Revealed: WWE chief Vince McMahon's first impression of Triple H and who came up with Attitude idea

Triple H was not a big attraction when he first appeared on the pro-wrestling scene in the early 1990s, but he turned his career around after he moved from WCW to WWF (now known as WWE) in 1995.

Hunter's rise to fame in the federation did not happen overnight. Even though he had charisma and talent from the start, some people in the company had their doubts on whether the wrestler could ever become a top star.

Triple H is now considered one of the biggest WWE stars, but that would not have been possible without the support of Vince Russo.

According to Bruce Prichard, Vince McMahon and Jim Cornette were among the ones who initially thought The Game was a midcard talent at best.

"I dare say that without Russo at the helm at the time, Hunter probably would not have gotten the breaks that he got at the time," Prichard said on the recent Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard podcast as transcribed by Wrestling Inc.

"Yeah, [Russo was Triple H's biggest advocate at the time] and then Vince McMahon became, but Hunter was one of those guys who was always around, always asking questions, and wanting to be a part of whatever he could do to learn."

"I liked Hunter because I always liked his attitude, just willing to do whatever it took to learn the [pro wrestling] business, but Russo was definitely pushing Hunter and had an awful lot of ideas for him."

Prichard also revealed who came up with Attitude concept. He said the idea came about after McMahon fined Shawn Michaels for his vulgar and explicit antics.

"That's where Vince McMahon coined the phrase 'attitude' because Shawn, in his defense, was like, 'because I've got attitude, you're going to fine me, blah, blah, blah?' And that's where Vince, I'll never forget, Vince came back to us and said, 'that's attitude! That's what we need. We need more attitude!'"