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YMMV / Triple H

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  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • While many see Triple H's original run as Hunter Hearst Helmsley as Early-Installment Weirdness, some — most famously Max Landis in his 2015 video essay Wrestling Isn't Wrestling — argue that it remains a core part of his current character. By this reading, Triple H (the character) is still at his core the spoiled rich kid he started as, with his shifts to an audacious rebel, a conniving heel, a paranoid Control Freak and more being rooted in a deep-seated inferiority complex caused by the realization that he isn't the born champion he always thought he was.
      Landis: Triple H is a great character in fiction, told over two decades! A snob who had a chip on his shoulder that he could never let go and just wanted to be the best, but never could be that without cheating, finally selling out to the point that if he can't be the champion, he'll choose the champion.
    • His shocking return to Raw on August 29, 2016, when he betrays Seth Rollins to hand Kevin Owens the Universal Championship. Did he finally grasp the regrettable severity of convincing Rollins to betray ex-Shield members Roman Reigns (whom he also pedigreed that night) and Dean Ambrose? Or was it because due to Finn Bálor's injury resulting in the relinquishment of the WWE Universal Championship, he felt the need to continue former NXT superstars' growing presence in the WWE (considering Owens was formerly part of NXT) or because Rollins laughed at Balor's injury. Or maybe he was finally sick of Stephanie still grooming the entitled, spoiled brat in Rollins. Or maybe we can trace it back to Triple H's active career (see Fridge Brilliance).
  • Audience-Alienating Era: The Reign of Terror. Triple H's career took a hit during the Katie Vick debacle. Then, in 2003, he kept having mediocre to outright bad feuds with the likes of Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and (most infamously) Scott Steiner. This run, right off the heels of his quad tear and when he was most shamelessly hogging the World Heavyweight Championship for himself, is considered the worst of his career. And the less said about his feud with Booker T, the better.
  • Awesome Music:
  • Base-Breaking Character: He is probably THE best example of this in professional wrestling.
    • Depending on whom you ask, he is either a glory hound who's accused of using politics to hold back those he feels are a threat to his position, or one of the greatest wrestlers of this generation or any other who has fully earned the right to abuse politics to his advantage; or if he isn't abusing politics, he's the best wrestler and would be doing his company a disservice by not being on top.

      To elaborate: during 1999 to 2001, Hunter was an astonishing worker and in-ring talent; his 2000 Street Fight with Mick Foley at the Royal Rumble has to be seen to be believed. However, he was never the same after his first quad injury. About the same time, Stephanie McMahon became the chief creative authority for WWE, which was also the point that Trips went from simply being an already over-hyped (though talented) wrestler and champion to a physical god who simply could not be defeated under any circumstances by anyone, no matter how talented or capable. Combined with the widespread (and insider-confirmed) rumors about his backstage obsessions with winning at all times, he's come across as as a viciously self-centered individual. The final issue is that he is clearly responsible for the burial of several wrestlers' careers, sometimes defeating credible opponents in appallingly one-sided squash matchesnote  or in another way that never happened before with said opponent.note  Basically, Trips has actual talent, and he could have been a huge force to elevate others and make wrestling truly great, but he is often just too self-serving to do the industry much good.
      OOC: I find it difficult to distinguish the wrestler and the man. All right? Triple H, I'm blinded with hatred and always have been.
    • He eventually mellowed out some. The next few WrestleManias saw him getting beat by Chris Benoit (via submission), Batista, John Cena (again by submission), and Randy Orton respectively. It'd take him six years to win at WrestleMania again (against Orton). Also, after losing to Batista, Triple H wouldn't win another world title for two and a half years, and when he did win it, it was only for two hours as he lost it the same night. For quite some time now, he has been heavily involved in putting over younger stars. Circa 2014, he put over Daniel Bryan and The Shield in back to back great matches. Even at this WrestleMania, he lost to the emerging company face Roman Reigns. He has been known for going out of his way to put over guys he feel deserves the push such as Batista, Chris Benoit, Shelton Benjamin, Jeff Hardy, etc.
