Nick Khan Reflects On Triple H’s “Traumatic” Health Emergency
WWE CEO Nick Khan has looked back on Triple H’s medical emergency that he says was as traumatic an event that didn’t end in death that he’s ever seen.
Triple H suffered a serious “cardiac event” in September 2021 that led to him being forced to take some time away from his duties in WWE. He has since recovered and is in charge of the creative direction of WWE – for now – as the company’s Chief Content Officer, however, he will never wrestle again.
Speaking on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Nick Khan discussed the brutal situation Triple H went through and says he spoke to The Game mere hours before he had to undergo life-saving heart surgery:
“As traumatic as anything I’ve ever seen a friend go through that didn’t result in death. I don’t think Paul has undersold it. I remember I was talking to him, it was on a weekend, I said to him ‘hey man are you ok? You sound out of breath.’ He said ‘I might have COVID, I’m gonna go get checked out,’ this and that. Next thing I know Stephanie texted me hours later saying that he got rushed to Yale Medical Center. Part of the heart called the widow maker – I don’t know the exact term for it – was blocked and he had to go in for an emergency procedure.”
“I remember seeing him a month after that and it did not look like physically the Triple H that we all knew. And I don’t mean the muscular part and all of that, even in his post-career part, he just looked like a different person. It was scary, it was scary for him, it was scary for Stephanie. They have three school-age daughters, scary for them, and I think Steph made the move that, again you, me, any of us if we could make it would make it if your spouse is down like that, is say ‘hey I’m just gonna take a moment here’ leave of absence.”
Nick Khan then explained how he was on the call when Vince McMahon asked his daughter to come back to work and how she didn’t need to be asked twice:
“Then boom things shifted, I would always say to her in public and in private it was the shortest leave of absence in the history of corporate America, I think it was less than 3 weeks. When she was asked, she got called by her dad, Vince, and I was on the phone, hey here’s what’s going on, we need you to step in at the time as the interim CEO, no problem dad, I’m in.”
Nick Khan is also sure to have caused a stir with his comments on AEW CEO Tony Khan, saying he’s sure he appreciates his father’s pockets.
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