HHH explains psychology and performances (ESPN.COM)

[Deleted]

Nice read.

www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17267581/triple-h-breaks-psychology-sports-entertainment-performances-wwe

[Mozenrath]

"triple-h-breaks-psychology"

Goddamn it, this is why we can't have nice things...

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

I actually don't disagree with him about the 50/50 booking thing, but maaaaannnnnnn does he ever come off as insecure when addressing criticisms.

[Hit Girl]

He should explain the psychology behind his wife constantly demeaning wrestlers on air for no purpose other than her own ego gratification.

[Bub (BLM)]

He lost me with his argument about 50/50 booking. He claims it doesn't matter but there are plenty of guys who have stalled out because of it. Bray Wyatt is way less over than he used to be, and it's from 50/50 booking. I don't care what he says.

[Hit Girl]

"It's just a term somebody came up with," Levesque said. "It's just terms that people throw out there.

Yes, an accurate term.

"When somebody goes, 'Well, you just can't get people over with 50/50 booking,' [I'll always say] 'Oh, I'm sorry, how's your territory coming? Because this one seems to be doing pretty good over here.'

Oh no, not the old "if you don't do (X) you can't criticise it" fallacy.

We just had the largest WrestleMania in history. People talk a lot of smack about ratings and things, but they don't understand all of the dynamics of everything we do. They don't. They sit on the internet and they read one thing and they give their point of view."

By "talk smack" I presume he means "point out how they've plunged over the years"

Levesque went one step further and noted that he doesn't even keep track of won-loss records.

Yes, it shows.

"Do I keep track of the exact wins and losses of talent? No," Levesque said. "To me, all of this stuff is a feel. All of it is a feel.

How are the ratings feeling these days?

"Sometimes you're beating a talent because you want to beat them and that's the sympathetic reaction you're trying to elicit. There are some talents that, when you beat them, they get more popular, but as soon as they start on a winning path, their popularity begins to wane. ... People want that underdog to strive to succeed and then get a little bit of success and then get knocked back off that perch and be the underdog again."

Utter bullshit.

He also indicated that mindset of not placing an emphasis on wins and losses comes all the way from the top of the company.

There's a shock.

"I suppose there's a stone somewhere that it's written on that says, 'Thou shalt not book 50/50 because it won't lead to success for your promotion.' We'll stand on that stone while we're selling out Brooklyn three days in a row."

Yes it's the stone called Wrestling Booking 101.

[Pushed to the Moon]

Yeah that 50/50 explanation is absolute bullshit. Of course wins and losses matter. He even says that you can get sympathy by LOSING matches and then the success of WINNING matches.

[Bo Rida]

"Sometimes you're beating a talent because you want to beat them and that's the sympathetic reaction you're trying to elicit. There are some talents that, when you beat them, they get more popular, but as soon as they start on a winning path, their popularity begins to wane. ... People want that underdog to strive to succeed and then get a little bit of success and then get knocked back off that perch and be the underdog again."

There's some truth in that but he missed the key part. They fall, they learn something from it and come back stronger as a result. Bayley went through this and it was one of the best rises to the top in recent times. Hell that's the character development he talked about at the start.

Losing like a chump, never learning from it as they fall for the same tired shit over and over again and never getting the chance to come back stronger just makes me stop caring. There's no character development there.

What he said may work for somebody like Zack Ryder, it doesn't work when applied to people higher up the card that are supposed to be competent and credible wrestlers.

[MrBRulzOK]

There's something to guys getting more over through losses, but usually that's when it doesn't happen to them on a weakly basis and they don't end up looking like total goobers after the fact.

Fifty-fifty booking on the other hand... Parity booking has NEVER gotten anybody over. NOBODY.

[Greer]

Wins and losses don't matter but am I f***ing going over?

[Brother Nero....Wolfe]

"Sometimes you're beating a talent because you want to beat them and that's the sympathetic reaction you're trying to elicit. There are some talents that, when you beat them, they get more popular, but as soon as they start on a winning path, their popularity begins to wane. ... People want that underdog to strive to succeed and then get a little bit of success and then get knocked back off that perch and be the underdog again."

"I swear I don't hate Zack Ryder, everything is for his own good!"

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Nothing he says surprises me, he's been the fourth or fifth most important person in the WWE for over 15 years now, he's one of the few people in a position to tell Vince and Steph to change course but he's remained silent as things shifted to 50/50 booking with everything scripted, for everyone but himself of course.

[radiantsilvergun]

God damn whats the point of pulling the curtain back like this? Theres people out there that are still worked by the product, and they WANT to be worked. They WANT to suspend their disbelief. They ENJOY suspending their disbelief. Cater to them instead of the "smarks".

What in the f*** are they doing to our beloved wrestling?

[Chiral]

"Do I keep track of the exact wins and losses of talent? No," Levesque said. "To me, all of this stuff is a feel. All of it is a feel.