    • A number of people ranging from Bret Hart to Jim Cornette have said that HHH is a good wrestler, but not a great wrestler, and while a solid worker, is not skilled or innovative enough to be headliner material. They also claim that Hunter's talents would be best served as a Jobber To The Stars, but lucky circumstances during the Monday Night Wars and his family connections have pushed him beyond a level he would ordinarily have reached. Then again, it is a tad difficult to take their opinions very seriously.
      • Bret Hart, in particular is often derided for making downright egregious statements regarding anything involving Hunter. For example, he accuses Hunter of going after the bodybuilders and neglecting the good wrestlers, whereas Vince understands their worth. The average wrestling fan knows quite the opposite is true. Vince is a nut for big guys — Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, André the Giant, The Great Khali, etc., whereas Hunter is a strong advocate of great in-ring talents like Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor and so on. Hart criticized the main roster product blaming it on HHH's bad booking (who is known to have minimal creative inputs), whereas simultaneously praising NXT takeover shows, which are booked by — you guessed it, HHH. He repeatedly calls HHH out on his wrestling abilities, famously rating the highly acclaimed Undertaker-HHH bout from Wrestlemania XXVIII a 4/10.
      • Same goes for Jim Cornette, who admits he was so angry at HHH for the MSG Curtain Call incident that he would have fired him on the spot.note  He eventually mellowed out, highly praising HHH for his management of NXT. Cornette has gone on record by stating that he believes that Triple H isn't "The Guy", but rather, that he's the guy who works with "The Guy" who draws the money, reasoning that Triple H's talents are best served as being a hated antagonist to the Austins, Rocks, and Foleys of the wrestling world, rather than attempting to be in their spot. What he does appreciate is Triple H's skill as a booker, especially in comparison to the ever-declining abilities of Vince McMahon.
    • As of late 2010s, he seems to have fully shaken off every bit of heat he may have had from the past. The crowd was fully behind him in the lead up to his match against The Undertaker at Super ShowDown 2018 with chants of "Triple H!", "You still got it!" and "NXT!" and you can even tell that Hunter enjoyed every second of it. Creator Worship, indeed. Having next-to-no TV involvement and all of that hard work put into NXT (whose PPV shows are usually of higher quality and better reception than the main roster ones) surely helped a lot, as has generally standing back and using it to elevate the show's stars rather than himself.
  • Character Perception Evolution: As noted above, before 2002, he was regarded as an excellent talent in the ring. After his injury and the formation of Evolution, he became seen as a sign of everything that was wrong with WWE's product in the 2000s (although he took far more of the blame than others). Upon stepping away from the main event and full time ring competition in the 2010s, as well as real-life respect for his work behind the scenes at NXT, he came to be viewed as a legitimately great villain and the sort of dreaded Final Boss who could really make a feud memorable - able to make newer talent look good by beating him, and remain a credible threat.
  • Creator Worship: Ironically enough, yes. There is a clear discrepancy in how NXT is run in comparison to the main roster shows. A large enough discrepancy that Hunter (and by extension, Stephanie) is ostensibly a face there while playing heel on Raw and SmackDown, as it became gradually obvious that, unlike Vince, they honestly listen to the fans for feedback and are appreciative of the audience. Which is why more and more people are yearning that they stop the whole Authority thing and leave TV and take more direct backstage roles instead ("take over the company", to be exact), as it's obvious that they would do a far better job than Vince at this point, though many admit that doing so wouldn't be all that hard. After Survivor Series 2015, many were outright begging for Hunter to take over. A lot of the above postulated reasons on Hunter's running of NXT is often cited, but when it comes down to it, it all amounts to the fact that he actually gives a damn. Vince's reputation after SS 2015 has fallen far. When the news broke that Vince, with his hands full with the XFL, handed over 205 Live, the Cruiserweight Division's own show, to Triple H, who then basically proceeded to merge it with NXT, the IWC exploded with happiness. And that's to say nothing of what happened in 2022 when, after it looked like Hunter was being frozen out of WWE creative, he instead ended up as the head of creative when Vince retired- WWE fans treated it as a new dawn for the company!
