WWE: 8 Reasons Triple H Is Way Worse on Air Than Vince

Since HHH returned to Raw last month to relieve his father-in-law Vince McMahon of his duties as owner, he has become a firmly established on-screen authority figure (just how many Raws and SmackDowns have opened up with HHH, clad in his business suit, coming out to talk about that brand's title situation? 50?).

While HHH's real-life takeover backstage may have its advantages, HHH has an on-screen character who has a few drawbacks,especially when compared to Mr. McMahon, one of the greatest non-wrestling characters in history.

With this in mind, let's just take a look at a few of the the reasons Hunter can't really compare to Vince.

HHH Is Not Nearly as Good an Actor as Vince

As anyone who has seen Blade: Trinity or The Chaperone can readily attest to, Triple H isn't exactly Al Pacino when it comes to acting.

He can play the snarky, smart ass jerk pretty well (as his work in DX with Shawn Michaels shows), but asking to him to do anything else is a real stretch, as we've seen time and time again.

No clearer was this than when a forlorn-looking HHH showed up at the end of Raw last month to announce to Vince that the family and the WWE Board of Directors had decided, in light of his increasingly erratic behaviour, to strip him of all his power and place Hunter in charge of the company instead.

For his part, Vince put on an incredible performance and wonderfully conveyed real heartbreak and emotion. With real tears streaming from his eyes, he looked utterly devastated, like his whole world had fallen apart around him. It was one of the best acting performances that I, as a fan, have ever seen.

HHH, on the other hand, not so much. Maybe in his mind he was putting on an Emmy Award winning performance, but he was laughably bad at attempting to portray grief and heartbreak; it brought down what should have been a dramatic, company-changing angle.

He was so awful, in fact, it was almost like he had spent the last few months getting acting lessons from Tommy Wiseau. No one expects amazing acting in wrestling (these are athletes, after all, not trained professional actors), but this was something else.

Indeed, by the time HHH famously uttered, “I love you pops,” the whole thing was coming off as so fake and unintentionally hilarious, most of the fans refused to believe they were watching a serious angle and started singing the “Goodbye” song to Vince (although Vince eventually won them back with his powerful performance.)

Vince Dresses Better

HHH has been showing up to every Raw and SmackDown wearing the exact same dark grey suit in an attempt to convince us that he is now a serious, respectable businessman.

The same, dull grey suit every time. What's the matter, Hunter? It's not like you can't afford more suits, after all.

Vince McMahon, on the other hand, always dresses to impress, showing off a colorful array of suits and jackets during his time as an on-screen authority figure . Indeed, on his last night as C.O.O., he showed up clad in an eye-catching hot pink jacket.

He looked great and not at all like Mr. Blobby as some decidedly unfashionable fans tried to claim!

Come on, HHH. Get yourself off to the Armani shop!

HHH is too Self Conscious

Make no mistake about it: during his time as an on-screen authority figure, Vince has been completely and utterly humiliated.

Since 1997, the man has been ( deep breath...) badly beaten up, spat on, thrown around, covered in beer, urinated on himself after Austin threatened him with a fake gun, had his head stuck up Big Show's backside, been kicked in the groin by both his wife and irate divas (numerous times) and outed himself as lusting after the extremely old and wrinkly Mae Young.

Indeed, every good heel eventually needs to get their comeuppance, and Vince understands this perfectly, hence, that's why he always steps up the plate if he feels an angle requires it.

But, when he eventually turns heel (as his current on-screen problems with CM Punk seem to indicate) will HHH willingly allow himself to be subjected to similar treatment as Vince and allow his foe to get the full upper-hand like Austin frequently did with Vince back in 1998 and 1999?

Personally, I feel this is extremely unlikely. HHH takes himself way too seriously to allow anything like that to happen—if past stories of his protectiveness over his character are anything to go by. And it's difficult to imagine Hunter allowing Punk or Cena free reign to make him look like a bumbling fool on air.

Kevin Nash

No one is quite sure where this current angle with Kevin Nash is going, although all indications are HHH or Stephanie had something to do with his interference in the SummerSlam main event and Nash will be strongly aligned with them in the storylines.

Nash as HHH's henchman is a rather frightening possibility for fans—he's old, injury-prone, cuts poor promos and is easily flustered by the fans (check out his befuddled reaction to all the “What” chants on this week's Raw) and is well past-his-prime (and it's very arguable whether or not not he was even that good in his prime.)

Hey, Vince had useless henchmen, too (Patterson and Briscoe), but at least, they weren't taking out the company's top faces.

HHH is too Well Liked by fans

When HHH eventually goes heel he's likely to have an extremely difficult time getting the fans to boo him. For all the criticism of HHH during his WWE run, he has nonetheless been with the company for 20 years, churned out plenty of classic matches and become a highly-respected performer to fans.

In many fans' eyes, he is a legendary and an iconic performer. He wasn't even booed against the incredibly popular Undertaker in the build up to their Wrestlemania match, and it'll be difficult to imagine that simply double-crossing Punk will get the fans to loudly boo him.

Needless to the say, the dastardly Mr. McMahon character has never had this problem; fans love to hate that guy.

HHH Risks Overshadowing the Wrestlers

In late June, the CM Punk storyline started off as a compelling, work-shoot angle that had the potential to be the one of best angles in recent years. Now?

Well, while the angle hasn't totally fallen apart (and Punk is still fairly over as a top babyface), it has ran out of a lot of steam, as Punk and the whole angle, ended up playing second fiddle to the whole HHH takeover deal.

Indeed, HHH is all over both shows these days, and it seems the show is being centred around him as he takes over from Vince and tries to run the company, rather than Punk, Cena or any of the other full-time wrestlers in the company.

It Paves the Way for Stephanie To Become an On-Screen Character Again

Considering Stephanie's recent re-appearances on television again (and the subtle hints that she was the one who sent Nash the text instructing him to take out Punk at the end of the main event), all indications are that Stephanie will be a regular on-screen character again.

Well, if you're a fan of Stephanie, this is probably great news for you.

Personally, the thought of yet another McMahon in the main event mix up taking up air time doesn't exactly seem to be a good one, especially since, as mentioned, the focus is already being taken off the wrestlers at it is.

HHH Doesn't Have the Same Chemistry with Wrestlers That Vince Does

The cartoonish, gleefully, over the top Mr McMahon character is an easy foe for wrestlers to play off of.

In 2003, even the dull-as-dishwater Zach Gowen came across to the masses as a huge star, just being in Vince’s vicinity a lot. Put simply: Vince is such a dastardly scoundrel, the audience simply has to cheer for whatever babyface Vince is terrorizing at the time. 

Vince has helped a great many faces get over in WWE over the years.

HHH, on the other hand, doesn’t have this quality.  He can have chemistry with some wrestlers, like John Cena, but unlike Vince, who can have chemistry with just about everyone, from the lower card all the way to the main events, he is extremely hit-or-miss and can be difficult to play off of. 

The new corporate, stuffy HHH character really may be a struggle for Punk and others to interact with, because he simply is not a patch on the insane, maniacal Mr. McMahon character.