Screw the money, all the money in the world doesn’t make you happy—no one knows that better than me. I made a healthy salary while working in my later years in WWE, but towards the end I was willing to walk away from it all if I had to because my sanity was more important. And, keep in mind, Vince McMahon was my BOSS, not my FATHER-IN-LAW!
It’s got to suck to be Hunter. Yeah, the guy looks to be next in line for the throne when, and if, Vince ever decides to step down from it. But in the meantime working for the King has to be miserable for him at times. Hunter knows the product is bad right now, and there are a couple of telling signs: 1. He’s running NXT and that’s GOOD, and #2. He was a HUGE part of the Attitude Era, so he clearly understands what a GOOD, live wrestling show looks, tastes, feels and smells like.
I was blessed to have the opportunity to work with Triple H, and we did indeed work very closely together. I was there with him from the start when a different, gorgeous bombshell was put on his arm every week, as we built the Triple H character as this rich, young, arrogant Blueblood frown Greenwich, CT, who had arrived on the scene to claim the WWF as his own. Even though the character was not indeed Hunter, and never fit him, he did his best as a professional to make it work. He never questioned anybody, or anything, he just sat back, listened and learned while being as respectful as one could be.
Hunter was a smart guy, he always had a mind for the business and was thinking about it constantly. That’s all he cared about, literally from the second he got out of bad every day. He would listen, ask questions, and he knew how to insert input in a way where he would make situations better. But, even despite all that, when he and his three buddies Hall, Nash and Michaels made their infamous “curtain call” at MSG, those in charge at WWE at the time wanted his head on a silver platter. They were dead set on making his life miserable…they were determined to break his will.
I remember at the time, bringing Hunter into a private room and telling him on the down-low what he was in store for. I told him that he just needed to take it. Take everything that they had to dish Because in time it all would pass. At the end of my speech, Hunter never said one, single word to defend himself. He just acknowledged that he understood, and would take my advice. In my opinion, not many people would have been able to endure that type of mental punishment, but because of who he was, his make-up, and the way that he was taught by his parents, Hunter overcame.
For that reason I’m thrilled he’s in the spot he’s in, however for the same reason, I want to throw up all over myself for it. What can the guy do? Without being there, I can tell you first hand that he is STILL as respectful as he ever was. I’m sure, both as an employee AND a son-in-law, he must bite through his lower lip just in order to keep himself composed when he sees the final show format every week-the format that Vince pieces together-not him. It can’t be him, he can’t be producing a solid show with a green cast from NXT, while overseeing an absolute train wreck with veterans every Monday night. No HOW, no WAY.
