Triple H Sees Raw Star As “Reclamation Project”

A new report has provided some insight into how Triple H views one of the biggest stars on WWE Monday Night Raw, Finn Balor.

Ever since Triple H took over as WWE’s Chief Content Officer in late July following the retirement of Vince McMahon, he has put his stamp on how Raw & Smackdown are booked. Several wrestlers that Triple H worked with closely during his decade-long period running NXT have been featured prominently on WWE’s main shows, including Finn Balor.

In 2014, Triple H was overseeing talent relations and signed the man known as Prince Devitt to a WWE contract. While Balor had plenty of experience as a pro wrestler at that point based on his success in NJPW, he wasn’t that well-known by WWE fans, so putting Balor in NXT was the smart move. Balor ended up winning the NXT Title during that first run.

At SummerSlam 2016, Balor was a fresh face that was given a big victory when he beat Seth Rollins to become the first-ever WWE Universal Champion. Unfortunately, Balor suffered a major shoulder injury that required surgery, so he was forced to give up the title and never got a chance to defend it. The next few years on Raw & Smackdown were okay for Balor,

Balor was back in NXT again under Triple H’s watch in 2019, which led to Balor becoming an NXT Champion again, this time with more of a darker character.

Earlier this year, Balor embraced that darker character again when he turned heel by joining The Judgment Day with Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley while that trio kicked out Edge from the group. They have since added Dominik Mysterio to the group while Balor has emerged as a leader.

The Twitter account @WrestleVotes is known for providing backstage insight into WWE has shared some information with GiveMeSport about the dynamic between Triple H and Balor.

“They’ve always, always really liked each other. Seeing what Finn has been over the last few years, Hunter sees almost like a reclamation project, but one that he can get behind because of their personal relationship.”

Over the last several months, Balor has had feuds with some of WWE’s biggest names of all time like Edge, Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles with The Judgment Day featured prominently on Raw on a weekly basis. As Wrestlevotes noted, Triple H has thought highly of Balor especially since he was one of the biggest signings when Triple H was running NXT.

“Hunter’s first real big name was Fergal, so they’ve always had a relationship and worked well together. Hunter has always believed in him. When Finn got injured, after he won the title at SummerSlam 2016, he was checked on him daily, like keeping the relationship tight, even though he left NXT.”

This coming Saturday, November 26th, Balor will be in action against AJ Styles at SummerSlam in a matchup between former Bullet Club leaders.