[Gerard Gerard]

Tilda: "Mr. Levesque?"

HHH: "Yes, Tilda?"

Tilda: "I've had to bump up your 4 o'clock to 5. It's okay, I've rescheduled your flight for 8, so it should work out."

HHH: "You're a lifesaver, Tilda. Thank you."

Tilda: "Just doing my job."

HHH: "Is that all?"

Tilda: "Well, there was this other thing."

HHH: "What?"

Tilda: "After that ESPN interview, there was an email from a Mr. Trends in the IWC."

HHH: "Oh, what did it say?"

Tilda: "It simply said 'eat a dick' in a massive glittery font"

HHH: --heavy, contemplative sighs--

Tilda: "Sir?.......sir?"

HHH: "Spin it..."

Tilda: "Spin it?.....but, it's only been..."

HHH: "Tilda, please, just spin it..."

--Tilda walks over to a lottery cage with the words "IWC goodwill" emblazoned upon it--

HHH: "What did you get?"

Tilda "Em, Ibushi/Nakamura for the NXT title at NXT Takeover: Tokyo."

[Deleted]

Aug 11, 2016 20:46:41 GMT -5 radiantsilvergun said:

God damn whats the point of pulling the curtain back like this? Theres people out there that are still worked by the product, and they WANT to be worked. They WANT to suspend their disbelief. They ENJOY suspending their disbelief. Cater to them instead of the "smarks".

What in the f*** are they doing to our beloved wrestling?

I think he's making a lot of it work better but I feel that they're trying to fine that thin line they made when Punk left with the championship. Yeah we know it's a work and all but there's also a meaning and purpose to what's happening. That's what I feel they've been desperately trying to do. Now, if they turned Reigns heel and played off of real life interaction? It would work as it worked with Bryan with the WM30 thing.

Idk, they want to show more people of what happens behind the scenes but it's hard getting investment when he goes on and says "wins and losses won't matter", it's weird.

Interestingly enough Jericho said on a pdocast episode that to him wins and losses don't matter and then on another podcast episode he said he can't keep losing matches because people wouldn't take him seriously. A lot of older wrestlers have this mentality. This whole "well the big one only matters" or the "end of a feud only matters", it's weird.

[Deleted]

Aug 11, 2016 20:46:41 GMT -5 radiantsilvergun said:

God damn whats the point of pulling the curtain back like this? Theres people out there that are still worked by the product, and they WANT to be worked. They WANT to suspend their disbelief. They ENJOY suspending their disbelief. Cater to them instead of the "smarks".

What in the f*** are they doing to our beloved wrestling?

I saw a clip online a few weeks ago of the Rock on Raw right after Backlash 2000 where he won the title. The fans were going apeshit as he finally won the title again and they were waiting for that to happen.

Nowadays, you'd hear the crowd chant "you deserve it", knowing full well that it was a wrestler that the booking team finally gave a break to rather than one of their favorites winning the big one.

It's just a weird, weird time for wrestling. When I watch Friends, I know it's a sitcom acted out by actors, but for 20+ minutes I can get lost in their world. In the WWE, the announcers tell you it's fake, the wrestlers tell you it's fake, and the fans act like it's fake. I guess HHH Is just embracing that aspect but it's not the direction I would go in.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

Aug 11, 2016 21:35:48 GMT -5 @conebone69 said:

I saw a clip online a few weeks ago of the Rock on Raw right after Backlash 2000 where he won the title. The fans were going apeshit as he finally won the title again and they were waiting for that to happen.

Nowadays, you'd hear the crowd chant "you deserve it", knowing full well that it was a wrestler that the booking team finally gave a break to rather than one of their favorites winning the big one.

It's just a weird, weird time for wrestling. When I watch Friends, I know it's a sitcom acted out by actors, but for 20+ minutes I can get lost in their world. In the WWE, the announcers tell you it's fake, the wrestlers tell you it's fake, and the fans act like it's fake. I guess HHH Is just embracing that aspect but it's not the direction I would go in.

...when do the announcers or wrestlers ever tell you it's fake? Has that ever happened on WWE tv? If an Entertainment Weekly interview with Courtney Cox doesn't hurt your ability to get lost in an episode of Friends, this shouldn't hurt your ability to get lost in an episode of Raw.

[Bear Skin Rug]

"You see, we were engendering sympathy for Booker T to set up his heel push three years down the road."

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Aug 11, 2016 20:46:41 GMT -5 radiantsilvergun said:

God damn whats the point of pulling the curtain back like this? Theres people out there that are still worked by the product, and they WANT to be worked. They WANT to suspend their disbelief. They ENJOY suspending their disbelief. Cater to them instead of the "smarks".

What in the f*** are they doing to our beloved wrestling?

I see no problem with this. Kayfabe is dead, no one in this world buys wrestling as real. Pulling the curtain back is a behind the scenes look, just like TV Shows and Movies do.