020.
While Bischoff and McMahon were once bitter enemies, Bischoff has seemingly gained a great deal of respect for Vince over the years.
McMahon built WWE into a global juggernaut, but now, he leaves it in the hands of his daughter Stephanie McMahon, who is chairwoman and co-CEO along with WWE President Nick Khan.
Mysterio Discusses Retirement
Prior to celebrating his 20-year anniversary with WWE on Monday night’s episode of Raw, Rey Mysterio discussed his retirement plans with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport.
During the interview (h/t Joshua Jones of Ringside News), Mysterio disclosed that while he has long intended to retire at 50, it isn’t necessarily a sure thing if he is still in good health by that point:
“It’s funny because they don’t prep you up now like they do for NFL players. For wrestling, I’ve always heard from others that they just go until they can’t anymore. There’s really no start and end date. You just run through it until you can’t or until you step away to do something else.
“For me, now that I’m getting closer to my fifties and I see my son wrestling, I tell myself that I wanna go three more years and I don’t wanna go past 50. But then I remind myself, what if I feel good? Can you still go another year? As of right now, my date has always been to not go over 50.”
Mysterio has seemingly been invigorated by the progression of his son, Dominik, into a WWE Superstar over the past few years.
Rey and Dominik became the first father-son duo to ever hold tag team championships in WWE, and they continued to team up on the Raw brand.
They are currently in the midst of a feud with The Judgment Day, and on Monday’s Raw, Rey and Dominik defeated Judgment Day members Damian Priest and Finn Balor in a tag team match.
The Judgment Day spoiled the celebration, though, as Rhea Ripley got physical with Mysterio’s daughter, Aalyah, and lured Rey and Dominik into an attack at the hands of Priest and Balor.
As a result, The Mysterios will take on The Judgment Day in a no-disqualification tag team match at SummerSlam on Saturday.
Rey continues to perform at a high level and receives hugely positive reactions from the crowd, and with Dominik seemingly in it for the long haul, there is no telling how much longer Rey might be willing to lace up his boots.