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- When Triple H first took over creative control, there were many wrestlers who were clearly not high up in his priority list, and it felt like they had been thrown to the side and disregarded to catering or jobber status. Some of this could have been put down to growing pains in a new role for The Game, and they could have potentially risen in prominence in the months since then. Instead of that outcome though, more names have been emerging as being forgotten about by Triple H, with him and WWE clearly having no creative interest or plans in even more of their roster. It is interesting to not only look at how else Triple H has given up on but to see if the fortunes of any of those mentioned previously have changed in any way.
Following Vince McMahon's retirement announcement during the Summer of 2022, a retirement that itself was short-lived, Triple H would take over as the new creative head of WWE. In the months following, HHH would re-hire number of WWE Superstars that were fired under Vince from 2020 through 2022.
RELATED: 10 Wrestlers Whose Career Got Derailed By WWE's Booking Of Triple H
For many WWE fans and wrestling fans in general, the overall quality of WWE's television shows has increased a great deal, with better storylines, better in-ring action, and an overall increase in interest with the product. While Triple H has made a number of great choices as WWE's booker, he has seemingly let a number of WWE Superstars lose stock within the company, as these are some wrestlers within WWE that Triple H has given up on.
UPDATE: 2023/09/07 14:54 EST BY ANDREW KELLY
When Triple H first took over creative control, there were many wrestlers who were clearly not high up in his priority list, and it felt like they had been thrown to the side and disregarded to catering or jobber status. Some of this could have been put down to growing pains in a new role for The Game, and they could have potentially risen in prominence in the months since then. Instead of that outcome though, more names have been emerging as being forgotten about by Triple H, with him and WWE clearly having no creative interest or plans in even more of their roster. It is interesting to not only look at how else Triple H has given up on but to see if the fortunes of any of those mentioned previously have changed in any way.
15 Apollo Crews
Apollo Crews was drafted back up to Monday Night Raw during this year’s draft, and after a stint back down in NXT, he was hoping for a career resurgence. He has done essentially nothing since coming back to the main roster.
He has managed to only make it onto Raw three times in as many months, losing each time, and aside from that he has been a regular on the forgotten and ignored Main Event show. He is a complete afterthought right now.
14 Emma
To say that Triple H has “given up” on Emma would imply that he even tried to begin with. However, Emma has been dead in the water ever since her return to WWE last year.
She has felt like one of the most pointless signings since Triple H became the head of creative, getting lost in the shuffle and doing nothing but lose whenever she does manage to make it onto TV. She was once a major force in women's wrestling, and is now a forgotten member of the roster.
13 Cameron Grimes
Cameron Grimes spent some time on the sidelines due to WWE not having any plans for him. When he debuted on SmackDown, it quickly became apparent that WWE still had no concrete plans in place.
He was lost in the shuffle almost immediately. He has hardly been able to showcase the charisma that made him so likable in NXT, and even in the ring, he hasn’t been given many opportunities. It's clear to everyone that Triple H has given up on him already.
12 Elias
When Triple H became head of creative, the Ezekiel character was killed off and Elias came back. However, despite being one of the most over names in WWE a few years back, he has been given very little to do.
He has wandered aimlessly around storylines with Matt Riddle and Rick Boogs, before eventually being taken off TV back in May, and he hasn’t emerged again since. It feels like he is on borrowed time.
11 Candice LeRae
Despite being one of the best in-ring talents on the roster when given the chance, Candice LeRae’s main roster WWE run has been a complete dud.
She has hardly any character to speak of, she goes in and out of being featured preventing her from gaining any momentum, and at the moment she feels nothing more than glorified enhancement talent, which is a huge shame.
10 Karrion Kross
One of the first big names to return under Triple H's watch was none other than Karrion Kross, alongside his real-life wife and on-screen manager, Scarlett. Upon his arrival, Kross was positioned against Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre as one of the top stars on SmackDown, something that would quickly change. Following a program with McIntyre, Kross' stock on Friday Nights would begin to dwindle, as he found himself falling down the card.
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From being poised as a main eventer to feuding with Madcap Moss & Emma in the lower midcard, Karrion Kross' return to WWE has left quite a lot to be desired, as he has yet to break out. Looking at this year's Royal Rumble, Kross would last a total of 4 minutes without getting a single elimination, and would be totally absent from the WrestleMania 39 card.
9 Lacey Evans
Lacey Evans has had one of the strangest runs in WWE within recent memory. Debuting in NXT, Lacey played a patriotic character that was mostly well-liked by the fans thanks to her looks and impressive athletic ability. She would eventually be called up to the main roster and would feature in a terrible feud with Becky Lynch, before aligning with Baron Corbin.
Both Vince McMahon and Triple H have shown over the past few years that neither man knows what to do with Lacey as a performer, as she has had a shocking amount of heel and face turns for no real reason. Lacey barely matters on the weekly TV for WWE and has only lost fan support in recent months after posting some outrageous ideas on social media about mental health.
*After teases from Lacey Evans herself, it was confirmed by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer that Lacey Evans recently left WWE. The company had nothing for her for several months, and this all but confirmed that she was not in plans.
8 Dexter Lumis
Returning to WWE during the second half of 2022, Dexter Lumis may be a name that some fans say was always destined to be a lower card act, however, the company went out of their way to portray him as a bigger name during his return angle, which would then spiral into a multi-month feud between Lumis, The Miz, and Johnny Gargano.
