Board index ‹ Shows ‹ RBR: Weekly Wrestling Talk

[Shot and Botched]

During Dave Meltzer's radio show for The Wrestling Observer, he reported that Paul "Triple H" Levesque is not allowing Mick Foley to be used on TV since his return in November.


Meltzer reported that Triple H slams Foley whenever his name is brought up in creative meetings. Brian Gerwitz, WWE's Senior Vice President of Creative Writing thinks Foley is a creative and good performer, but Levesque says Foley 'doesn't look tough' and can't be taken seriously as an in-ring performer.

A former WWE creative writer said to Power Slam in 2008 that Levesque would always insult Foley when he appeared for the company and hurt his value in the eyes of Vince and Stephanie McMahon.

Levesque was quoted as saying: "Foley is an out-of-shape nobody. No one cares about him at all. Funaki puts more asses in the seats than Foley does. He should pay us for coming on our shows."

It is believed that the reason Triple H does this is because he is irritated over the opinion from his closest co-workers that his matches with Foley in 2000 "made him a star".

Foley has also criticized Triple H in the past, including taking some shots at him in his 2007 autobiography The Hardcore Diaries. He was also against Triple H insulting Lilian Garcia on an April 2010 episode of RAW. He said he may have cost himself professional but had to say something.

[Matt G]

I don't believe the Funaki quote at all. I'm sure there is some animosity there, but this just looks like several paragraphs of speculation after one tiny Meltzer tidbit. I heard the Meltzer thing it is referring to and it was just a throwaway line in a lengthy podcast.

[MarSolo]

I'm sure it bothers Triple H that the guy who made him a star (Mick Foley) is the same guy that his idol (Ric Flair) refers to as a "glorified stuntman."

Triple H: the most insecure man in wrestling.

[potatoes]

I buy the general notion that Trips buries Foley. I don't know that I believe everything there, though.

[Mikedh]

That quote is just so unbelievable. I don't have a problem believing they don't like each other but that quote is a little too theatrical and not like something someone like Triple H or anyone would actually say. It sounds like something a smark thinks Triple H would say.

I didn't get the vibe that Meltzer was inferring that Triple H just openly shits on Foley to anyone in the company who will listen.

The animosity is understandable on both ends. Even if you agree with everything Foley ever said about WWE and Triple H, he still has publicly criticized Triple H (the reverse is untrue, I think) and bailed on the WWE to wrestle for another company on TV while taking shots at the WWE. I really think that is a much more believable reason than Triple H just being upset that some of his co workers think Foley made him a star.

[Barrylad]

Likewise, I don't buy that quote in the slightest but I have no trouble believing that Hunter doesn't respect Foley like he should. If you listen back to the many interviews with former WWE writers from the Observer site, David Lagana's short lived series, the Torch etc. - there are quite a few of them who come off as totally bitter and immature, with cartoonish stories of Triple H backstage that actually contradict other writers, some of whom have left the company and given him and Stephanie glowing reviews as approachable and level headed.

I am just always very dubious of former creative team members, especially since most of them take the Vince Russo approach to answering questions about why the shows they worked on sucked so bad; "Oh well you see what happened was I had this awesome idea, but they just wouldn't listen, and then THIS got changed and THAT got changed, and woe is me my creative genius was ignored."