During a recent episode of his “Something to Wrestle” podcast, Bruce Prichard commented on the massive pop Triple H got when he returned from a quad tear in 2002, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Triple H’s return pop on Raw in 2002 after being sidelined with a quad tear: “I actually was not at Gorilla. I actually was in the audience. I was right on the side. I love to do that. I love to go out and feel the audience and be in the middle of the audience. You feel the reaction – it’s just hearing it, it’s feeling it. It was a goosebumps moment feeling good for him, but also looking at it and going, ‘Okay man, everybody is ready.’ And they were ready for it. It was nice to have that level of talent back…..it was electric. He had been gone for a while, and the audience wanted it.”
On the decision for Triple H to be a babyface when he made his return: “We wanted him to be a babyface. It was a situation where when you started the whole comeback video, everything he overcame – look at it. You had to admire it. You had to respect. I don’t think you could’ve done anything – he couldn’t have come back as a heel at that point. He had overcome too much.”
On where the 2002 Royal Rumble ranks among the best in WWE history: “Definitely top five. It was just so much fun, and there were so many little nuance things in there that made it fun. And you came out of the thing with a guy you had been building up for a while in the rightful place. I thought it was great sh*t, man. It made Jericho, it made Hunter, it made Maven. Flair returning in his hold stomping grounds and having a tremendous match with Vince. Outstanding. It’s one of those where you come off on a high from, and it was a lot of fun.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
