Jim Ross Wasn’t A Fan Of Triple H Being Punished For Kliq’s Curtain Call, Talks Triple H’s Chemistry With The Rock

In a recent edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed Triple H being punished for the Kliq’s curtain call, Triple H’s chemistry with The Rock, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Jim Ross on Triple H’s early gimmick in WWE: “At the end of the day, as we always thought, Vince blessed it. But maybe somebody on creative or Hunter himself came up with it. I’m not real sure. But the gimmick was nothing really extraordinarily new. The aloof, looking-down-his-nose at you heel was not a new concept. It was just repackaged and redefined in his character and his body. He was a very creative guy. If he was in a match on TV, even young like that, he would always have ideas on how to make it better. So he was willing to take a chance on his own creative and his own instincts. So I would probably think at the end of the day, Vince probably put the finishing touches on all that stuff and made Hunter that Greenwich – it wasn’t a coincidence that Vince lived in Greenwich.”

On not being a fan of Triple H’s punishment for the Kliq’s curtain call: “I thought the punishment bullshit was weak. I’m not saying there wasn’t punishment. I’m just saying, was the punishment necessary? Why do you punish one guy for the acts and conduct of his buddies who aren’t even there any longer? Why don’t we move on? Triple H had done nothing to be punished for, other than he picked the wrong friends. But he still had to stay after school, sit in the corner, and all these analogies you wanna come up with. But why? At the end of the day, the lucky part was, guess who won King of the Ring and guess who got over like a million bucks and made the company any other money Vince had there since the heyday of Hogan?”

On The Rock’s WWE debut at Survivor Series 1996 and his chemistry with Triple H: “Boy, they had great chemistry. Two of our young studs and young stars – this is kind of what we all in the talent relations area and under Vince’s leadership were wanting. These are the kinds of men who had something special to offer. I think it’s safe to say that both Triple H and The Rock had a lot to offer that was special and unique and things that helped make them global stars. This is exactly where we wanted to be in that area. There were fumbles and stumbles and “die Rocky, die” and all these things because we pushed him too hard. We were force-feeding The Rock and a lot of the fans, having more product knowledge than their predecessor fans, looked at it as they were being forced to like this guy. They didn’t want to be forced to like anything. They wanted to be able to accept it and learn to like it on its own merits and not because of the hype machine.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Grilling JR with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.