  • Crosses the Line Twice:
    • Triple H did this on a regular basis during the original days of D-Generation X (see Funny Moments).
    • He crossed the line thirty times during the Katie Vick angle.
    • He had two cases on Jan. 24th, 2005 RAW where he sexually harassed Candice Michelle & Stacy Keibler. The former he got behind her & lifted her skirt. She angrily pushed away & called him a creep but Hunter laughed & said she wanted it. He grabbed Stacy & says she should kiss him since she kissed Orton and JR. When she tried to pull away, Hunter said he wasn't asking her, he's telling her -grabbing her hair he pulls her in for a kiss but stops last second & decides on the pedigree.
  • Draco in Leather Pants/Ron the Death Eater: He's both, oddly enough. His consistently high-quality matches and Evil Is Cool persona as a heel have gotten him cheered against faces like Scott Steiner, especially after the "Double-Underhook-what-the-fuck-was-that" and against uber-Face and Base-Breaking Character John Cena, but his reputation for backstage trouble and tendency to bury other wrestlers has gotten him a lot of hate when wrestling as champion. The moral of this story? Wrestling fans are weird.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Thanks to the clear discrepancy in the way Triple H has been running NXT and the way Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn have been running the main roster shows (especially Raw) and pay-per-views, more and more fans (and even a lot of the wrestlers) are now looking forward to seeing him take over from Vince and Kevin Dunn and hoping it happens sooner than later. Yes, it's true. Not only does the online fandom actually like Triple H now, they WANT him to get more power — and even for most of the few that don't it's because they're more scared of Stephanie being his lone superior.
  • Epileptic Trees: In the early 2000’s, Triple H was despised by Smarks, accused of skating by on nepotism and standing on the backs of younger, better talents. Nowadays, questioning Hunter’s brilliance is practically heresy on the internet, and the same people who once dreaded the day he took the reigns are essentially calling for him to oust Vince in a coup. Maybe, just maybe, in the greatest example of long-term booking in WWE history, the McMahons have been deliberately working their fans to view Vince as an inept micromanaging meddler, and Hunter as the creative genius struggling under his control. That way, every misstep gets blamed on Vince, and the fans will welcome the transition of power rather than switching off.
  • Estrogen Brigade: Given how he could be both a Hunk and a Pretty Boy at once, Triple H has always had a substantial following of girls and young women. He arguably had the same such fan base in the late 90s and 2000s that John Cena would be known for in the 2010s. Many a now grown Attitude Era kid have named him as their first wrestling crush.
  • Evil Is Cool: As he came into middle age, his character became better-aged, and his mystique and presence became more fantastical and mythical, fans genuinely started to universally see Triple H as the revered Final Boss of professional wrestling, especially when he was thrown against Roman Reigns during the worst period of Roman's X-Pac Heat. Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, it was around this same time that Hunter the person started to amass his own legion of loyal fans as a result of NXT's rapidly-mounting success.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • One of the first things people use in a Triple H parody is a gigantic fake nose; a fan nickname of his is "The Nose of Noses".
    • Some critics call him "HGH" due to how overly muscular he has seemingly become, which was the result of his rumored steroid use. Also the fact that the quad tears he keeps having are rarely seen outside of heavy steroid use.
    • Not to mention "Triple Haitch", courtesy of William Regal.
    • And "The Nose of Noses" or "The Human Water Sprinkler"; the latter because of his entrance theatrics.
    • Crappers have taken to calling his several World Heavyweight Championship reigns between 2002 and 2005 the "Reign of Terror", or less frequently the "Reign of Terra", as a nod to his first character, Terra Ryzing.
    • His finisher, the Pedigree, is called "the burial" by smart marks for obvious reasons.
    • Trips.
    • Cripple H, for his frequent injuries.
    • (The Golden) Shovel.
    • "Dad", particularly in his Authority role due to how he and Stephanie talk down to everyone else and effectively treat whoever their chosen top guy is as their son to coddle and protect.
    • "God", as a mockery of his King of Kings handle.
