WWE announcer Wade Barrett is the latest to praise the creative changes under the Triple H era.
As WWE’s Chief Content Officer continues to make subtle adjustments to weekly programming and book more compelling TV than fans were used to in years prior, the company has gone from strength to strength, much like in the golden era of the late ’90s.
Speaking with AceOdds, Barrett compared his time behind the desk in the present day to that of his time in the ring 10 years ago and how the modern era is much more can’t miss TV:
“Well, I’ve noticed that and I’ll compare my time as a commentator to my time in the ring. I think there are a lot more surprises these days. We’ll call it the Triple H era, the Paul Levesque era, whatever it’s being called now. I think something we’re really good at and it reminds me of being a fan back in the late 90s in the Attitude Era, you can’t miss a show at the moment. It feels as a fan and even as a commentator when I’m at home watching the other shows, I feel like I cannot miss it because something big is going to happen every week,”
There was a time when I was an in-ring guy during the kind of early 2010s when the show at times felt a little formulaic. It felt a little obvious that these two guys are going to be feuding with each other for the next four months and we’re going to have six different rematches between them. We’re going to have different variations of how the match ends, but I know what’s going to happen. If I miss an episode, it’s probably not going to be that important.
Now it feels like if you miss even one 15-minute segment between commercials, you could miss something massive. We watched Raw last night and the Wyatt Sicks stuff, every time there is a show over the next few months, there is going to be a big development in that storyline.”
Barrett continued, citing The Bloodline storyline as an example of the can’t-miss angles and how it is reflected in the numbers:
“The same with the bloodline stuff on SmackDown. It feels like every week there is something massive going on. That’s really exciting to me as a commentator. It keeps me guessing, it keeps me motivated and excited. I think you can probably see from our viewing figures and the people attending the live shows, we’re constantly selling out at the moment. I think it really has people hooked in and it’s keeping people guessing and being hyper-creative with our script writers and the people who are working behind the scenes on stuff. So, I’d say the management is currently taking us in a really good direction and the rewards are there for everyone to see.”
Triple H Tells All About WrestleMania 40
On July 3rd, the long-awaited WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain documentary was released and saw the behind-the-scenes process of navigating the changes of plans following fan backlash. Heavily featured in the documentary, Triple H was one of many talking heads who gave their own perspective on the events that took place.
In recent news, Wade Barrett expressed that he is open to one more match in WWE if the right opportunity arises.