Triple H’s WWE has largely been free from many flaws, for the most part. Of course, things are not perfect, but his vision has shown signs of a clear direction and purpose with a desire to have meaningful stories and matches on every show and in every part of the card, no matter how small they may seem in theory (no pun intended). This concept is foreign to WWE fans as Vince McMahon very rarely if ever, put any emphasis on things that did not have to do with the major players or stories he was interested in telling. Hence why the midcard titles, tag team titles, and the women’s tag team titles all felt like yesterday’s news under Vince for years on end. This idea of Triple H’s is welcomed and requires a deep and vast roster for it to work. This means that WWE needs to turn to the outside at times and bring in those who have the potential to add something great to storylines, titles, feuds, or the overall TV product as a whole. It does eventually bare the question, though: when is enough too much?
To be fair to AEW, who has been often criticized for their bloated roster, and even 2018-2020 WWE, who had so many people they infamously released a plethora of them on one given “Black Wednesday” at the start of the pandemic, this WWE isn’t like them…yet. Hopefully, they don’t reach that point, but with the recent return of Bronson Reed, to a nearly silent crowd, while it happened, Triple H is teetering on following in the footsteps of Tony Khan and Vince McMahon when it comes to hoarding talent. Let’s take a look at some of Triple H’s recently re-signed talents, as well as those rumored to be coming back to the WWE in the near future, and see if we can draw the line of where he should stop (or should’ve already stopped) before he crosses the point of no return.
The first major return under the Triple H umbrella came way back at Summerslam in July, his first PLE in charge, was Dakota Kai as a part of Damage CTRL. Bayley’s team has been a staple of WWE TV since this night, enduring a long feud with Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair and her crew of friends. Also, Kai has held the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles twice already in that short timeframe and is one-half of the current champions at the time of writing. It’s safe to say that her return to the company has been vital to what things have been done on TV since it took place.
Braun Strowman’s return to WWE was seemingly all but confirmed by several news outlets in the hours leading up to his September return to TV. Once he arrived, he attacked literally everyone in a major tag team match on Raw before heading to Smackdown to feud with…who exactly? A brief feud with the Alpha Academy aside, Braun’s time back has been largely uninspired and directionless. While some returns have had an immediate impact on certain stories or have developed quickly into fresh new ones, Braun is just kind of there right now. Granted, he is a former Universal Champion who has a lot of talent between the ropes and provides the exact type of depth Triple H wants for his vision, so his return makes sense in that respect. Hopefully, they just give him some type of meaningful direction soon, or his place will quickly become unwarranted.
The O.C. (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) returned to WWE to help AJ Styles feud with the Judgement Day (yes, that’s still going on after nearly a year) and even brought in Mia Yim to join them as well. For the Good Brothers at least, a WWE return seemed ever unlikely considering how they spoke of them after leaving as a part of the “Black Wednesday” releases, but money talks and they are back in the land of the giants for a second run. Mia Yim left after a disappointing run as a member of Retribution (granted that faction was always doomed, so that can be understood) and she had a solid little indie run and married Keith Lee before returning to help fend off Rhea Ripley and the Judgement Day. This group will likely need to do their own thing once this feud finally comes to an end (or at least have several stories rather than one for all of them) to keep things fresh, but the depth provided here is vast. The Good Brothers are a viable team to compete against the Uso’s (and possibly even dethrone them) while Yim is one who could be elevated to the Women’s Title if the right heel is champion (Rhea Ripley being a prime candidate). Even if she weren’t to win, there are a lot of things to be gained from an opportunity like that, so we shall see where the road takes the O.C. in the coming months.
Dexter Lumis’ arrival on Raw was the exact type of newness and freshness Raw had lacked for so long. An interwoven story taking place on the periphery of the main points of the TV broadcast provided people with a reason to watch every little second of the show and focus their attention on everything. To make you want to pay attention is something that has been lacking for so long, and Lumis’ return has done this. His ensuing feud with The Miz has been largely entertaining and has given us a couple of cool segments, some great comedy from The Miz, and a well-worked story both inside and outside of the ring. Lumis may not ascend to the World Title scene in his WWE career, but the popularity he has shown and the success he’s had with someone like The Miz will likely ensure a permanent place in the upper midcard for years to come.
Johnny Gargano coming home was nothing short of euphoric for fans when he shocked everyone with a rather random return in August, making WWE his home once again. It was good to see Johnny back, and it was clear from the jump that he still has main event potential written all over him, and the fans are buying in. Triple H will still have work to do to show non-NXT fans what a fantastic underdog Johnny can be (he has a lot of work to prove that many of these NXT-only products are worth the time now that they are on the main roster), but Johnny’s definitely the easiest one to portray. Just let Johnny be Johnny, and things will go exactly as everyone wants them to, and that’s the beauty of pro wrestling.
