There was only one man worthy of kicking off WWE’s new era on Netflix – Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
Standing in the middle of the ring as Raw arrived on the streaming service last Monday, he welcomed fans on a historic evening and urged them to make their voices heard.
“In this moment, all of you are being seen and heard by the entire globe,” he told the 17,000-strong crowd.
“Show them who you are, tell them that this is the WWE and we are louder than anything you have ever seen before.”
His words, and the cheers they were met with, summed up the buzz around professional wrestling right now.
These are exciting times – for both the stars and fans – and much of that can be credited to Triple H himself.
As WWE’s Chief Content Officer, he has helped breathe new life into a product that some believed was becoming stale.
Among those who feared the company was going downhill before Triple H steadied the ship in 2022 was two-time Hall of Famer Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman.
Waltman, who is also a long-time friend of Levesque, was present for the Raw Netflix premiere last week, and has since revealed the pair shared a heartfelt moment behind-the-scenes.
“When we were at Raw, I said to (Triple H), ‘You deserve all this. And the fans deserve you,’” he told Justin Barrasso of Undisputed.
“The fans dealt with a lot of bulls*** over the years. It was hard to be a fan for a while, and I don’t f***ing mind saying it. It’s different now.
“He’s here for the fans. There is so much happiness and excitement surrounding WWE.
“This is what I always envisioned for him. It’s amazing.”
Waltman went on to discuss his experience at Raw last week, noting a positive shift in culture when it comes to how legends of the business are now looked after.
“We get treated so well. That wasn’t always the way it was,” he explained.
“There’s been times over the years I’ve seen older wrestlers so disappointed that they weren’t even acknowledged.
“It’s a big deal to us. This was our life.
“So it means the world to be treated the way we’re treated. Being at Raw, I loved it.
“I was telling my wife this, even people I wasn’t close with back in the day, I’m so happy to see them now.”
Netflix announced last week that the first episode of Raw garnered 4.9 million global views, and averaged 2.6 million households in the US alone, suggesting it’s not just legends like X-Pac who are falling back in love with WWE under Triple H.
