Triple H

Baron Corbin provided some insight into the philosophy of WWE head of creative Triple H during a recent interview.

Appearing on the Johnny Dare Morning Show last week (h/t Shivangini Rawat of Ringside News), Corbin expressed his belief that Triple H goes to great lengths to ensure that everyone who is on TV is utilized properly:

"That's one thing I love about Triple H, he's a firm believer in, 'It's a marathon, not a race [sprint].' He likes to slow play things, and he doesn't just waste people.

"If you don't have something that is a big-time play or move on television, he's like, 'Then you don't need to be out there because it's not good to just be out there.' You want to have a purpose every time you go on television."

Triple H was elevated to the roles of WWE head of creative and executive vice president of talent relations after Vince McMahon retired in July after it was revealed he paid multiple women in exchange for confidentiality over allegations of infidelity and harassment.

Raw, SmackDown and premium live events have had a decidedly different feel under The Game, with Corbin expressing his belief that he has brought "new energy" and "new life" to the product.

Corbin also compared Triple H's creative vision to that of McMahon, noting that McMahon is "go, go, go," whereas Triple H prefers to let things breathe.

While Corbin praised McMahon for being a "machine," he also said it is "nice to step back" and spend time with family when not needed for a show.

Since Triple H took over as head of creative, Corbin has been repackaged, leaving behind the Happy Corbin gimmick. Now, he is a member of the Raw brand with WWE Hall of Famer JBL as his manager and mouthpiece.

It remains to be seen how far the new character will take Corbin, but he has been a fixture in Raw's midcard and has enjoyed a great deal of success with televised wins over Johnny Gargano, Dolph Ziggler, Akira Tozawa and Cedric Alexander.

Corbin has wrestled only one televised match since the Nov. 21 episode of Raw, which perhaps speaks to Triple H's philosophy of not forcing someone into a spot if there isn't a logical reason to do so.

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Triple H Was 'Very Unhappy' with William Regal's WWE Release

The current worst-kept secret in wrestling is that William Regal will soon be headed back to WWE.

Regal was written off AEW programming during last Wednesday's Dynamite when he was attacked from behind by MJF. That came a week after Jon Moxley told his former mentor to leave and never come back.

What we're saying is Regal's exit wasn't exactly subtle.

Fightful Select confirmed rumors of Regal's exit and his impending return to WWE. The writing was seemingly on the wall since the moment Triple H took over creative from Vince McMahon, given the close personal friendship between The Game and Regal.

Fightful reported Triple H was "very unhappy" with Regal's sudden release this year. Many in WWE felt Regal was a "lifer" for the NXT brand, a sentiment echoed consistently by Triple H.

It's expected that Regal will rejoin WWE officially in a backstage role.

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Triple H Was Not a Fan of 24/7 Championship

In case the "retiring the belt by having Nikki Cross throw it in the trash" incident wasn't enough of a hint, apparently Triple H was never too fond of the 24/7 Championship.

Fightful Select reported WWE's chief content officer never mentioned the title during creative meetings.

"The WWE 24/7 championship wasn’t just put on the back burner; it was taken off the stove altogether," the Fightful report read.

Dana Brooke defended the championship regularly on house shows, but the belt was almost completely absent from television from the moment Triple H took the reins from McMahon. There were even several title changes at house shows that were never acknowledged as canon.

Brooke dropped the 24/7 Championship to Cross during the Nov. 7 edition of Raw. Cross then immediately threw the belt in—OK, well, near—the garbage in a backstage segment.

WWE lists the 24/7 championship as being retired, and it hasn't been missed in the slightest since its departure. While there were occasional fun moments, the 24/7 title had long outlived its usefulness.

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Sami Zayn Talks Bloodline Story Origins

Sami Zayn is the best thing in professional wrestling right now. Full stop. There is no debate. Everything he says and does turns to instant gold, and his inclusion into The Bloodline infused life into a storyline that was arguably getting a little repetitive.

Speaking on the Cheap Heat podcast, Zayn went into detail on how a backstage kinship with The Usos and Roman Reigns helped carry over on to the screen.

"It’s a story we’ve told for six months, but Jimmy really is a laid-back dude," Zayn said. "The relationship that we had on screen is very, very similar to the relationship we have backstage. So there was a funny thing that I just saw, where it was a video from, I think, 2019 or 2020, of us doing the handshake because that’s our real-life handshake.

"Then I saw these people like, ‘Oh, this isn’t just something they did for the story. This isn’t just something they’re doing for TV. This is their actual greeting that they do in the locker room.’ The Usos have cool handshakes with a lot of people. They’re the coolest, most universally adored people, and everyone has a rapport with them."

Zayn also said the idea of him working with The Bloodline actually came about more than a year ago but didn't actually make it on screen for about six months after.

We're all anticipating this storyline coming crashing down at some point, but it's been by far the best thing about wrestling.

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The WWE draft could be making a comeback after WrestleMania.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio said the company previously had plans to hold a draft in October, but that was pushed back.

"There’s been some talk of waiting until after WrestleMania to do it," Melzer said. "There was talk at one point for October, but I guess they didn’t do it. There was a date that was talked about at one point, but they just didn’t pull the trigger on it."

WWE last held a draft in October 2021. A draft was held in October 2019, 2020 and 2021 to coincide with the beginning of new "seasons" for Raw and SmackDown.

You would be forgiven if you forgot there was even a reason to have a draft, given the consistent overlap between Raw and SmackDown. Meltzer previously reported Fox and USA want exclusivity over their rosters despite the brand split having a glaring strain at times on the product.

