Triple H Suggests Pro Wrestling May Not Exist Anymore If Not For Vince McMahon, WWE
During the WWE SummerSlam press conference on Saturday night, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque was asked about Vince McMahon's influence on WWE's creative direction in the wake of his major spinal surgery.
"As far as the surgery goes, I'm not a doctor," Levesque said. "I can't tell you how fast that recovery will be. Or if I'm a guessing man, I've seen Vince come back from some remarkable things way faster than anybody else I've ever seen do it. He still brags that he was back quicker from two quad tears at the same time than I was from one."
He added, "As far as contributions, I will just say this. The reason WWE is what it is, the reason this business, not just WWE, because you could make an argument, very valid one, that without Vince and his vision for this business, maybe it wouldn't be here anymore. Right? There were some things at that time, back in the day, there were very popular, roller derby, or things like that that just disappeared off the face of the planet that I can remember being a kid. Yes. Because I'm really old."
'No Greater Mind In The Business'
Levesque went on to admit that he and his team do tap into McMahon's experience when needed.
"[The] vision of what he did changed the business, changed all of it for 50 years," Levesque stated. "Incredible run of success. No greater mind in the business. In this point in time, if all of us didn't look at moments in time for counsel from him on thoughts or ideas, or if we have a question to go to him and ask, we'd be silly not to. It's sitting next to somebody that knows more about this or has forgotten more about this than you'll ever know, maybe, right. And to not utilize that in some aspect — But is he day to day? No. Is he in it all the time? No, and if anybody has, he's earned that right to be able to do that."
McMahon, who will be 78 this month, had major spinal surgery on July 21. WWE has stated that he will retain his title of Executive Chairman while on indefinite medical leave.