In a candid interview with Peter Rosenberg, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H delved into the highly anticipated triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 41, pitting Roman Reigns against CM Punk and Seth Rollins. He provided context on the unique build-up and the strategic storytelling involved.
Regarding the main event clash, Triple H described it as, “This one was a gamble, and was a very calculated gamble on the fact that you have three talents at the top of their game, arguably the peak of their careers, that all have an interaction that is undeniable when you dig into it.” He highlighted the unusual timeframe leading to WrestleMania 41, noting, “This WrestleMania build is slightly weird because there’s an additional two weeks from Rumble to Mania that normally isn’t there, and you had all these other shows, January 6 Netflix premiere, all the weeks of Netflix that were after that Saturday Night’s Main Event and you add in all these other things. So you sort of had to systematically roll things out in little bits and pieces, so it’s a different build.”
Triple H contrasted this with typical WrestleMania builds, stating, “Usually you just, here we go with that, boom, put your foot on the gas, and here we are. Usually two weeks out of WrestleMania, you’re like, I feel like we’re already there, and now you’re trying to figure out how to do sh*t that’s not redundant. Add two more weeks to that now So we had to be judicious with how we do things. So some of this, there are places where you can be like, huh, seems like this took off, and then it leveled out, then it’s going to take off again. That’s a sort of strategic storytelling that in the moment of time you don’t really see or get, and we’ll see if it works.” This explanation sheds light on the deliberate pacing and layered approach to building this marquee match.
The conversation then shifted to the broader topic of WWE’s storytelling and the concept of pivoting storylines based on fan reaction. Triple H addressed the notion of definitive endings at WrestleMania, saying, “Sometimes when you get it to WrestleMania, people think, okay, but that should be the definitive end. So if you’re telling me that story, I want to see this definitive end. Well, maybe we’re just giving you the definitive beginning. Maybe we’re just trying to figure out how to navigate this, to get to WrestleMania to start a story that takes you to places that you haven’t thought of yet.” This suggests that WrestleMania can often serve as a launchpad for new and evolving narratives.
Drawing on advice from the legendary Killer Kowalski, Triple H articulated WWE’s philosophy on storytelling. “One thing that Kowalski said to me at the very beginning is, ‘You work them. They don’t work you. You tell them where it goes. They don’t tell you where it goes. You listen to them. You adjust accordingly. You try to think where they will go emotionally, but at the end of the day, we work them.’ This to me, where it gets fun.”
Finally, Triple H directly addressed the modern wrestling fan’s demand for immediate pivots when storylines aren’t universally praised. “So at the end of the day, you start to do some things, and if it’s not working, you go different directions, or whatever that is, you pivot. Maybe you don’t. That’s the new word on the internet now is pivot. You gotta pivot. ‘We don’t like it. You have to pivot.’ No, we don’t. You don’t know where it’s going. There’s no pivot that needs to happen because we know where it’s going.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit WWE’s YouTube channel with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
