During a recent appearance on the “Something To Wrestle With” podcast, JBL evaluated Triple H and Vince McMahon’s leadership roles in WWE.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On The Rock’s ‘It’s a work’ comments: “He’s saying all the right things. And I don’t — you know, you’d have to read his mind and somehow read between the lines, which I don’t know how you can do, to dispute that. I’ve been in situations where you’re a former champion and you have two guys that are fighting for over a title or something. And I’ve nearly always opted — now Rock’s a different level, so understand that. You know, I’m not putting myself in the Rock’s level. I’ve always opted out or always tried to opt out of being away from the finish, where it didn’t distract from what the two guys were doing for the championship, especially the guy that won the championship. Because you still got the guy you just beat out there, you don’t want you don’t want a bunch of extra stuff out there for people to watch.
“I’ve always opted out of being out there in big matches, of culmination things, of title changes where I wouldn’t be around. When we were um at TNA, I was with Matt Cardona. I specifically got out of the arena, because I wanted Joe Henry to be there on his own. I didn’t want to be a distraction. Now Rock’s a different level. And he was a bigger part of that than what I was [in] that angle. But I’ve done a lot of stuff like that, I can — what he’s saying is all the right things. And the only way you can dispute it is to say ‘Well that’s not what he really meant.’ And I don’t know how you can say that. Maybe that’s true, but you you certainly can’t prove that. All you can say is he said the right things, and I would I would say that that’s a pretty selfless act.”
On Triple H’s leadership and compared to Vince McMahon: “My main point is with — Look, I’ve never seen anybodythat I thought could take the place of Vince. IO didn’t think anybody could [do] the stuff that Vince does. I have been blown away by Hunter. I mean, I’ve watched him where he — you know, very much like Vince. Vince would come up and say something to — a talent would to say something to Vince. Vince is talking to somebody else about something completely different, then a talent comes up and talks to him about something. Vince would just change gears and compartmentalize. It’s really, it’s a rare trait. And Hunter has that. And I’d see Vince — you know, he’d pause and I would tell guys, ‘When you get done don’t keep talking. Vince is going to pause for a minute, it’s going to be uncomfortable. And then he’s going to give you an answer.’ And I see Hunter almost do the same thing and come up with an answer that’s just better than what you — he gives you the answer that you wish you had come up. It’s the guy that asked the question in the room, he goes “Why didn’t I ask that?” Because that was the question you should ask.
“That’s how good I think Hunter is. I don’t know who in the world could do what he’s done in WWE the last couple years. I think [the] business has speaks for itself. I mean, it’s a matter of, ‘Okay we’re going to judge you based upon success.’ You can’t have much more success unless you sell out four arenas in one night.”