So, for the most part, thus far, we’ve talked about all of the returns that have either made sense for one reason or another, whether it be storyline purposes, depth of a division where it can be used, or simply getting a fantastic talent back under contract so you can be the one to deploy them, these are all passable. Now, let’s see some that continue to create questions in fans’ minds. First up, Hit Row. Now, I am not throwing shade about the botched dive Top Dolla missed on Smackdown, because it’s just not his thing. What I will say is that this team needs that mouthpiece leader that Swerve Strickland used to be for them, but with him now in AEW, there is a hole that needs to be filled. Whether someone takes over that mantle or one of them rises to a massive challenge, there is a piece missing here, and while they provide depth to WWE’s tag team division, I cannot see them ever dethroning a team like the Uso’s.
Emma had a very successful run in Impact Wrestling after her initial WWE departure in 2017, and she is one of the few recent returns to not have been released in the last 2-3 years. That said, she never really broke through to the championship scene in impact like many thought she would after leaving WWE, and if she couldn’t do it there, what makes her think she can do it here once again? Triple H being in charge is the main proponent, but even still, there’s a very large women’s division with many more homegrown stars up and coming. Her return match against Ronda Rousey was a fun surprise, but then she quickly fell off the map, and truthfully, I have no idea what might be next for her. At least Hit Row has a tag title shot on Smackdown this week. She will likely not see the title scene anytime soon again, if ever, so it just remains to be seen what she may be able to provide other than depth and the occasional small story addition.
Ahead of Clash at the Castle in September, Karrion Kross and Scarlett returned to WWE TV and made an immediate impact by attacking Drew McIntyre and staring down Roman Reigns. Talk about an impactful way to make a comeback. Things seemed high for Kross, who sat ringside during the Clash at the Castle main event and then embarked on a lengthy feud with McIntyre into the Fall. Then, he seemingly just lost that main event shine and fell into a somewhat uninteresting period, and now seems primed for a feud with Rey Mysterio. With Triple H’s first Wrestlemania incoming, it’s going to be interesting to see if Kross and Scarlett play much of a role at the show, or if their stock won’t return to the heights that it peaked at on night one. Kross has the potential to unlock something massive character-wise, but will his lack of in-ring acumen, compared to others at least, harm his value?
Some returns are too soon to tell or just haven’t been on TV enough to give us an idea of which way they may lean. Candice LeRae has the most potential of them all, I’d venture to say, and can be the equivalent of what I said about her husband Johnny Gargano earlier. Tegan Nox seems poised for a tag team run with either Liv Morgan or Shotzi Blackheart, and Valhalla (FKA Sarah Logan) seems to be the motivation behind a repackaged Viking Raiders, who could decimate the tag division given the chance. Bronson Reed was the most recent one to return this past week on Raw, and it seems like his return may be the start of the tipping toward the wrong side of too many returns incoming. Here’s to hoping there’s something for Bronson, but I don’t have much faith in that myself.
The big question mark here is that of Bray Wyatt. Wyatt’s return was the most highly anticipated thing of this year, and literally blew the roof off of the building in Philadelphia back in October when he returned. The stuff with Uncle Howdy has been intense and drama-filled, and it begs the question: who really is Uncle Howdy? So many questions, and some warranted questions of where things are going, but Wyatt and LA Knight are telling a compelling story that will hopefully only lead to more fun and exciting things to come in the future. The reason for the question mark right now is too much about all of these things is still unknown, so time will be needed to appropriately judge and react to Wyatt’s early days of his return.
In addition to all of these aforementioned returns (I’m sure I missed some somewhere, but I tried my best to tackle everyone), there are always rumors of who is next. Some rumors can easily be dismissed and rightfully so, but some make more sense or even come from reliable sources. Rumors regarding the potential return of sanity to realign with Nikki Cross or the likes of Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo coming back to WWE now that Triple H is in charge. Do any of them need to come back? No, not really. Does WWE need any of those particular individuals back at the moment? Again, not really, no. Could there be something to uncover with them that a WWE return may open our eyes to? That’s the one yes. But I don’t think that small yes should outweigh much larger no’s, and for now, WWE should steer clear of bringing in more talent that they cannot use as frequently as they should anytime soon.
So, what do you guys think? Which has been your favorite (and least favorite) return of the Triple H era thus far? Where do you think they will reach the point where they should stop, or have they done so already? Let us know!
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