WWE News: Triple H Opposed To Facing Major Opponent At ‘WrestleMania 33’
The last time WWE fans saw Triple H on WWE programming came more than four months ago when The Game was defeated by Roman Reigns in the main event at WrestleMania for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. At the very least, many expected Triple H to enter the picture for the draft and brand extension or be involved in a major program for SummerSlam, or both.
Neither of those things happened despite Triple H being the leading candidate to become the general manager of RAW as appointed by his wife, Stephanie McMahon. Instead, that role went to Mick Foley with Hunter remaining MIA. Along with the Undertaker and The Rock, Triple H was left completely off the list of those superstars eligible for the WWE Draft. Earlier this week, the Inquisitr reported that that was Triple H’s call, as his in-ring future remains uncertain.
The plan is still for Triple H to wrestle at next year’s WrestleMania in Orlando, with the decision almost entirely up to Hunter himself. As of this week, he had yet to determine who he wanted to do a program with, let alone narrow it down to a select few. There are many WWE officials, and those close to him that believe Triple H will push for an up-and-coming opponent instead of an established star. There is a belief that he wants to face a recently-promoted superstar or someone still in NXT as of now.
However, there is a name emerging that Triple H does not want to face at next year’s WrestleMania, and that is Shane McMahon. According to Daily Wrestling News, Triple H is against the idea of facing his brother-in-law even though Vince McMahon has brought up the idea of the two squaring off in a “loser leaves town” gimmick match.
The program and match have made a lot of sense since Shane returned this past January. There has been plenty of backstage friction among the McMahon family, something that Vince feeds off and has always enjoyed injecting into actual matches. Vince has long believed that real-life heat translates to quality storytelling on tv. With Triple H earning more power internally by the day, he has a lot more say in creative decisions, but Vince still maintains final say.
Shane returned in an attempt to take over RAW from his father, but truthfully, he was only brought back as a contracted on-screen performer. He’s stuck around a lot longer than most expected, including his sister, leading many to believe that once his feud with the Undertaker wrapped up, the logical next step was to develop an angle with Triple H that would culminate in a match at SummerSlam. Even Triple H’s good friend Ric Flair assumed it would happen and thought it would happen this month.
Instead, Triple H has been kept off or decided to remain off television while Shane assumed the role of commissioner on SmackDown Live. SummerSlam will remain one of the four inter-promotional pay-per-views during the year so there’s bound to be some interaction between brother and sister during the show, but there have been no indications that Triple H will even show up on camera. That would certainly provide a surprise and tease WWE fans until they decide to resolve any potential issues down the line.
Vince is determined to make WrestleMania 33 a much better card than this past year’s event which was marred by injuries. There has been some talk of Brock Lesnar capturing the WWE Universal Championship to maximize his contract. The Rock will be heavily pursued to have an actual match. John Cena is believed to face either the Undertaker or Roman Reigns. And a Triple H vs. Shane McMahon showdown would certainly raise the stakes, unless The Game is able to convince the Chairman to squash it completely.
[Image via WWE]
