In case you haven’t heard, Paul “Triple H” Levesque has officially been handed chief creative control over the entirety of the WWE Universe, from RAW and SmackDown to NXT, Main Event, and even NXT Level Up. His time away from the company to recover from his heart condition effectively served as the calm before the storm, as now, less than a week after being handed the title EVP of Talent Relations, Levesque has the book, and thus, the entire fate of the WWE Universe in his hands (more on that here).
If he plays his cards right, NXT can serve as a talent incubator that sends their champions up to the mid-card and mid-card talents up to the top of the card once a long-term storyline comes to an end – instead of bringing back the same old part-timers without much turnover – but for that to happen, some of the storylines on the card right now will need to be severely altered, if not outright dropped in order to maintain pace and upward momentum for performers across the company’s brands. Like Max Dupri being replaced by Maxxine in the Maximum Male Models, some Mr. McMahon-inspired stories simply don’t work or have at least severely lost their muster and would be better served left in the past in favor of more progressive storytelling techniques.
With that in mind, here are three storylines that Triple H should kill moving forward, one on RAW, NXT2.0, and SmackDown too.
Triple H would be wise to move off of these three storylines.
RAW – The Miz’s balls
If there’s one storyline on a WWE show that has “Mr. McMahon” written all over it, it’s The Miz and his balls.
Whether initially said as an adlib or – more realistically – scripted by a 77-year-old man who has been laughing at this sort of joke for 40 years, this joke has crossed multiple performers, been put on a T-Shirt that may ultimately sell in the single-digits, and even served as the chief setup to establish the Logan Paul-Miz match booked for SummerSlam.
But when that match comes to an end, and the two performers go their separate ways, it’d probably be best to never hear discussions of Mike’s private parts again.
Look, I get it; The Miz does numbers for the WWE. His show is very popular and having him on the show directly before it airs at 11 pm EST on the USA Network is a good idea – maybe just don’t base all of his segments on toilet humor.
NXT – Champion Mandy Rose
There was a time when Mandy Rose was a part of one of the most wonderful storylines in the WWE Universe in her “Beautify and the Beast” storyline with Otis. It was weird, yet rendering, funny, yet endearing, and when the duo kissed, the pop could be heard the world over. While that storyline wasn’t meant to last forever, and the duo both moved on with the Alpha Academy and a team with Dana Brooke, respectively, Rose’s career reached new heights when she returned to NXT and became the brand’s champion.
On paper, this idea wasn’t bad on its own; Raquel Gonzalez looked ready to move onto the main roster – even if that roster move didn’t happen until six months later – and giving Rose a Finn Balor-esque return run in the formerly black and gold brand felt like a solid way to build up a new challenger.
And yet, 273 days and counting later, Rose remains champion. She’s defeated Gonzalez, Cora Jade, Io Shirai, Dakota Kai, Indie Hartwell, Wendy Choo, and even Roxanne Perez, and if Mr. McMahon was still in charge, she likely would have beaten Zoey Starks and Nikkita Lyons, too, despite being the clear top contenders for the title.
If Levesque wants to use NXT as a breeding ground for future talent, bring Rose back to WWE, give the belt to either Starks, Lyons, or even Perez, and allow the trio to duke it out in a sort of Women’s Revolution 2.0.
Ahead of her match with @WWE_Aliyah, @LaceyEvansWWE commands the WWE Universe to show her more respect. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/I3iug5tIPO
— WWE (@WWE) July 25, 2022
SmackDown – Lacey Evans
The WWE really wants Lacey Evans to be a heel. They want her to get boos in the arena, to embarrass Aliyah, and want Aliyah, in turn, to eventually turn the tables and embarrass her if the story is booked correctly.
Now granted, maybe this is building towards something bigger; maybe Evans has been tabbed as the next challenger for Liv Morgan, and we’ll see the day where the two women are feuding from just after SummerSlam all the way up to the Royal Rumble. But if that’s the case, it’s probably for the best to get to that story in the not-too-distant future, as yet another week of Evans embarrassing her should-be opponent isn’t making anyone look good and is frankly giving a would-be heel the sort of go-home heat that no believable challenger wants before they even start a feud.
Much like with the decision to change the trajectory of the Maximum Males Models on the fly, re-calibrating Evans’ heat to something more endearing would be a wise call.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism