Triple H says he initially had no idea who Logan Paul was, but he came around when he realized the massive following the latter has.
During an appearance on Paul’s “IMPAULSIVE” show, Triple H was asked to share his response when he first heard Paul would be coming to WWE. He candidly stated that he didn’t know who Paul was, but once he looked into it, he appreciated the social media star’s popularity.
“You want me to be completely honest? Who the f—- is that? [laughs],” said Triple H. “Yeah. ‘Who?’ No offense, but yeah. It’s funny because sometimes people talk about our business and go, ‘I watched a little bit when I was a kid.’ That means I never watched and they don’t wanna offend me or something like that. It’s not for everybody. So when they first said it, Christian walked in and talked all about it and I’m like, I don’t know who that is. No idea. I had no idea, and then they told me, and then I started looking at it, and I was like holy s—-, these dudes are massive, right, and I have kids, and they’re watching all this stuff. Now it’s on your radar so now you start hearing people talk about it, where if I would have heard people talk about it before, I wouldn’t have ever paid attention to it. Now you start paying attention to it, like, ‘This thing is huge, we gotta get with this guy.'”
Triple H went on to describe how plenty of celebrities half-heartedly try to enter the world of WWE, but only a few of them, like Paul and Bad Bunny, truly thrive because they dedicate themselves to the craft. He made it clear that Paul and Bad Bunny have earned his respect, something that, as a passionate veteran, he doesn’t give easily.
“Even then, I could tell you, over the years, a million celebrities have come up to us and said, ‘I wanna be a WWE Superstar. I wanna do it so bad,'” said Triple H. “That all sounds great. First time they hit the mat, they’re like, ‘Yeah so I was thinking maybe I could hemp with commentary or I could do something else because that s— hurts.’ It’s a lot of that. They just don’t get it, but when when they do, it’s a different story. Then there are certain folks that come into it that are just invested in it, and then that’s when I light up. If somebody comes in and they just wanna hook their wagon to it for a minute or they wanna promote a film, that’s exciting. But when somebody comes in like you and goes, ‘Hey, this is awesome, I’d like to be a part of this,’ and then when they come in and they kill, you see that level. To do what you did, it’s like Bad Bunny. Same thing.
“I don’t give this easy because I’ve done this for a long time, put my life on the line for it and seen other people do the same. Respect in our business for what we do is tough to get, and I don’t give it easy. You earned my respect big-time. Bad Bunny earned my respect big-time because to do what you did, you had to dedicate yourself 100%. I don’t even mean just going to the gym for a couple hours and going through the motions and doing the stuff. I mean dedicate yourself to it like you woke up in the morning thinking about it, you went to bed at night thinking about it. That’s the difference to me, and when you can do that, now I wanna help you succeed. I wanna help somebody because I know that that’s like. It’s the greatest gig in the world, and if you can make somebody, help somebody feel that because they have a passion for it and they’re willing to grind, and they’re willing to put in that dedication, take the risk , everything else, yeah, let’s go.”
Paul made his WWE in-ring debut at WrestleMania 38, where he and The Miz defeated Rey and Dominik Mysterio. He later signed with the company in June, and he had his first singles match at SummerSlam on July 30; he defeated The Miz and earned rave reviews for his performance.
Triple H recently took over as WWE’s head of creative after Vince McMahon’s retirement. His comments about the move are available here.
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