WWE's answer to the problem during the Triple H era has seemingly been to keep midcarders to their respective programs while having main-event talent move back and forth between Raw and SmackDown whenever they see fit. The Bloodline carrying unified championships has also made it easier to have an "excuse" for Roman Reigns and The Usos to make appearances on Raw.

WWE's brand split began during a time when the roster was bloated as a way to make the programs feel fresh and different. With this roster being leaner than three or four years ago and the constant overlap between the shows, the draft concept carries less excitement.

Perhaps slotting it after WrestleMania—the true end of the WWE "season"—will invigorate some life into the draft.

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After taking in WWE SmackDown live in Indianapolis on Friday night, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton expressed his desire to step inside the squared circle one day.

In an interview with WWE's Kayla Braxton, Haliburton divulged that he had a discussion with WWE head of creative Triple H about possibly wrestling one day (beginning at the 1:20 mark):

"I told Triple H I just need one bump, just one bump," Haliburton said. "I don't know when it's gonna be, but maybe it's far away from now, but just one. That's all I need."

WWE has a rich history of celebrities and athletes from other sports getting inside the ring, and many of them have been successful.

Legendary New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor competed in the main event of WrestleMania 11, Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal wrestled on a couple of occasions, and many stars from combat sports have had matches in WWE as well.

At this year's WrestleMania 38, social media megastar Logan Paul and Jackass star Johnny Knoxville both had matches, and Paul subsequently signed a contract with WWE and had a remarkable match against undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel last weekend.

All of that suggests the door could be open for Haliburton at some point, and he would likely be put in a position to succeed as well.

The 22-year-old Haliburton was the No. 12 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings, and he was traded to the Pacers last season.

Haliburton is off to a hot start this season with averages of 21.6 points, 9.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 three-pointers made and 1.8 steals per game, and he may be trending toward his first career All-Star nod.

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Reported Inspiration Behind Wyatt's Uncle Howdy

The unique and strange Uncle Howdy character that has been involved with Bray Wyatt since his WWE return at Extreme Rules last month, was reportedly inspired by a 1982 movie.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Talha Asad Iqbal of Ringside News), the Uncle Howdy mask is based on the character Captain Howdy, who was played by Richard Kiel in the 1982 film Hysterical.

Kiel was a well-known character actor due to his enormous size at 7'2", and he is perhaps best remembered for appearances in the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me, as well as the Adam Sandler film Happy Gilmore.

The face of the Captain Howdy character is extremely similar to the Uncle Howdy mask, although it is unclear if there is some deeper meaning to the connection than that.

Wyatt has cut multiple promos since his WWE return, but he has been interrupted by Uncle Howdy on a couple of occasions.

Uncle Howdy has been mysterious to this point, leaving fans to wonder if it is simply one of Wyatt's alter egos like The Fiend once was, or if the character is actually being played by another wrestler.

Wyatt was shockingly released by WWE last year amid budget cuts despite being a three-time world champion and one of the promotion's most popular stars.

His return has been well received, and he has consistently received huge reactions from the crowd, which suggests his Uncle Howdy storyline will continue to be a main focus on SmackDown.

WWE Reportedly Getting Rid of Themed Premium Live Events

WWE head of creative Triple H is reportedly looking to put even more of a stamp on the product moving forward by lessening and perhaps even eliminating themed premium live events.

According to Meltzer (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), sources have said there will be fewer themed premium live events, with Hell in a Cell being used as the primary example.

While Hell in a Cell has been its own event since 2009, Triple H is reportedly planning to eliminate it so he can use the Hell in a Cell match type when a feud calls for it rather than forcing it onto a specific card.

No specifics were provided aside from Hell in a Cell, but the new philosophy leaves fans to speculate whether events like Money in the Bank, Extreme Rules and Elimination Chamber could be in jeopardy as well.

It seems likely that WWE's "Big Four" events of WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series are safe, but anything beyond that is in question.

Triple H did make a move to add different branding to Survivor Series, as the show later this month will be known as Survivor Series: WarGames, and will feature two WarGames matches, marking the first time WarGames has been contested on the main roster.

Themed premium live events have had their place and created some great moments over the years, but lessening them and allowing more creative freedom for top rivalries over the course of a year could be a great thing for WWE programming as a whole.

Breeze Says He's Retired from In-Ring Competition

AEW star Shawn Spears said this week that former WWE Superstar Tyler Breeze has told him he is retired from in-ring competition.

Appearing on The Sessions with Renee Paquette (h/t Sunil Joseph of Ringside News), Spears noted that there are times when Breeze will do some work in the ring at the wrestling school they run together, but he has maintained that he is no longer an active wrestler.

Spears added: "He can still go, he still does everything. But I say to him, 'Hey man, getting ready for a second run?' He goes 'Nah, [I'm] retired.' So I don't know. That's the true answer. But I see the excitement sometimes when he hops in."

Breeze is best known for his time with WWE from 2007 until his release in 2021. He began under the names Matt Clement, Mike McGrath and Mike Dalton in developmental, but it wasn't until he transitioned to the Tyler Breeze character in 2013 that he found significant success.

His pompous supermodel gimmick got over huge with the NXT audience and led to him getting called up to the main roster. Breeze didn't experience much individual success on Raw or SmackDown, but he eventually formed a beloved tag team with Fandango known as Breezango.

Breezango won the NXT Tag Team Championships on one occasion, but both Breeze and Fandango were released from the company as part of budget cuts in 2021.

Breeze has not been an active wrestler since his release, instead opting to focus on his school. He has also done some training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, and he returned to the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel alongside Xavier Woods, who is a WWE Superstar and one of his closest friends.

If Breeze decides to return to in-ring competition, he has an in with both WWE and AEW, but he is seemingly happy with pursuing other ventures within wrestling for now.

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