Rumor killer on Triple H being responsible for former Intercontinental Champion retiring

Bruce Prichard spoke about Pat Patterson on the latest edition of his podcast, Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard. He clarified a long-standing rumor that Patterson had retired due to his issues with Triple H, and stated that they were just rumors and held no truth.

Here is what the SmackDown Executive Director had to say:

It’s complete bulls**t. I mean, I started to laugh when you said ‘Pat Patterson’s retirement’ because yes, he’s still around now. And Pat, I think that the — okay, first Pat retired from being in the ring. Then Pat retired in the office. He got a big screen TV then. Then he came back, and then he retired again. Got a second big screen TV, and then he came back. And I told him the second time he came back, ‘Okay Pat.’ I said, ‘This is it. No more big screen for you. You’re gonna stay a while this time.’ So Pat had a tendency to, when he would be on the road for a while, he would get tired. He would just get burned out. And at this point in his career [in 2005], he was single. He was living life, and he couldn’t do that being gone as many days a week as it took to be on the road and everything. So he looked at it and just wanted to have more ‘Me time.’

He also talked about the fact that Patterson was 'fed up' with the business at that point, clarifying that by the business he meant the travel that is involved in the work.

And Pat was fed up with the business at that point. When I say ‘fed up with the business,’ he was fed up with the travel. He was fed up with being at the building at 11:00 for the production meeting, and then having to do the show, and then talk about it afterward

(H/T: LOP)

Prichard further added that Pat was just tired and didn't want to commit. Patterson was the first Intercontinental Champion and is a proud member of the WWE Hall of Fame. He is currently working with WWE as a creative consultant.