    • The man with three H's, coined by "Broken" Matt Hardy.
    • Papa H as a benevolent mastermind behind NXT and later WWE Creative.
  • Foe Yay Shipping: Has it with The Undertaker, most notably, as well as Shawn Michaels when they were feuding from '02-'05 and boatloads of it with Randy Orton in their 2009 feud.
  • Growing the Beard: He started out as a snobbish blue blood who never really got far until he joined Shawn Michaels and formed D-Generation X. And that was when he started growing a peach fuzz. The beard didn't come into place until he started feuding with Mick Foley. It was that feud that cemented his status as The Cerebral Assassin.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • Triple H's comments to CM Punk while the latter was running the Straight Edge Society.
    Triple H: You don't drink, you don't do drugs, you don't smoke...okay, neither do I, but then again, I don't look like I've been on a week-long crack binge with Amy Winehouse.
    • Any old interviews and scenes he had with Chyna seem more harsh, even heartbreaking, when you know how sour their relationship turned, how badly it ended, and that Chyna passed away at 46 in 2016.
    • When his storyline with Stephanie started due to the fact he'd started seeing her behind Chyna's back. There was even a backstage segment where Stephanie is heartbroken and in tears when Triple H gets a hug from Chyna and he goes through great lengths to apologize for hurting her. Again, this triangle was happening in real life with lots of hurt feelings.
    • In Hitman Hart, Wrestling With Shadows, Bret Hart's then-wife Julie calls out Triple H for his role in the Montreal Screwjob, stating that karma will make him pay for what he's done. As things turned out, it could be said that she turned out to be half right: In 2021 he suffered from a cardiac event that forced him to retire from in-ring competition for good and lost power in WWE and control of NXT... only for him to become in charge of the entire company in 2022 when Vince was forced into retirement, and even when Vince engineered a return to the company later down the line and even sold it afterwards, shortly after the new management essentially barred Vince from Creative and kicked him upstairs, meaning that as Head of Creative Triple H is de facto running the company.
    • For his match against Batista at WrestleMania 35, Triple H put his career on the line but managed to defeat him, keeping his career alive while Batista announced his own retirement from wrestling shortly afterwards. As it would turn out, Hunter would only wrestle two more (televised) matches,note  before his cardiac event would eventually force The Game to end his career without a proper retirement match.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight
    • Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were "married" (and later divorced) in a storyline. During this very storyline, Triple H and McMahon actually began dating in real life, and later married and had children. After the "McMahon-Helmsley" storyline, their relationship - on-screen or off - was never mentioned until the "Randy Orton attacks the McMahon family" angle in 2009, which led to the real-life relationship being acknowledged on a few occasions; oddly enough, these moments are usually hilarious, the only references inbetween being when DX reunited in 2006; from Triple H musing the guy who got Steph pregnant must have a bazooka to Shawn accusing him of knowing who the father was to mocking the McMahons with a photo of Vince, Shane, and a photoshop of Stephanie's baby: of course it was a terrible job of Triple H.
    • He began his career as a rich New England blue-blood, Kayfabe of course, now while he's at the height of his career he is a rich New England blue-blood, in Real Life this time. He was born in New Hampshire, is one of the most successful wrestlers ever, and has married into the royalty of Wrestling, the McMahons.
    • When Triple H and Shawn Michaels as D-Generation X parodied Vince and Shane McMahon, Triple H came out wearing a full suit and tie. That was in 2006. In 2011, Triple H is the Kayfabe boss, and suits and ties are exactly what he wears to the ring.
    • Technicalities aside,note  returning from the MSG ban has him starting as a member of D-Generation X and evolving to become a member of The Authority. "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain", indeed...
  • Ho Yay:
    • Hilariously subverts it with Edge and Orton
      "You want to do WHAT to my ass?!".
    • Plays it straight and then some with Shawn Michaels.
      "I'm Bi- a lot of things, but lingual isn't one of them."
