Triple H wanted to motivate WWE’s locker room when he told frustrated wrestlers to work harder and take somebody else’s spot. Jonathan Coachman says it may have done the exact opposite.
Speaking on the Coach and Bro Show, Coachman claimed WWE talent have been reaching out amid growing frustration backstage, with Triple H’s comments after SummerSlam apparently hitting a nerve among wrestlers who believe they’re already working just as hard without getting the same opportunities.
Coachman brought it up while he and Vince Russo compared WWE’s current main-event scene with previous generations. Russo argued that stars who remain at the top today have benefited from years of television exposure, which led Coachman directly into what he’s been hearing from the locker room.
“Which is why we’re getting contacted, which is why we’re hearing wrestlers that are backstage are so frustrated, Vince, because time did this. So when they hear Triple H sitting up on a podium after SummerSlam and get asked a question and he goes, ‘Well, you got to work harder then.’”
That’s where Coachman believes Triple H’s message becomes a problem. At the SummerSlam post-show, Triple H pushed back on the idea that wrestlers should eventually receive a main-event opportunity simply because they’ve waited long enough. With Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and others still occupying WWE’s biggest spots, his answer was simple: there are no turns.
“The narrative of, ‘It’s my turn.’ There are no turns. That’s not how it works. You earn the spot.”
He went even further by telling anyone who wants those positions to make themselves more popular than the people already holding them.
“If you want the spot, go take it. It’s all there for everybody to take. Whenever anybody says, ‘I don’t know why I’m not in that spot,’ are you more over than Cody or Roman or Punk or Liv or IYO? Make those crowd reactions happen. Whatever you need to do.”
Coachman understands what Triple H was trying to accomplish. The problem is how that message sounds to wrestlers who have already spent a decade grinding away while watching the same established names continue getting WWE’s biggest opportunities.
“I like it because you’ve got to work harder. Can you imagine telling some of these guys that have been around for 10-plus years, ‘Work harder,’ when they can look at all these guys on this list and be like, ‘But wait a second, I’m working just as hard as they are, but you’re giving them the opportunity.’”
And according to Coachman, frustration isn’t the only thing floating around backstage right now. Russo suggested WWE could turn wrestlers’ real-life insecurities over their positions into television storylines. Coachman responded that nobody would need to manufacture that anxiety because talent are already living it.
“And the other thing is also—that is real stuff that’s going on backstage with all these guys. Everybody’s paranoid. Everybody is scared of their spot, especially right now.”
Coachman claimed wrestlers are worried that disappearing from television or failing to deliver something memorable could eventually lead to a very different conversation with WWE management.
“Right now when you’re like, ‘Man, if I don’t get on TV or if I don’t do something great, then I might be getting a call from upstairs saying, listen, you haven’t been on TV in a minute. You haven’t done anything in a…’ So, to me, you’re also describing something, Vince, that is very real backstage right now.”
That’s why Coachman believes Triple H’s attempt at motivation could end up backfiring.
“And everything he said last week, I think, is going to be a huge negative for the roster instead of how I think Triple H intended it, and that is to motivate.”
Triple H told WWE talent there are no turns and nobody is entitled to somebody else’s spot. Coachman says the wrestlers hearing that message aren’t simply waiting around for their opportunity—they’re frustrated, worried about their jobs and wondering what else they’re supposed to do to get one.
Do you think Triple H’s comments will motivate WWE talent, or did telling an already frustrated locker room to work harder only make things worse? Let us know in the comments.
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