One potential WWE prospect thought he was finally knocking on the company’s door after years of grinding for an opportunity, but one attempt to get face time with Triple H ended with security walking him out of the building. Even worse, Jamin Olivencia says a bizarre story that he followed Triple H into a bathroom somehow became the version being repeated backstage.
Olivencia broke down the wild situation during an appearance on LiMPiN AiNT EASY, explaining that he was getting regular WWE opportunities around 2014 and 2015 while also serving as OVW Heavyweight Champion. WWE had apparently told him there was a hiring freeze, but he kept getting dark matches and chances to show what he could do, which made him believe he was getting closer to finally landing a deal.
“There was a point in the processes where they were saying they’re on a hiring freeze, but to keep doing what I was doing. I used to hear it a lot in OVW. You got to guys, you got to grab the brass ring. You got to—nobody’s grabbing it. I’m thinking to myself, well, I think I have the courage and the balls to do that.”
Jamin had already been getting WWE looks since he was a teenager, and by this point he felt like the company knew exactly who he was. In his mind, all those years of showing up and proving himself meant the door was finally starting to crack open.
“And I think I misinterpreted a situation where I was getting these opportunities and I was so close, knocking on—like knocking on the door. I mean, they were giving me opportunities since I was 18. You know, I had my first match on Sunday Night Heat against Val Venis and Viscera.”
Things appeared to move even further in his favor when he happened to strike up a conversation with Stephanie McMahon backstage. Jamin said Stephanie liked the way he spoke and personally asked him to record a promo and have it sent to her.
“There was a time when I was by a monitor and Stephanie McMahon just so happened to be next to me. And her and I just started talking and I told her I was an OVW guy. And then she told me, ‘I like the way you speak,’ or something like that. And she said, ‘You know, would you cut a promo and have it sent to me?’”
Jamin went to Brooklyn Brawler, who was handling promos at the time, and explained that Stephanie wanted to see one from him. He got the promo recorded, although he freely admits today that his performance wasn’t exactly WrestleMania material.
“I went into the promo room and I said, ‘Hey, Stephanie McMahon said she wanted to see a promo of me.’ And he kind of gave me a look like, uh, like Stephanie said that. And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ You know, and he was like, ‘All right, I’ll do it.’ So, I cut some promo. It was terrible. I think if I remember correctly, it was terrible.”
The following week, Stephanie saw Jamin again and told him she never received the promo. She then suggested he speak with Triple H about getting a meeting set up, which is where this WWE dream started heading straight toward a brick wall.
“She just said, ‘You know, go talk to Hunter one of these days. Maybe he could set you up on a meeting.’ I said okay.”
Jamin eventually approached Triple H and asked whether they could talk, but Triple H told him he didn’t have time. Jamin backed off that day, but WWE had SmackDown the next night and he ended up seeing Triple H again. This time, Triple H was talking with Kofi Kingston in a hallway. Jamin waited until that conversation ended before walking with Triple H and making another pitch for some of his time.
“I saw him in the hallway. He was talking to Kofi Kingston and I waited for, you know, you know how you’re like standing around waiting like a kid. It’s my turn coming up. You know, so he gets done talking to Kofi and then I start walking with him and talking and I said, ‘Hey, Hunter, is there any opportunity where we can get a talk? I think I’d be great for kids. I think I could be marketable.’”
Triple H once again told him he didn’t have time, and Jamin could tell this conversation wasn’t going particularly well. Instead of bailing out, Jamin decided to give Triple H one more sales pitch. He believed he was doing exactly what WWE talent had been told for years — show initiative and grab that brass ring when you get the chance.
“And he says, ‘I don’t have time today.’ And it was real like he seemed a bit agitated.”
“And I said, ‘Well, I really think if I’m—if I was given the opportunity, I could do well.’ And in my mind at the moment, I thought I was grabbing the brass ring. And I thought I thought I was showing initiative.”
