Triple H assumed creative control of WWE in July 2022, marking the end of Vince McMahon’s 40-year reign. McMahon made a comeback in 2023 but was gone again by the end of January 2024, leaving Triple H solely in charge.
McMahon’s version of pro-wrestling came with countless quirks and idiosyncrasies that defined the WWE product for years.
Since taking over, Triple H has changed many of those rules and stylistic choices.
Here are some of the changes he has made so far.
6. Pro-Wrestling Can Finally Be Said
Language was something that was heavily policed under Vince McMahon – with a long and bizarre list of banned words.
None were stranger than the term “pro-wrestling” itself, which McMahon insisted be replaced with “sports entertainment.”
In his “universe”, what WWE did was fundamentally different, and calling it wrestling was explicitly forbidden.
Under Triple H, this rule has finally been relaxed, and the phrase “pro-wrestling” can once again be spoken.
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5. Long Championship Reigns
One decidedly notable change under Triple H has been the length of title reigns.
Starting in the late 90s, WWE booking was characterized by frequent title changes, which served to create multiple-time champions like John Cena.
Under Triple H, we’ve seen a return to extended reigns: Although his reign started under McMahon, Roman Reigns held the Universal Championship for 1,316 days and the WWE Championship for 735 days, Cody Rhodes then held the latter for a year between WrestleMania 40 and 41, and Gunther’s Intercontinental run lasted nearly two years.
This shift has restored prestige to the titles and added greater meaning to championship reigns.
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4. The Existence Of Other Promotions
Under Vince McMahon, even mentioning other promotions was heresy.
In McMahon’s sports entertainment vision of pro wrestling, WWE was a sealed “universe” — anything outside of it was irrelevant.
Since Triple H took over, we’ve heard the surreal sound of Michael Cole name-dropping indie promotion Pro-Wrestling Guerilla and top joshi company Stardom, and even had Pat McAfee praising Sting’s AEW retirement match.
This shift adds legitimacy not only to WWE’s presentation but also to its performers, whose full careers can now be acknowledged and detailed.
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3. Long-Term Storytelling
In the latter years of Vince McMahon’s rule over WWE, storylines and angles would often start, then vanish or shift direction with little logic.
It felt like everything was made up on the fly — often because it was, with McMahon notorious for ripping up scripts hours before Raw went live.
Under Triple H, this has completely changed: storylines now unfold consistently, often over long arcs, like Cody Rhodes’ quest to “finish the story”.
Most importantly, things finally make sense — continuity and payoff have undeniably returned to WWE storytelling.
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2. Working with Other Companies
Since the turn of the century, Vince McMahon kept WWE a sealed “universe” — other promotions didn’t exist
This was a shift from the 1990s, when WWE worked with All Japan Pro Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and ECW.
Under Triple H, that has changed — WWE now has a formal partnership with TNA, informal relationships with Pro Wrestling NOAH and Marigold in Japan, and has allowed talent to appear on indie shows like GCW.
Whether these relationships signal a new collaborative era — or ultimately lead to these promotions being absorbed — remains to be seen, however.
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1. Focus On In-Ring Action
Under Vince McMahon, in-ring action was not emphasized – matches on TV were rarely given time, and wrestlers were not permitted from veering outside WWE’s house style.
This has now changed.
Even the most ardent of WWE’s detractors would have to admit there has been a marked improvement in the in-ring wrestling under Triple H.
Matches are now given time and talented workers like Chad Gable and Penta are being allowed to actually wrestle and put on spectacular in-ring performances.
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