It remains to be seen where exactly Dexter Lumis will go from here in WWE, but there is a severe lack of urgency or care surrounding the former NXT standout booking that it feels as if the time has past to do anything of note with him.
*Following his feud with The Miz, Dexter Lumis has disappeared from WWE programming aside from a few appearances here and there on Main Event. It is unclear if he will even return to WWE TV at this point.
7 Angel Garza
A former NXT Cruiserweight Champion, Angel Garza one seemed poised to be one of WWE's next top Latino stars. In the years since his NXT Cruiserweight Championship win, Garza has seen his booking go all over the place. At one point, Angel featured in a faction made up of himself, Andrade, Austin Theory, and Zelina Vega, though he is currently in tag team with Humberto Carillo.
While WWE has improved in a number of ways under Triple H, it seems that one area that the company still lacks is in its care of their tag team divisions. There is no real rhyme or reason as to why Humberto and Angel have not been featured more as a tag team, or as singles stars, with Angel rarely appearing on TV anymore despite his alluring charisma and strong ring work.
* Due to Triple H having nothing for Angel Garza on the main roster, he was sent back down to NXT alongside Humberto Carillo, where the pair have been a part of a storyline in which they are trying to rebuild their relationship with one another.
6 Humberto Carillo
Debuting on the WWE main roster in 2019, Humberto Carillo was certainly an interesting name within the company at one point. Featuring in a number of high profile feuds with AJ Styles, Andrade, Angel Garza, and Seth Rollins, Humberto has been a featured player within WWE before. However, over time it became clear that they only saw him as another body on the roster, before eventually sticking him and Angel Garza together as a team.
Under Triple H, the team of Los Lotharios has not done much at all, rarely wrestling on TV and most often losing when they do. Should the team stick together in the WWE Draft, it seems unlikely that their stock within WWE will rise at all, as the act is dead in the water.
5 Xia Li
Another perplexing superstar currently without a direction in WWE is Xia Li. Going through a number of character changes, Xia Li has gotten some recent start-stop booking under Triple H, though nothing has stuck for her. She lacks any real depth to her on-screen character, has failed to make an Impact on Friday Night SmackDown, and just seems to be a WWE Superstar without any real connection to the fans. It feels like Triple H only sees her as someone to get other stars over at this point.
4 Mustafa Ali
It seems crazy, but in 2019, Mustafa Ali was being positioned as one of the main event stars on WWE SmackDown. After thrilling fans with his performance against Daniel Bryan, it seemed that the WrestleMania 35 direction was for a WWE Championship clash between Mustafa Ali & Daniel Bryan, though that would be derailed by both an injury to Ali and the overwhelming support growing behind Kofi Kingston, which forced Vince McMahon's hand into booking Kingston vs Bryan for WrestleMania.
After sharing on Twitter that he requested his release from WWE, Mustafa Ali would be taken off TV for several months before returning in Summer 2022, where many fans thought he had worked his issues out with WWE and would be treated better. Instead, Ali is once again a fall guy on Raw, losing all of his big matches and has been given a silly gimmick of a loser who is way too happy. It remains clear as day that WWE has no plans for him.
*Mustafa Ali, outside of a brief push for the Intercontinental Championship, has not been in Triple H's plans whatsoever, and a return to NXT to enter the North American Title picture was a clear indication of that being even more-so the case.
3 The Good Brothers
Returning to WWE in controversial fashion, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows would redebut in WWE while Anderson was still holding a championship in New Japan. Hardcore WWE fans used this as a way to argue that New Japan and WWE were working together, however, nothing would come of this aside from Anderson working two final NJPW shows to drop his NEVER Openweight Championship.
Back in WWE, the tag team would align with AJ Styles to reform The O.C. and would also recruit Mia Yim to join the group. With Styles going down with an ankle injury, Gallows & Anderson would vanish from the spotlight, wrestling on Main Event and rarely appearing on TV. Without AJ Styles, the two seem to mean nothing to WWE and lack any direction or importance.
2 Dana Brooke
Signing with WWE in 2013, this year marks 10 years of Dana Brooke within the WWE System. In NXT, the company built her character around her physical strength, bodybuilding career, and modeling work, with her playing the sidekick role for Emma. She would eventually move to the main roster, where she would become Charlotte Flair's sidekick before breaking out on her own.
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In the years since her main roster call-up, Dana Brooke has often been used as a jobber within the women's division, as well as a comedy character for the 24/7 Championship. Under HHH, Dana's usage on-screen has declined drastically compared to her time under Vince McMahon, with Triple H likely not seeing great returns on investment with Dana.
*After so long of doing so little, Dana Brooke has finally found something to do, though this has come in NXT. This is another example of Triple H having no plans for someone so they've been thrown back down to NXT.
1 Shanky
Originally working as Jinder Mahal's heater alongside Veer, Shanky would later become a comedy act on SmackDown, being saddled with a dancing gimmick. Despite his impressive height, this new gimmick would lead to nothing for Shanky, with him just being used for random dancing moments on SmackDown with Samantha Irvin.
Under Triple H, Shanky would vanish from television, with him still being contracted by WWE. His last match would occur in July 2022 per cagematch.net, with that also being his final on-screen appearance in WWE. It seems as if Triple H has totally forgotten about Shanky, as he has not even appeared in NXT since then, leading to him taking the top spot as a WWE Superstar that HHH has given up on.
