Paul “Triple H” Levesque made his return to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando on Wednesday, per multiple sources of POST Wrestling‘s John Pollock. Pollock tweeted, “Of the people I heard from, Levesque stated “he’s back” – it is unknown what that entails but that was the wording I was given.” In September 2021, “The Game” suffered what was listed at the time as a “cardiac event,” which was later revealed to be viral pneumonia, inflamed lungs and heart failure. He confirmed at the time that his in-ring career was over, but that he would continue to work with WWE.
In Levesque’s absence, Shawn Michaels had stepped in and overseen the booking of NXT 2.0. It’s unclear if Levesque will be stepping back in to control WWE’s developmental brand. After months of recovery, the 14-time world champion started gradually returning to his different responsibilities with the company. By the end of May he was reportedly back full-time.
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“No no, my foot’s not off the gas. I suppose in some manner I have to step back a little bit. I’m still in recovery, and my endurance isn’t quite what it used to be before,” Levesque told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith in March. “Right now I’m back, I’m at the office. I’m fully focused on recruiting and development of our talent in the future. Whether that’s building more performance centers. Whether that’s finding the next young stud that’s out there, male or female, like Gable Steveson. Recently two time NCAA Champion Gold Medalist at the Olympics right, his next step is in WWE and with us, it’s finding that, it’s creating that future, and that’s the biggest focus for me and as we move forward from there, it’s making sure that WWE is a success for generations to come.”
The news comes one week after The Wall Street Journal‘s report dropped that the WWE’s Board of Directors was launching an investigation into Vince McMahon for allegedly paying a former employee millions of dollars as part of a hush pact to cover up their affair. McMahon has since stepped back as both CEO and Chairman and Stephanie McMahon, Vince’s daughter and Levesque’s wife, has taken over as interim Chairwoman and CEO. Vince has also appeared on both Raw and SmackDown in the past week and will continue to run the company’s booking.
