John “Bradshaw” Layfield addressed the recent online speculation surrounding perceived tension between WWE executives Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Paul “Triple H” Levesque on the “Something To Wrestle With” podcast. Referencing Triple H’s lengthy Hall of Fame speech omitting The Rock and Rock’s subsequent interview comments omitting Triple H when discussing creative, JBL acknowledged one possibility is real-world friction. “Obviously you’ve got two huge alpha males that could be posturing for position,” JBL conceded. “I think that certainly is reasonable, and it happens in every corporate boardroom in the world… I have no idea if that’s what’s happening.”
However, JBL leaned more towards host Conrad Thompson’s theory that the omissions and public statements might be part of an elaborate storyline, a “worked shoot.” “When it’s the easiest time to work people is when you’re shooting with them, because also they feel like… you’re letting them on the inside,” JBL explained, drawing on his decades of experience. “Then you say something that just like, ‘Hey, man, we got the inside. They really don’t like each other,’ and all of a sudden this is going to end up in this corporate war that culminates it maybe at Survivor Series or something.” He added, “If it is [a work], it’s magnificently done.”
Regardless of whether the tension is real or scripted, JBL offered effusive praise for Triple H’s current leadership role in WWE creative, comparing his ability to process information and make decisions favorably to Vince McMahon’s. “I have been blown away by Hunter,” JBL stated. “Vince would just change gears and compartmentalize. It’s really… a rare trait, and Hunter has that… I see Hunter almost do the same thing and come up with an answer that’s just better than what you… it gives you the answer that you wish you had come up with… That’s how good I think Hunter is. I don’t know who in the world could do what he’s done in WWE the last couple years.”
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