Triple H expressed openness to potential returns for anyone in WWE, emphasizing a willingness to have conversations despite past conflicts or controversies.
Speaking on the SI Media Podcast, he acknowledged that while some individuals’ actions may permanently tarnish their prospects, he prefers to approach discussions with a mindset of growth and change.
Using CM Punk’s 2023 return as an example, Triple H shared how he addressed their rocky history by initiating their conversations with a focus on personal evolution:
“There are people out there and I would say because of things they did that you just can’t get outside of the scope of, that would be a negative, no matter how you cut it, it would be a negative. But I would always be open to the conversation. No matter who it was.
When Punk and I were having these conversations with Nick (Khan), and going through all this, one of the very first things I said when I got on the phone is, ‘I just want to clear the air here. I’m not the same guy I was 10, 15 years ago. If I was, I wasted 10, 15 years of my life.’
I would believe, Phil, that you’re not the same person you were 10 years ago and you have changed, and I am going to assume that. Let’s both assume that like everything else — bad thoughts or whatever, real or imagined — let’s just rid ourselves of them and say, ‘These are two new people that are going to talk about doing business together.’”
Triple H highlighted past reconciliations with figures like Bruno Sammartino and The Ultimate Warrior as evidence that long-standing differences can be resolved for the right reasons:
“Everybody changes; everybody grows. Everybody moves on — whether positively or negatively. And I think that things that people did in the past, whatever bad blood, sometimes people can overcome for the right reasons. I believe that now; I believed that years ago when I was talking to Bruno. I believed that when I was talking to Warrior.”
He reiterated his flexible approach to doing business with controversial figures, concluding, “I will never say never. We will have to see.”
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