Triple H has brought over a dozen departed WWE talent back since taking over WWE.
Recently, a report emerged that Triple H had been underwhelmed by several of those talent. If that's true, WWE is certainly downplaying it, as a longtime employee contacted Fightful to say that in the following weeks, that had been severely downplayed within WWE. One source stated that it wasn't a thing they would ever expect Triple H to say out loud, even if he did believe it.
Specifically, one member of the creative team said that nobody that WWE brought back was expected to immediately ascend to the top of an already planned out top of the card. Another source familiar with the situation said that Triple H found it important to add more depth to the Raw and Smackdown brand, and that was told to numerous talent that were brought back in. It was also noted to Fightful that he was hopeful it was a long term play, as they want each act to be a little more over every time they come back to an arena. Several of the talent re-signed were even told when they were brought in that depth was a big point in bringing them back.
The depth issue was one that was immediately brought up to creative when Triple H made it into power, as anyone who had watched the show saw that Raw and Smackdown were largely the same shows each week.
This story had largely been shelved until WWE Elimination Chamber, when another source pointed to the performances of Johnny Gargano and Bronson Reed as "showing their value when given an opportunity."
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