Triple H cemented his status as one of WWE’s all-time greats during his 24 years as an in-ring competitor with the company. In a recent interview, former WWE wrestler Jay Bradley recalled how he almost went one-on-one with The Game.
Bradley worked for WWE between 2005 and 2009. On the October 10, 2008, episode of SmackDown, he was initially booked to challenge Triple H for the WWE Championship. However, plans changed and The Big Show received the title opportunity instead.
On Developmentally Speaking, Bradley recalled how there was absolutely no build-up or plan before his debut in WWE, and that he kept being told about different ideas on the day of the show.
“They finally debuted me to absolutely no build-up, no planning, no angle, no nothing, and I got called that I was debuting against Triple H because they were doing a new talent initiative and they were giving a title shot to an unknown guy. I got there and they flipped it to The Big Show, then they flipped it back where I was wrestling Hunter [Triple H], and then they flipped it back to The Big Show,” said Bradley. [44:54 – 45:23]
The match between The Big Show and Triple H ended in a no-contest after The Undertaker interfered. Jeff Hardy and Vladimir Kozlov also got involved in the show-closing segment, which ended with Hardy hitting The Game with a Twist of Fate.
What happened after the Triple H match idea changed
Jay Bradley, known at that point as Ryan Braddock, joined forces with Curt Hawkins, Kenny Dykstra, and Zack Ryder. The makeshift quartet teamed up in a losing effort against Carlito, Festus, Jesse, and Primo.
Bradley added that then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon likely changed his mind about the world title match at short notice.
“For whatever reason, they kept flip-flopping, probably because Vince and the writers rewrite everything else. So, yeah, I was on there, they renamed me Ryan Braddock. There were several ideas that just never made it to air,” said Bradley. [45:25 – 45:44]
In March 2009, Bradley received his release from WWE after competing in six matches on SmackDown. His only victory came via disqualification against Festus on September 19, 2008.
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Please credit Developmentally Speaking and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
