WWE COO and multi-time world champion Paul “Triple H” Levesque has shared a revealing story about a rare instance when he threatened to quit the company following a problematic match with Ahmed Johnson in 1997, leading to a heated confrontation with then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
In a recent appearance on Andrew Schulz’s “Flagrant” podcast, the 14-time world champion described the incident as the only time he directly challenged McMahon’s booking decisions in such a forceful manner.
The only time I went to him and bitched was when he put me in a match with a guy that was almost impossible to work with. I was wrestling a guy that was just terrible. They wanted me to have this long match with him.
Triple H noted that the challenges of working with Johnson were compounded by not having an experienced referee to facilitate communication during the match.
They gave me the worst referee, which a referee can help you work around people’s inabilities. Such as if I need a guy to do something and he’s not doing something right I can’t just go over and tell him, but I can tell the referee, and he can go over and tell him.
The current WWE Chief Content Officer gave his honest assessment of Johnson’s in-ring abilities and professionalism.
It was a guy named Ahmed Johnson, he was just terrible. He was hurting people and he was just big and you couldn’t understand him and he had an attitude problem.
Following the match, Levesque described approaching McMahon in a state of frustration.
When I came back I was pissed and I went to Vince and cut a promo on him and said ‘hey f**k it if you’re not going to allow me to have the chance to succeed then f**k that I’m out of here. You can’t put me in a position where I can not f**king succeed and can’t even do my job. If you put me in that position I have no choice but to go.’
What surprised Triple H was McMahon’s uncharacteristically measured response to his outburst.
I thought he was going to go off on me and he didn’t. He was like, ‘That’s fair, that’s fair’. And I said, ‘well OK then, f**king don’t do it again and he just walked out.’
Ahmed Johnson’s WWE run from 1995-1998 has been criticised by numerous veterans for his stiff working style, despite being positioned initially as a rising star and Intercontinental Champion.
Triple H Further Elaborates On Frustrations During Vince McMahon’s WWE Leadership
In a recent appearance on the “High Performance” podcast, Triple H recalled working under Vince McMahon and how there were times that he became increasingly frustrated with his former boss, such as giving him and his DX partner Shawn Michaels scripts with material he wanted them to say that they didn’t agree with.
H/t to TJRWrestling