What if Triple H is finished wrestling?

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Triple H vs. Seth Rollins is the match we’ve been assuming is happening at WrestleMania 33. What if that’s not the case, though? What if this Rollins feud is being used for something a little larger, a little more long-term, and Samoa Joe isn’t just a roadblock for Rollins to overcome at Fastlane en route to a Mania showdown with Seth’s former mentor? It’s not that ridiculous of a thought, considering Triple H’s current on-screen character is saying that he’s trying to avoid being the violent wrestler he’s been known to be at the same time that WWE executive Triple H is telling the media it’s been a tough balance of in-ring life and running shows.

What if Samoa Joe is going to be the first of a stable of NXT wrestlers who do Aitch’s dirty work for him? (I’d love to take credit for this idea, but it’s not my own.) Triple H could go about his business, keep his suit and tie on, and be the strategic leader of the group while guys like Joe run around wrecking whomever or whatever needs wrecking. Think of it like a corporate-approved Nexus, except without like 19 dudes for John Cena to overcome by himself. Joe taking down Rollins at first, with new members being added that continue to harass him while evolving the story, sure seems like a way to build up both a dominant heel stable and force Rollins to find himself some friends. Or get in touch with old ones.

You just can’t escape that Shield fantasy booking when Rollins is involved, you know. But if Triple H puts Samoa Joe with a couple of other NXT heels like The Revival or Authors of Pain to flesh out a stable, and SummerSlam rolls around uniting RAW and SmackDown just in time for Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose to side with Rollins in a six-man... well, you wouldn’t hate that one bit, would you? It doesn’t have to go this route, either: the key here is really just that Aitch might very well be putting a stop to, or severely limiting, his in-ring appearances. And having a proxy stable he can run from afar seems like the next-best thing, especially since it puts someone like Joe at the forefront out of the gate while also elevating a couple of newer guys, setting them up for a successful future on the main roster.

• SmackDown had a real busy show this week, as Elimination Chamber is in less than two weeks and needed to continue the build it started pre-Royal Rumble.
• We’re expecting three women’s matches at Elimination Chamber, and two of them were announced on Tuesday: Naomi will take on Alexa Bliss for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, and Nikki Bella and Natalya will get a chance to wreck each other in the ring.
• We’ll also get a Tag Turmoil match at the Chamber event, as the blue brand tries to apologize for forgetting about its tag division for about a month there.
• And, for one last bit of EC news, Shane McMahon announced who will be competing with John Cena in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE World Championship.
• There’s a real depressing rumor in Wednesday’s Rumor Roundup. You know, in case you were feeling good after all the cool EC news.
• Randy Orton reflected on his Royal Rumble win in an interview with ESPN, and he had comments on his (large) family as well as thoughts on what getting a big head in the locker room can do to your career.
• Chris Hero said goodbye to independent wrestling so he can reassume the Kassius Ohno persona with NXT, and there is video to watch.
• AJ Styles received a heartbreaking letter from the family of a young fan who couldn’t write the letter himself.
• Is Emmalina ever going to debut on RAW? It certainly doesn’t feel like it, at least not in the form we assumed she was coming in.
• Dana White thinks Ronda Rousey is probably done with UFC, which opens the door to joining WWE if she’s into it.
• Sasha Banks has been getting a little short with Bayley lately, and it’s possibly because the heel version of The Boss is coming back.