Triple H and Tony Khan Are Making the Wrong Calls on These 5 WWE and AEW Stars

There is a lot to love about pro wrestling in 2024.

There is an abundance of different styles, stories, and stars, and an audience ready and willing to absorb all of it.

WWE is as hot as it has been in nearly three decades, both creatively and financially, and while AEW has struggled over the last six or so months, its passionate fan base remains engaged with the product.

That does not mean everything has been great.

Both Triple H and Tony Khan have fumbled the bag in relation to a handful of stars and in one case, an entire division.

Find out who they are and what can be done about it with this closer look.

The Street Profits are one of the best tag teams of the last five years and both Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford have singles stardom potential, especially in the case of the latter.

Since Triple H took over WWE Creative as the Chief Content Officer, though, they have seen their roles diminished on SmackDown. Sure, they have been on TV and are regularly in the tag team title hunt, but there has been a decided lack of long-term, or really any, storytelling for them.

With both men expressing frustration, including a recorded promo from Dawkins, there is a real possibility the team could head elsewhere at the conclusion of their deals. Whenever that may be.

That would be a monumental loss for WWE, who is not in the business of giving up future stars.

Triple H must figure out whatever it is that is holding him back from fully pushing the Profits and go all-in on them, without the stop-and-start nonsense that has plagued them for the last year.

The fans love them, both are extremely talented performers, and Ford is a future world champion.

Be it in WWE or somewhere else.

Kazuchika Okada arrived in AEW as one of the most decorated and celebrated professional wrestlers of his generation, thanks in large part to countless classics in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. His battles with Kenny Omega helped create interest in wrestling outside of WWE, which indirectly led to the formation of AEW and a true alternative to the industry leader.

It was interesting, then, to see him arrive in AEW and immediately turn heel, joining The Young Bucks in the revamped Elite. Not only that, but become less of an international superstar as The Rainmaker and more of a comedic personality with a propensity for using the word, "bitch."

He has still delivered when the bell rang, including in banger match-ups with Bryan Danielson, Kyle Fletcher, Claudio Castagnoli, and Swerve Strickland, but the specialness that he had as the face of NJPW is gone.

Everything that made Okada unique, including the aura and attraction, is gone and it may be too late to rekindle it. He will ultimately be fine, if for no other reason than his in-ring work and the credibility he has built up with AEW's hardcore fan base, but Khan's use of him since arriving in the company has gone a long way in making him feel like any other competitor on the show instead of the special attraction and modern-day icon that he is.

Speaking of highly influential wrestlers from New Japan...

Finn Bálor was damaged goods long before Triple H took over creative, thanks in large part to Vince McMahon's stubbornness in getting behind most of the NXT stars that migrated to the main roster.

Still, there was reason to expect that Bálor, one of the greatest Superstars of Triple H's incarnation of the black and gold brand, would benefit exponentially from one of his mentors taking over creative in WWE.

It has not happened yet.

The emergence of the Prince as the leader of Judgment Day after Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley's ouster never really developed. Add to it a decisive loss to Priest at Bad Blood despite an abundance of interference from his teammates and you have someone whose star is burning as weakly as it has in a long time.

There is a positive, though.

Bálor has recently found himself at odds with Dominik Mysterio over leadership of Judgment Day, with the story appearing to be headed toward a battle between the two. If Bálor ends up on the losing end and turns babyface, he could conceivably be in store for that long awaited push under the CCO.

Still, it should not have taken this long for someone who helped define an entire generation of wrestling as the leader and founder of Bullet Club to be a big deal on WWE's main roster. Especially when the guy who recognized how important an international influence he was and made him the centerpiece of the NXT brand, is now in charge of the company's creative direction as a whole.

FTR is a generational tag team, a pair that will eventually be ranked among the Rock and Roll Express, Midnight Express, Hart Foundation, Rockers, Fantastics, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, and The Briscoes as one of the best to ever do it.

They restored the prestige of tag team wrestling and helped create interest in it through their work in NXT but, more importantly, once arriving in AEW and delivering classic after classic.

Yet, unless they are embroiled in a battle with the Young Bucks, or had the support of CM Punk during the infancy of the Collision show, there has been a resistance against pushing them to the fullest extent.

Sure, they will have a decent run where they get to steal a few shows with some excellent, old-school professional wrestling, but then their momentum is halted and they are utilized inconsistently or booked primarily to put others over.

Look no further than their recent work with The Outrunners and The House of Black.

Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler have dedicated their careers to returning credibility to tag team wrestling, to the point that any of their top feuds could (and have) headlined pay-per-view events. Their Ring of Honor feud with the Briscoes are proof positive.

To see them inconsistently utilized, or not have any creative in place for them, is an indictment on Khan and Co.

Especially when they have proven to be as wildly popular with fans as they have.

It may seem somewhat strange to criticize both Triple H and Tony Khan for their usage of their women's divisions when WWE had all three of its weekly shows headlined by women for the first time ever and AEW presented an episode of Collision in which Mariah May defended the women's title against Anna Jay in a No DQ main event, but one week of positive booking does not hide what has been sub-par creative.

Over in WWE, what had the potential to be an intensely personal rivalry between Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley became a soap opera of sorts in which the participants' attention was more on Dominik Mysterio and less on the fact that both had injured each other and forced them to miss time or the women's world title.

Add to that what had become a frustrating lack of TV time for the women's division, and the return of the dreaded "one segment per show" trope, and you have reason to take exception to Triple H's utilization of the women's division in recent months.

Then there is Bayley, a future Hall of Famer whose place in revolutionizing women's wrestling is undeniable. Yet, since a Babyface turn that saw her triumph at WrestleMania 40, she has wandered aimlessly, with no real character arc or story development. Instead, she is just...there.

Even with more opportunities for the roster, including the implementation of a United States Championship on SmackDown, there is still an argument to be made that there is an overall lack of stories for anyone not immediately involved in the Women's World or WWE Women's title feuds.

Over in AEW, the same issues that have plagued that company's women's division continue to be a problem five years in: a lack of television time and stories outside of the women's title picture.

Recently, Jamie Hayter vs. Penelope Ford was given less than five minutes of ring time, making it nearly impossible for them to get themselves or any story over. When there are two hours of TV time to play with, the idea that a division is limited to that small an amount is shameful and worthy of criticism.

We saw the power that a long-term story can have this year in the May vs. Toni Storm feud, and Khan has done a better job lately of finding programs for his talent outside of the title picture, but that does not erase the issues that have long existed in the AEW women's division, where there had been a decided lack of effort put into developing actual characters and programs for the immensely talented roster.

Both bookers have taken steps in the right direction of late, but they must prove that it is with the intent of long-term improvement and not just to silent criticism before going right back to the uninspired creative and lack of TV time that fueled it in the first place.