That decision blew up almost immediately. Triple H told him to speak with his assistant, and Jamin said the reaction he got after that conversation left him thinking something had gone very wrong.
“And it ended up, you know, backfiring on me where he said, ‘All right, all right. Listen, talk to my assistant.’ It was Canyon at the time. I talked to Canyon. He’s my guy. And he shook my hand. And when he shook my hand, he goes—and then walked away like a real sarcastic face. And I was like, ‘That can’t be good.’”
Jamin’s instincts were right. About 15 minutes later, he was sitting in WWE catering when security suddenly came looking for him and told him he had to leave.
“So then I went in the catering. I’m talking to a few guys at the table. Security comes up to me like 15 minutes later. They say, ‘Is your name Jamin?’ I said, ‘Yeah, my name is Jamin.’ They said, ‘All right, you’re not on the list. You have to leave.’”
Someone sitting with Jamin tried to step in and explain that he had been coming to WWE events and was supposed to be there. That’s when security hit him with the question that completely blindsided him.
“And one of the guys stood up for me and said, ‘No, no, no. He’s here with us. He’s been coming here.’ And the guy goes, ‘Well, let me ask you a question. Did you follow Triple H into a bathroom and ask him for a job?’”
Jamin says that absolutely did not happen. He maintained that the conversation happened while he was walking with Triple H in the hallway, although he openly admits he knew by that point that he had pushed too hard.
“I said, I did not do that. Uh, I saw him in the hallway. I was walking with him and I told him the situation. I basically explained that I know he—I knew he was uncomfortable. Like I knew I upset him.”
Whatever explanation he gave wasn’t going to save the night. According to Jamin, security told him Triple H didn’t want him there and that he was probably never going to be allowed back.
“And the guy just said, ‘Ah, well, uh, he doesn’t want you here and you’re probably never going to be allowed back again.’”
At first, Jamin thought this had to be some elaborate wrestling rib. Then security told him to grab his bag because he was being walked straight out of the arena.
“And I thought it was a rib maybe at first. So I was like, ‘Oh, um, okay.’ And he’s like, ‘All right, so you got to come walk with us and we got to grab your bag and we’re going to walk you out of the arena.’”
That walk wasn’t exactly discreet either. Jamin said WWE security escorted him outside while fans were entering the building, turning an already brutal situation into a very public embarrassment.
“They walked me out in front of all these people coming into the arena. And they said, ‘All right, take care. You know, good luck.’”
The bathroom claim didn’t disappear once Jamin left the building. He said the security guard was still asking him why he had followed Triple H into the bathroom while walking him out, forcing him to deny the story again.
“As I’m walking with one of the security guards out, he’s like, he’s like, ‘Why would you do that? Like, why would you follow him to a bathroom?’ I was like, ‘I didn’t follow him in the bathroom.’”
Then Jamin started getting calls from people inside WWE who knew him, liked him and had supported his pursuit of a job. According to him, they had somehow heard the exact same bathroom story.
“There was people at WWE who were big fans of me and they supported me and they called me and they all worked for Hunter and they’re like, ‘Why did you follow Hunter into a bathroom?’ So, this became the narrative.”
Jamin continued denying that version of events, but by then the damage had already been done. What he believed was an attempt to aggressively chase his WWE dream had suddenly turned into a backstage story that he says wasn’t true.
“And I was like, ‘I didn’t follow him into a bathroom.’ And I just was crumbling. Like, it was so shocking that I could have swore it was a rib.”
He ultimately drove home with no idea what came next, after years of WWE opportunities seemed to disappear in a matter of minutes.
“And I drove home upset. Didn’t know what to do.”
Jamin’s story is a brutal example of how quickly things can change backstage in professional wrestling. He thought he was showing WWE how badly he wanted the opportunity, but that push for a conversation with Triple H ended with an arena escort and a bathroom story he says followed him inside the company.
What do you make of Jamin Olivencia’s story about his interaction with Triple H and the version of events that started circulating backstage? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
