Triple H on His Belief People Take WWE “Too Seriously” Sometimes, His Belief Keeping Finger On The Pulse Of What People Want Is The Hardest Thing In The World, His Belief Oba Femi “Is Going To Be As Big As Anybody Has Ever Been In This Business”, & More

A recent episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show featured WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Levesque’s thoughts about his belief that WWE is currently succeeding in trying to cater their product to everybody in the fanbase.

“I think that we bring an event to you that is always going to be exciting, that is always going to surprise and delight you. We bring a little bit of something for everybody. There’s the entertainment component of Danhausen, there’s the serious component of a Brock Lesnar and a Roman Reigns and a Cody Rhodes. Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch, and Jade Cargill, right? There’s that serious nature of it but the storylines keep you hooked. If you haven’t watched in a bit, always tune in because the one thing about WWE is the story never ends. When you come to the end of the Knicks winning the big game in our world, the next night it starts over again. There’s always fresh, there’s always new, there’s always something big happening. So, even if you’ve missed out for a bit, you can jump right back in and be a part of those stories and be a part of those epic moments. There’s something for everybody and that’s our goal, that’s what we try to do is be a little bit of something for everybody.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about fans should have fun with WWE’s product and to not take it too seriously.

“The other aspect of that is I think that people lose perspective of sometimes is, we’re just fun, man. We’re fun and sometimes people take it too seriously, sometimes people get too caught up in it, but it’s there to entertain, man. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world. If you just want to turn off for a couple of hours and tune into something cool that you can just lose yourself in and have a good time, WWE is the place to do it. If you’ve never seen it live, I’m telling you, come to a live event, come to one of our PLEs, come to a TV. There’s nothing like it in entertainment.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about his belief that keeping his finger on the pulse of what people want and are looking for in entertainment is the hardest thing in the world.

“It’s difficult. I think the hardest thing in the world is to keep your finger on the pulse of what people are looking for. The world is always changing, you’ve see it over the years with WWE. I do think that we, as an entertainment form — When you start out as a performer, everything about your goal is to make that crowd cheer, to make that crowd boo. Everything is about fan engagement. So, you’re taught sort of those nuances from moment one. It’s everything we do. In a sport, you know, sometimes you have home games and sometimes you have away games. Sometimes you get booed, sometimes you get cheered. You want to sort of tune that out. When it’s positive, you can use it to your advantage, but when it’s negative — I suppose you can use that negativity too, but you sort of tune it out and want to go just do your job. Our job, everything about it is to engage with those fans. I do think we do it well but when sports is on, when the story is right, when you have an underdog story like the Knicks where they can dig out from underneath and years of disappointment and a fan base that has been hanging on hope, if you can deliver like that, then there’s nothing else like it. That’s what we aim to give us that emotional feeling. When that delivers for fans, there’s nothing else like it. You see it with the Knicks, you see it with their parade, you see it with the support they’ve gotten. As a group, that’s what we spend our time doing. Excellently done.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about his praise of WWE’s new younger crop of talent and who he currently views as being the future big stars for the company.

“When you see this new crop of talent, Oba Femi is going to be as big as anybody has ever been in this business. Sol Ruca has an opportunity to be a standout star. Je’Von Evans is one of the young guys, he reminds me of a young Jeff Hardy that just has this incredible move set, but just has an energy and a youth about him that you can’t look away from him. You know, Trick is just the personality plus. Again, he’s another guy you can’t look away from. These are the young talent that are going to take WWE into the future. You’re seeing them rise now, but two, three years from now, four years from now, these are going to be the main events of WrestleMania. I promise you.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about his praise of Femi’s mic skills.

“I think Oba Femi is incredible on the mic in a different format than what a Trick brings to the table, but I do think you’re going to see some of that coming now as these guys — and girls — get more experience and have that period of time. An Oba Femi’s only been doing this about maybe max four years from the first [time] he ever stepped into the ring. The rate at which we’re getting these talent ready now is incredible. They just need a little time to settle into their comfort zone, and you’re going to get there.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about how WWE being on ESPN has been “worth its weight in gold” and ESPN’s impact on WWE since their media rights deal started.

“I think ESPN is incredible for us. It’s where you go to hear the conversations with people that are either like-minded to you, you love their opinions, hate their opinions, or just do you want to hear those arguments about what you love. For us to be in there, for us to be in that conversation on a day-to-day basis — you see it. You’ll see it this weekend on ESPN linear television where the pre-show is on there for a couple of hours and then we go right into the [main card]…

The ability for us to be in that conversation on a day-to-day basis, everywhere you go. One of the most frustrating things for me as a kid — and maybe it was for you growing up, I don’t know — but was when wrestling took place, no matter who it was, there was no place to hear talk about it, find out about it, what was going on. You couldn’t have that conversation except for with your friends. This conversation is everywhere now. And because of ESPN, we’re on the top of everybody’s mind. You see it in Danhausen across the NBA with the Knicks in the biggest way possible. You see us connecting with not only the fans but the superstars of those sports as well. So that opportunity for us that [ESPN executives] Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus have created. They’ve just all pushed us to another level in the common, everyday conversation that we can’t get anywhere else. And that, to me, is worth its weight in gold, and it’s awesome.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about his belief that Night of Champions 2026 could be an “epic” night for Bron Breakker ahead of his Steel Cage match against Seth Rollins at the event.

“Between Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker, I’m looking for Bron Breakker to show me what he really can do when it’s just on him and he’s just in there with Seth Rollins. I really feel like this is going to be an epic night for him.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, & 2, F4WOnline.com 1, 2, & 3