Triple H made his comeback on WWE Monday Night Raw last night, and while his opening segment led to the first hour drawing a solid 2.128 million viewers, the third hour featuring his match against Randy Orton drew 1.632 million viewers, a drop of nearly 400,000 viewers from the start of the match.
Raw ended last week with Goldberg’s return confronting Drew McIntyre, another strong hook along with Triple H’s return that could have contributed to the show’s strong start. Triple H vs. Randy Orton isn’t exactly a fresh match though, as the two feuded throughout the 2000’s and even had a match as recently as in June 2019 at Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia.
Former WWE writer Vince Russo buried Triple H’s return on Sportskeeda, “Bro, Paul, Hunter, now I’m going to look in the camera and talk to Paul. Paul, Hunter. Triple H. We got a 52-year-old man with Motorhead, the leather jacket, still spitting the water out. Bro, stop. Stop! The days of you in Lemmy and Motorhead and the leather jacket, those were many, many decades ago, bro. You are a 52-year-old, a corporate executive with kids running around at home. Stop.”
He added, “You guys have to freaking stop. It’s stupid, it’s silly; it’s freaking ridiculous. Hunter, you are a 52-year-old man; there is nothing wrong with that. Think about this for a second, Chris. Why am I putting on a leather jacket to go wrestle a match?”
