Triple H Reportedly Tells WWE Performance Center ‘I’m Back’

Last week, Stephanie McMahon returned to WWE as interim WWE Chairwoman and CEO, and it looks like Triple H won’t be too far behind. Triple H could be returning to his previous role as head of WWE NXT per Jon Pollock of POST Wrestling.

“According to multiple sources, Paul Levesque was in Orlando today and spoke at the Performance Center,” tweeted Pollock.

“Of the people I heard from, Levesque stated “he’s back” – it is unknown what that entails but that was the wording I was given.”

Triple H has taken a reduced role within WWE due to a combination of scapegoating and health reasons. In an interview with Stephen A. Smith earlier this year, he vowed to never wrestle again due to struggles with near-fatal heart complications.

As the above-mentioned tweet indicated, it’s unknown in what capacity Triple H is back, however if he specifically shared this information with the WWE Performance Center, it’s likely this means a return to NXT where Triple H led the brand—and his own brand within the company—to a meteoric rise and a violent collapse after NXT was soundly defeated by AEW Dynamite in the short-lived Wednesday Night Wars.

The Wednesday Night Wars officially began in October of 2019 after a two-week head start by NXT. NXT viewership dropped from just under 800,000 viewers at the beginning of 2019 to 664,000 average viewers from January 2021 through its final Wednesday show on April 7, 2021.

Fair or not, Triple H shouldered the blame following WWE’s public humiliation at the hands of AEW. The Game has since been replaced by WWE mainstays Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard, with Shawn Michaels handling day-to-day duties. But even after being re-branded NXT 2.0, with the product moving away from the independent wrestling zeitgeist and more toward WWE’s main roster philosophy, viewership has continued to tumble. In 2022, NXT 2.0 has averaged 593,958 viewers. Despite its attempt to attract a younger audience—with the PG-13 sex appeal of acts like Toxic Attraction—the median age of NXT is around 62 years old.

NXT viewership has declined over 25% in the last three years.

WWE NXT Viewership: 2019 to 2022

• 2019 NXT Viewership: 795,698
• 2020 NXT Viewership: 698,623
• 2021 NXT Viewership: 665,807
• 2022 NXT Viewership: 593,958

News of Triple H’s possible return is music to the ears of many fans from the Black and Gold era of NXT. But even if he does return to his role as NXT’s beloved godfather, it’s likely he’ll be doing so with WWE’s main roster vision still intact. Last week, Triple H appeared alongside WWE NIL recruits at an NIL summit.

“WWE has been around for over 50 years,” Triple H said. “We create iconic characters that last for generations. That’s why I can be introduced by a grown man that says he was a big fan of me when he was eight years old. Goes fast people, trust me,” Triple H joked as he addressed the new recruits.

The NIL program appears to be Triple H’s new pet project, as he has fielded questions about WWE’s polarizing change in direction with fewer undersized, interchangeable and at-times bland independent wrestling prototypes and more super athletes.

“We immediately saw it as an amazing recruiting tool for us because it allows us to show athletes a path to WWE, and engage with them in a way where they can learn more about it, we can learn more about them, all while working together, and finding out if it’s a good fit before they’re even finished college, and before they need to make any decisions about what they’re going to do in that next stage of their life,” said Triple H in an interview with Jeff Best of Fast Company (h/t Wrestling Inc).

“In my generation, and even more recently, you sort of had to know someone. We’ve put a lot of effort into recruiting athletes and finding athletes to let them know WWE is a potentially lucrative opportunity for them if they’re interested and passionate about it.”

Regardless of what direction NXT is heading, Triple H re-assuming his role atop NXT is a welcomed change as NXT 2.0 viewership continues to trend in the wrong direction.