Columns
Morning Glory #2: Triple
H Gets Cerebral
Back in 2000, everything was
rosy (and I don’t mean the fat dude) for the WWE. Ratings were up, even without their
biggest star, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. The Rock’s star was rising
quickly, and he was signed in to play the Scorpion King, making him the first bonafide
movie star wrestler since Hulk Hogan’s ‘Mr Nanny’ heyday (does that even
count as a heyday?). The Radicalz had been signed from the old WCW, and between them they
made a huge impact during the year, Chris Benoit especially, as he main evented 2 pay per
views. Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle found themselves on the border of stardom, and of
course, Triple H was hailed as ‘the next Ric Flair’. In 2000, there was
seemingly nothing Helmsley couldn’t do. He out-brawled Mick Foley, and en route to
retiring the legend, had two MOTYCs with him. He could technically wrestle, having an
amazing Iron Man match with The Rock at Judgment Day, and putting on a wrestling classic
with Chris Benoit at No Mercy. HHH even made Taka Michinoku of all people, look like a
legitimate contender to his WWE World Title. Triple H was on top of the wrestling world.
So where did it all go wrong?
Into 2001, the rumblings of HHH’s backstage politicking began to appear on the
internet. Famed ‘net writers such as Scott Keith, who had once hailed Helmsley as
‘God’, began to attack him, claiming he was selfish, ego-driven, and cared more
for himself than the business in general. They had a point. Triple H undoubtedly had some
say in the booking, due to his relationship with the head writer, Stephanie McMahon. He
had been inserted into the angle of ‘who ran over Steve Austin?’ after Rikishi
bombed as the driver, but to be fair, the WWE handled this angle wrongly in general. HHH
had also left the ‘love triangle’ angle with Kurt Angle without a real blowoff
or an ending, but who’s to say this was his choice? Regardless, he was slammed by the
net. However, in early 2001, despite his rumoured political games, Triple H was still
undoubtedly ‘the man’ in the ring. He put on the match of the year with Steve
Austin at No Way Out, and went on to have a stellar feud and match with The Undertaker at
Wrestlemania X-7, a match I still stand by as underrated by some writers. However, after
Wrestlemania was where things really began to go wrong for HHH.
Helmsley looked set for a long awaited face run, where he would be facing off with the
newly heel turned Steve Austin. However, this run never came to pass, as Triple H joined
forces with the man who he tried to kill just months before. I won’t go into details
over why this angle partly caused the downfall of the WWE (see my ‘Who dropped the
ball?’ column), but more than harming the WWE itself, the ‘Two Man
Powertrip’ just added fuel to the internet writer’s fire of hatred against
‘The Game’. During this angle, despite being the WWE World champion, Austin was
made to look inferior to HHH, being the man to lose his temper more often, and the one to
screw up during their tag matches. At Judgment Day 2001, Austin screwed up to cost HHH his
match and Intercontinental title, hitting HHH with a chair, while Helmsley and his
sledgehammer were the reasons why Austin was still the WWE champion. Maybe this was the
planned set up for the HHH face turn, but on RAW the next night, things changed again.
Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho were at that time (and still are) the darlings of the
internet community. When they were given the next shot at the Two Man Powertrip, over
Undertaker and Kane, on RAW the night after Judgment Day, the excitement level in the
WWE’s product increased two-fold. The match in question, where Benoit and Jericho
defeated HHH and Austin for the Tag Team titles, was incredible, and a testament to the
abilities of the 4 workers involved. Easily the best match on free TV in 2001, it looked
set to kick off angles between the 4 men (most likely Jericho/Austin and Benoit/HHH).
However, this turned out to be the match that changed everything. While breaking up a
Walls Of Jericho spot on Austin, HHH fell wrong, and tore his quadriceps muscle. He
finished the match, a true sign of courage (unlike Kevin Nash, who just screamed, sadly.
Get well soon Kev!), and limped back up the ramp to meet his fate. The fate in question
was 7 months on the shelf. HHH was gone from the WWE, and the company trundled on, blowing
the WCW InVasion angle in the process. By the time December rolled around, and video
packages promoting the return and rehabilitation of Helmsley appeared, everyone was
desperate to see him back, thinking he could be the man to turn the WWE’s fortunes
around. They were wrong.