  • Love to Hate: Generally as a heel, he can get this reaction (the less said about his 2002-2005 Reign of Terror the better). From insulting the audience to cheating his way out of matches to attacking referees to giving brutal beatdowns to beloved babyfaces, Triple H's villainous acts were bound to keep people glued to the television, feel entertained by his Machiavellian craftiness, become enraged by his heel tactics and arrogance, and ultimately cheer wildly as the good guy would triumph over him.
  • Memetic Mutation:
  • Mis-blamed:
    • He was blamed for the infamous Katie Vick angle; that was created by Vince McMahon, then-Raw head writer Brian Gewirtz, Bruce Prichard, and Michael "P.S." Hayes. Years later, Hunter admitted that he had hated the angle straight from the beginning (it was the only time he had ever questioned Vince about a storyline), but being who he is and Kane being the ever loyal company man, they went through with it anyway.
    • Matthew Randazzo V, author of Ring of Hell, accuses Triple H turning Austin into his lackey during the latter's 2001 Face–Heel Turn, despite that fact that Austin held the WWF Title and Triple H held the Intercontinental Title, and thus, Austin was positioned as the more important/credible member of the Two-Man Power Trip (Ring of Hell was accused of several instances of misblaming, anyway).
    • Triple H also gets this for the event just below, for bringing up Alundra Blayze throwing the WWF Women's title in the trash on Nitro. What involvement he had in arranging the screwjob himself varies from person to person, but it was Shawn who actually came up with the idea.
  • Moral Event Horizon: The whole storyline with HHH getting Stephanie drunk, raping her and marrying her with NO CONSEQUENCES OF ANY KIND due to being such such a disgusting Villain with Good Publicity was so vile, sleazy and low-rent that they never even ran anything like that in Memphis! When something is so low that even Jerry Lawler or Eddie Gilbert wouldn't book it, you know you have reached the absolute depths of wrestling indy sleaze.note  The fact that this also killed Test's career tends to get overlooked.
    • Forcing Mick Foley into retirement.
  • My Real Daddy: Due to his dedication to his NXT talent and the fact that NXT has been booked and run better than the main roster for going on 4 years now, many fans hoped he would, in fact, take over the WWE someday. They got their wish in 2022 when Vince was forced out. Early returns are positive, from reviews to attendance to ratings.
  • Narm: His WrestleMania entrances are always grandiose and dramatic which fits a badass like him, but he still uses the same generic water bottle throughout his entrances to do his signature water spit. His final WrestleMania appearance at 38 still has him carry the same bottle.
  • Narm Charm: Hunter's entrance at WrestleMania XXX had him come out on stage sitting atop an Iron Throne-like chair, surrounded by concubines while wearing a cape and iron cross collar, and a chainmail coif and skull mask that would not look out of place on Shao Khan's head all to the theme of "O Verona". It is so over-the-top and ridiculous, but so fitting for Triple H's character that it still comes off as awesome. (Some people also appreciated the fact that the scantily-clad concubines were actually Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss making Early Bird Cameos.)
  • Never Live It Down:
    • typical Smart Mark responses towards matches or segments involving Triple H, especially the ones he won is either "OMG TRIPLE H BURIES HIS OPPONENT, LULZ!" or "TRIPLE H GOLDEN SHOVEL STRIKES AGAIN!" This is made much worse when he actually lives up to the response, such as when he assaulted the team of Paul London and Brian Kendrick after they'd ran in to make the save for him for no reason. "Why?", you ask? 'Cause he's Triple H! 'Cause he can!
    • Also amongst the Smarks, Katie Vick (see below).
    • A low point for his character was the feud with Booker T, which was full of Triple H using racially-charged language in promos, such as telling Booker that "people like him" shouldn't be world champion, the implication being that he was refering to Booker being Black (when pressed both in- and out-of-storyline, Triple H said that the "people like him" line was refering to Booker being a former criminal in real life, not that it helped any matters). While the segments themselves were fine, the fact that the feud ended with Triple H winning their match at WrestleMania XIX is a sore spot for most of the IWC - and the match itself is even seen as the weakest one on an otherwise very solid card. Most would agree that the only way to redeem the feud would have been for Booker to at least win the title then.
