Jim Ross admits Triple H had real-life issues with late WWE legend
Triple H is considered one of the biggest driving forces behind WWE's hottest era in a couple of decades. However, according to Jim Ross, he had real-life issues with a late WWE legend a couple of decades ago.
Conrad Thompson spoke to Jim Ross on Grillin' JR and addressed the open secret of the Triple H-Pat Patterson relationship in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The story goes that Pat Patterson, who passed away in 2020, was closer to The Rock than he was to Triple H. He was also not a fan of The Game allegedly nit-picking The Great One in front of his peers and considered it petty. As fans know, Patterson was Vince McMahon's right-hand man for a long time.
The King of Kings was known for being a backstage politicking in his heyday. He made it to the most important circles in the industry - something that Patterson was allegedly not a fan of.
In response, Jim Ross explained that Pat Patterson was by Vince McMahon's side, stating that he was "joint to the hip" with the ex-WWE boss for some very important years—including the "bad times"—which Ross presumably meant the mid-1990s.
Times were changing, and Pat Patterson's comedy-based booking style was outdated, according to Jim Ross. Not only this, but as the booking style was changing, it also aligned with Triple H getting closer to Vince McMahon. A conflict between Triple H and Patterson led to the latter walking out because, by that point, The Game was too valuable to WWE.
"I think Pat [Patterson] felt jilted. He wasn't joined to the hips with Vince [McMahon] and Hunter [Triple H] wanted to be joined to the hips with Vince. Because he grew up in that WWE environment and saw that Vince was the boss. Look, it worked out pretty well for Hunter. Hunter was right along [and thought], 'If I play my cards right, I'll be in a pretty good spot here.' He was right. There he is - and Patterson resigned because of the hurt feelings and knew that Hunter was in a position where he wasn't going to be supplanted, so he took a walk. All of us knew that Pat wasn't going to be gone forever." (4:45-5:30)
You can listen to the full clip below:
It was always known that Pat Patterson's exit from WWE would be temporary (he exited in late 2004 and returned in May 2005 in a limited capacity). Ross said that neither Pat nor The Game came to him to insult each other.
Triple H's tone about Pat Patterson has dramatically changed in the years since
We can't go this far without mentioning that WWE's Chief Content Officer has had a dramatic shift in tone with Pat Patterson. Over the years, as The Game got matured and transitioned into a backstage role, it seems like the relationship was able to organically mend itself.
Speaking to Ryan Satin of FOX Sports, Triple H named Pat Patterson as one of the most influential people in WWE history:
"Most influential people? Probably Vince is top of the list. I don't know how you could have anybody be higher than that. But Pat would be -- man he's in there as a tight second to me. There isn't a day that goes by for me at the Performance Center -- whether I'm talking to talent or I'm producing television or we're writing something or I'm doing anything that has to do with WWE -- where there isn't some piece of Pat that's attached to it," he said.
Even at the post-Elimination Chamber 2023 Press Conference in Montreal, The Game got emotional talking about Patterson - stating that he would have been proud of what he saw.
Please give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.