‘He’s Not Listening’ – Former WWE Star Recalls Triple H Conversation After He Took Over From Vince McMahon

WWE

A former WWE star has recalled a conversation with Triple H after he took charge of the company’s creative from Vince McMahon.

In July 2022, Vince McMahon announced his retirement from WWE after details of sexual misconduct allegations and hush money payments were made public by the Wall Street Journal.

While McMahon would later return to the fold before departing for good in January 2024, it was Triple H who took immediate charge of WWE’s creative once McMahon first stepped away.

The change in leadership saw many changes to WWE’s programming, with characters changing, former stars returning and some once-pushed stars falling out of favor.

Former WWE star Sidney Akeem (fka Reggie & SCRYPTS), was a fairly prominent figure on WWE TV throughout the end of McMahon’s time in charge, with the former Cirque de Soleil performer initially playing the Sommelier of Carmella, before breaking out as a performer in the 24/7 Championship division.

Speaking with fellow ex WWE star Duke Hanson (fka Duke Hudson) on Between Two Jobs, Akeem was asked about WWE’s change in creative leadership and what his conversation with Triple H was like when he took over from McMahon.

Revealing the one-sided nature of their talk, Akeem said:

“It wasn’t… I had a conversation with him trying to rewrite myself because we knew the 24/7 stuff was going down the drain. I’m like ‘I have this idea, this character with the mask and this and that, this and that, Rey Mysterio’s on board and it’d be super cool.’

“And he said ‘Alright,’ he’s looking at me as I’m taking to him but he’s not listening. And so I left the conversation, left the room thinking like, ‘that was a waste, that didn’t get anything or anywhere.’ 

“And then I get a message from John Cone saying ‘Hey Reg, we’re thinking about sending you back to NXT, how you feel about that?’ I said ‘Cool.’ And that was it, I wasn’t gonna say ‘Nah.’ I would have got fired.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Duke Hanson would then point out how Akeem was still in a fortunate position after being sent back down to NXT, given he got to remain on his main roster contract, to which Akeem responded:

“Very fortunate. They said I was going to keep my (contract) ‘Cool, I ain’t got to travel or whatever. Totally fine.

“It was cool, I knew how to be in front of a crowd. That was from the circus days. Did I know how to work? Absolutely not, I was a gimmick wrestler. All my segments were backstage or in parking lots and occasionally had the gimmick match, where psychology really didn’t matter. But did I learn? Did I understand it? Absolutely.

“I stayed in Gorilla and I watched events, I watched producers, I watched people call their matches and I learned what the higher-ups wanted. I was just never able to apply it.

“So when I got back to NXT, I guess they assumed that I was just going to have it, but I was never in a position to actually implement those tools. But then slowly but surely it started to click, but then it was too late.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Akeem departed WWE in June 2024 following the expiration of his contract, since then he has continued wrestling on the independent scene, and even debuted a new masked character ‘Soleil’ earlier this year.

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• wwe
• Vince McMahon
• Triple H
• reggie
• SCRYPTS
• sidney akeem

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