    • Triple H's tendency to bury younger talents in the days of Evolution was so bad that when Shelton Benjamin and Gregory Helms saw that Benjamin's first match on the Raw roster after his move from SmackDown was against Triple H, Helms reportedly turned to Benjamin and told him how to take the Pedigree, and that was all he needed to know about working with Triple H. Ironically, that was the beginning of the multiple upset victories Shelton got over HHH that legitimized him as a singles star.
    • Many fans to this day are angry that Hunter beat Sting at WrestleMania 31 and believe that not only should Sting have won, but that Trips used his political pull to bury Sting as one last "screw you" to the long-dead WCW.note 
  • Older Than They Think: The "Reign of Terror" between 2002-2005 is what most fans point to when they talk about Triple H's backstage politics to get out of jobbing but according to Konnan, Triple H had well been doing this since at least 2001. In Triple H's defense, Konnan only brought it up to compare how mild Triple H was compared to what he had to deal with in WCW with the New World Order.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
    • 2003 was a very bad year for Triple H in terms of fan appeal, although he closed out with a great title defense against Shawn Michaels on Raw that was PPV quality. He then kicked off 2004 with a Last Man Standing match against Shawn Michaels at the Royal Rumble that got a standing ovation. Then WrestleMania of that year saw an excellent triple threat match between him, Shawn, and Chris Benoit and an equally awesome rematch at Backlash. This trilogy of matches (as well as his long period of jobbing to Batista the next year) redeemed Triple H in many fans' eyes. During this period, he also jobbed to IWC darling Shelton Benjamin thrice in a row.
    • Playing a great heel opposite Daniel Bryan leading into WrestleMania XXX, then putting him over like a million bucks on Bryan's way to a memorable title run that night also had a lot of the IWC applauding HHH playing the perfect foil that made the triumph all the sweeter.
    • His management of NXT has managed to get him a lot of followers, especially on NXT, to the point that former detractors (both fans and wrestlers) eagerly await the day Triple H takes over the WWE from Vince, thanks to his old-school NWA-style mindset. Even wrestlers rubbed the wrong way by Triple H such as Rob Van Dam and Paul London have said he became much more tolerable after his semi retirement in the 2010s, to the point they went from "done" with WWE to at least "open" to his offers to return.
    • There are reports that TV tapings headed by him are said to be less stressful than ones ran under Vince. Taking into account Helmsley's affinity for southern-style angles and conceptsnote , and wanting the product to be focused on the workers and not sideshowsnote , many are starting to welcome the idea of Triple H taking over for Vince and being a counter-point for his wifenote , and especially against Kevin Dunn, the brains behind the Diva Search and Katie Vick.note 
    • If his management of NXT is anything to go by (he's basically considered the "real father" of NXT as a developmental ground rather than the fake competition show it used to be) this perception is highly accurate. Even when he's a heel in WWE, he's always cheered when he makes an appearance on NXT.
  • Rooting for the Empire: Triple H can get this reaction. Especially if the opponent in question is the guy audiences hate more than him:
    • He was heavily cheered in his bouts against Scott Steiner, despite playing the dastardly heel and happening during the beginning of the "Reign of Terror."
    • WrestleMania 22 against John Cena is probably the most famous example, with the rabid crowd vocally cheering every Hunter move and booing Cena out of the building accompanied by various non-PG chants.
    • On the February 22, 2016 edition of Raw, Hunter savagely attacked Roman Reigns, smashing his head on the announce table several times, bloodying his nose and giving him a Pedigree on the steel steps. Under normal circumstances, it would reestablish his cred as one of the most hated men in wrestling history. The issue is that the Reigns hate had reached an all-time high due to the conclusion of Fastlane the previous night and the fact that the company kept trying to turn him into Samoan John Cena. note  Hence, instead of acquiring massive heat for Triple H and sympathy for Reigns, the Detroit crowd, down to the women and children, marked the hell out, chanting for him to give Reigns another Pedigree and acting like he was the second coming of the recently retired Daniel Bryan. Hunter working the crowd and basking in their reaction by giving DX crotch chops certainly did not help matters. It took him giving a similar beating to Dean Ambrose, the most popular superstar on the roster with Daniel Bryan's retirement, to get any real heel heat.
