The Growing Problem Crippling Triple H's WWE

Brock Lesnar's surprise return Monday night on Raw and subsequent setup for a WrestleMania 42 rematch with Oba Femi at Clash in Italy did create a buzzworthy moment, but it also served as another example of the biggest issue hurting Triple H's WWE.

The chief content officer has presented fans with plenty of great individual moments since taking over the company's creative process, but he has struggled mightily to follow them up satisfactorily.

Look no further than Cody Rhodes' WrestleMania 40 victory. After a two-year journey back to the top of the company and a long-awaited win over Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, The American Nightmare was booked in a rivalry with AJ Styles.

There is no denying The Phenomenal One's greatness, but he was coming off a loss to LA Knight at the same Showcase of the Immortals and wasn't exactly red-hot.

While their matches were quite excellent, among the best of 2024, it felt like a step down for a Superstar who was so popular entering WrestleMania that WWE Creative was forced to change plans for a match between Reigns and The Rock to accommodate him finishing his story.

Then there was John Cena's heel turn at Elimination Chamber in March 2025. Done to capture the attention of fans and drum up buzz for WrestleMania season, it was an astonishing moment that left fans stunned and eager to see what was next for the biggest turncoat in modern wrestling history.

Unfortunately, The Rock bailed on the story, rapper Travis Scott had contributed little, and the angle became a one-and-done moment in time in which there was no real follow-up, resulting in several wasted months of Cena's retirement tour.

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Femi's WrestleMania triumph over Lesnar is the latest moment to feature an unsatisfactory follow-up from the creative team. Here was The Ruler, fresh off one of the most emphatic squash wins in WWE history against an unstoppable force who rarely put others over like that, and the best that the writers and Triple H could come up with was an open challenge?

Sure, Femi's feats of strength were impressive in his *checks notes* two open challenge victories, but it did nothing to sustain the momentum he had coming out of the biggest show of the year.

So how do you keep Femi hot? Bring back Lesnar for a match that, unless Triple H takes a page out of the book from his feud with Batista, will see The Beast Incarnate beat the former NXT champion and set up a deciding bout between them, presumably at SummerSlam in Minneapolis on Aug. 1-2.

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That helps no one and will only serve to disappoint fans who have been along for the ride with Femi this year. And therein lies the worst possible result of the lack of follow-up that has plagued Triple H as a booker over the last two years: disappointment.

When you book exclusively for moments, social media engagement farming or mainstream media attention, without any direction or quality follow-up, you set the audience up to be let down.

Here is this creative choice that results in renewed interest or rejuvenated fandom, only to be extinguished the very next show because there is no adequate follow-up or a clear path forward for that sole development.

WWE had no idea what to do with Femi immediately after WrestleMania to capitalize on the buzz generated by his victory and Lesnar's retirement. The result was The Beast's comeback just one month after his final bow, setting up a premium live event match for Clash in Italy. If that was the intended direction, then there are bigger issues beyond the follow-up to everything that went down in Vegas.

Until those in power recognize how important it is to follow up on the moments that captivate fans, they run the risk of disenfranchising their audience.

At that point, whatever they come up with is met with indifference from fans burned by the last five times their excitement faded because there was no suitable follow-up.