Helmsley returned to great fanfare at a Madison Square Garden edition of RAW. He cut a
promo and beat up Kurt Angle, looking more ripped (and roided) than ever. HHH entered into
the Royal Rumble, and won the match, eliminating Angle last, and solidifying his return,
setting up a showdown with the undisputed WWE champion Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania. HHH
split up with his wife Stephanie, becoming a fully-fledged face, and feuded with Kurt
Angle for a month before going onto the feud with Jericho. The problem at this point
became obvious, as HHH’s match quality was seriously down from the quality he
produced in 2000 and 2001. Most simply blamed ring rust, citing the fact that it took
Steve Austin 3 months to get his match quality up after his return from a long layoff in
2000. Others claimed that HHH’s extra muscle mass slowed down his movement and speed.
The other theory was that HHH could only work well as a heel, and not as a face. Whatever
the reason, it was obvious that HHH’s matches were not as good. And the honeymoon
period was over for HHH, as everyone and their dog turned on him, as his feud with Jericho
became a joke; pushed aside in favour of his divorce angle with Stephanie. HHH of course
won the feud and took the undisputed title at Wrestlemania.
However, he didn’t keep it for long, dropping it to the resurgent Hulk Hogan at
Backlash. Over the next few months, HHH’s weak run as a face continued, culminating
with a shocking match against Undertaker for the undisputed WWE title at King Of The Ring.
The match was awful, nowhere near their WMX7 match, and was panned all over the ‘net.
Many people who had formerly supported HHH (me included) turned on him, and began to agree
with the cynical online fans, saying that he was an egomaniac, and couldn’t have a
good match to save his life. HHH got injured shortly after, and took time off, returning
as the Brand Extension heated up, and he jumped from Stephanie McMahon’s Smackdown to
Eric Bischoff’s RAW. His first month on RAW consisted of a feud with his former
friend Shawn Michaels, and although the feud was quite shoddy, it made for an awesome
match at Summerslam. Trips was heel again, and with that, there was the hope that he could
become entertaining again too. After Summerslam, he was pushed at the #1 wrestler on RAW,
getting into a lot of the segments, and then being handed the old WCW belt (the RAW World
title). This just increased the online hatred of HHH, as people began to refer to RAW as
the HHH show, and the slump in RAW ratings was blamed on him. So, this week, I sat down to
watch RAW, after 2 weeks of missing the show, wondering how bad HHH really was going to
be. I was pleasantly surprised.
Far from being boring and non-entertaining, I found Triple H to be (along with Booker T
and the UnAmericans) one of the most redeeming pieces of the show. Helmsley, from where I
see it, has finally dropped the ‘Cerebral Assassin’ character in favour of the
classic cocky heel, not unlike the character he played in his original DX days. His look
has somewhat changed, with the beard shaved off, giving him a more arrogant look, and his
hair is now often tied back. Gone are the grunting, caveman, threatening type promos, and
they’ve been replaced with a more confident, heelish style. Triple H took a beating
from Rob Van Dam on RAW, making RVD look extremely good in the process, and although he
was in a lot of segments, they served their purpose- to make HHH look like a total
dickhead, and they seemed to work in this way. The fans dislike HHH, almost as much as the
online crowd do. Although they dislike him for different reasons, the feeling is there,
and it’s helping to get HHH over as a heel. And what about the other ingredient, the
match?
I enjoyed it. Sure, it wasn’t up to the standard of his 2000 classics, but it was as
good as some of the RAW matches he was having before the injury. I’m now with the
train of thought that the face status was his problem before, and now he’s heel
again, his problems may be put behind him. Jeff Hardy is not the best opponent, and at
Unforgiven, if HHH can have a good match with Rob Van Dam (who incidentally no-sold the
Walls of Jericho just as badly as he did the Crippler Crossface), I shall be very pleased.
But it’s not the match quality that I’m most pleased about. It’s the death
of the Cerebral Assassin character. You see, this may well be a new, elevating and jobbing
HHH we see on our screens now. And what is the reason for my hope? Well, psychology.
HHH’s heel character of 2000-2001 had to be booked to be unstoppable to work. He HAD
to come out on top of his feuds, and make his opponents look stupid, or he wouldn’t
be the Cerebral Assassin, the ‘Smartest Man in the Business’. Now he’s lost
that intense, cerebral character, and has become cocky, he can afford to sell that bit
more, and job that bit more. He can afford to maybe make mistakes in his feuds, and get
beaten down by Rob Van Dam. Come this Sunday, we may find that he can afford to drop his
World title cleanly. Maybe this slight character change (and the use of a razor) can
redeem HHH in the eyes of the online fanbase, and bring him back near the heights he was
in 2000. Who knows? I don’t. HHH’s next match may get -** from certain writers,
or it may get *****. I don’t care. All I know is that for me, HHH right now is
entertaining.
D’you know what I mean?
Scott Newman: scott.newman@ntlworld.com
AOLIM: thesuperstar24
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