    • WrestleMania 32: Triple H and Stephanie do everything they can to get heel heat and in classic WWE fashion they employ all of their worst tactics. They meta tell the audience to go to hell, they pipe in fake boos for H and cut the crowd mics on Reigns' intro as he receives the loudest boo in WWE history. He has a look of disbelief on his face for half the match as he can't believe how much they hate Reigns.

      In spite of a five hour show the crowd has plenty of energy left to boo. The pacing of the match itself was off: if the story leading up to this event was that Triple H and Roman Reigns hate each other, then why would you start the match off engaging in mat wrestling, with multiple hammerlocks and chin locks and the like? They should be trying to kill each other!

      Second, a WrestleMania crowd isn't necessarily the "mark" (re: casual) crowd: these are people who are shelling out a lot of money to watch it all live. Thus, they are passionate about the product and are probably the type of people that care about coherence in plot and execution. Thus, they're smart to the "old" tricks: they cheered when Roman Reigns speared Stephanie McMahon, sure, but it turned back to boos in two seconds because they recognized it as a cheap effort to get them excited. They booed when Roman Reigns kicked out of the Pedigree, because they knew that this was a shallow attempt to advocate how strong Reigns is. And they booed when Reigns hit the spear on Triple H, because they knew that there was no way in hell that HHH was kicking out.

      The outcome is so predictable people start to leave; the shots of Reigns' fireworks outside the arena even showed cars leaving.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic:
    • He comes off as The Woobie after losing clean to Bryan, running a very successful NXT, and trying his best to fill the shoes Vince left behind and still gets pissed on for "burying" talent and marrying his way to the top, even after putting on multiple solid matches as well as taking part in epic feuds with The Rock, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and Chris Jericho during the beloved Attitude Era.
    • He also had this during the build to WrestleMania 32. Watching Hunter's fruitless attempts to get over as a heel and get Reigns over as a face started getting painful towards the end, especially since most were aware that it wasn't so much the performers as it was the booking of the last year and a half that was preventing said attempts from working. People genuinely started pity both Hunter and Reigns for this, though not enough to play along with the company's narrative.
  • The Woobie: He's become this to the IWC in recent years with regards to his role in the WWE, with fans watching him put in sterling work building hot new stars in NXT, only for them to almost universally be called up to the main roster and completely and utterly wasted, buried, and treated like losers. It's like watching a kid get his beautiful, carefully-constructed sandcastle kicked apart by his bullying older brothers, over and over and over again. Then in 2021 he was hospitalised by a congenital heart issue, and in his absence NXT was taken over by Vince and his crew and completely reworked into the almost-unrecognisable (and Gooker-winning) "NXT 2.0". Then came the ESPN interview, where he tearfully announced his retirement from the ring because of said heart issue. At the very least, he managed to take over WWE Creative after Vince's retirement.
  • Win Back the Crowd: Take a look at his public image following the CM Punk tell-all session on Colt Cabana's podcast vs. his public image following NXT TakeOver: R-Evolution, considered to be a collective moment of awesome for WWE NXT. He went from looking just as bad if not worse than his widely-considered-to-be-out-of-touch father-in-law to getting back all the support he'd lost for his coming rise to power and turning it up to eleven. It's worth noting that even his most dedicated haters and critics often admit that they expected him to turn NXT into another way to feed his ego, and have been impressed by his steadfast refusal to get into the ring on that brand and put himself over.
  • X-Pac Heat:
    • H trying to do the Austin walk (a slow walk to get some post-match ovation) after his match with Brock, and getting "YOU TAPPED OUT!" chants in reply.
    • Fans quickly got sick of The Authority when they continued to take up screen time and rarely ever got their comeuppance. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Roman Reigns, who the fans hated, got pops simply by beating the crap out of Hunter (who, it must be said, sold the hell out of it).

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