Columns
Morning Glory #9: The
Triple H Myth
If you ask a big wrestling fan
about wrestlers who have had great runs of matches, the usual answers you’ll find are
Ric Flair’s run in the late 1980’s. Shawn Michaels’ run in 1996.
‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin’s run in 2001. And of course, Triple H’s run
in 2000 to early 2001. Now, there’s no doubting the greatness of any of these runs.
All four men were pulling out great matches night after night (or in the cases of
Michaels, HBK and HHH, month after month on PPV). The question I’m about to ask is
this: Was Triple H’s run really that good? And if so, was it all down to HHH
himself? Many writers on the ‘net who have bashed Triple H’s nepotism and
unstoppable push since his return from the quad tear in January have stated that the push
wouldn’t be so bad if only HHH could work the way he could in 2000, put on the same
calibre of matches that he did in 2000. However, after a lot of research, I have come to
the conclusion that quite simply, the ‘HHH was a good worker in 2000’ theory is
a myth.
During his ‘great run’ which is usually considered as beginning with the Street
Fight at the Royal Rumble 2000 PPV, and ending when he tore his quad in May 2001, Triple H
fought 17 times on PPV. Of these 17 matches, I’ve chosen to discount any tag
match or multiple competitor matches when looking at HHH’s match quality. This means
that Wrestlemania 16 (4-Way match), King of the Ring 2000 (Tag match), Armageddon 2000
(6-Way match), and Backlash 2001 (Tag match) can be scratched from the list, meaning that
between 2000 and 2001, HHH had 13 singles matches on PPV. I’ve chosen to allow
the Kurt Angle/HHH/The Rock triple threat match from Summerslam 2000, because due to
Angle’s concussion, the match was basically two singles matches (HHH vs Angle, HHH vs
Rock) joined together with the finish tacked on. So…..if you’re ready to call me
‘a sad person’ now, please do so. For the past two weeks, I’ve been off
college, work, and swim training with an injured foot, meaning I’ve had a lot of
spare time. One of the things I’ve done with some of this spare time is watch ALL
13 matches that I’ve named in HHH’s run of 2000-2001. I know what
you’re thinking….how do I put up with this much HHH???
The 13 matches in question are the following:
-Triple H vs Cactus Jack, Street Fight, Royal Rumble 2000
-Triple H vs Cactus Jack, Hell In A Cell, No Way Out 2000
-Triple H vs The Rock, Backlash 2000
-Triple H vs The Rock, Iron Man match, Judgment Day 2000
-Triple H vs Chris Jericho, Last Man Standing, Fully Loaded 2000
-Triple H vs Kurt Angle vs The Rock, Summerslam 2000
-Triple H vs Kurt Angle, Unforgiven 2000
-Triple H vs Chris Benoit, No Mercy 2000
-Triple H vs Steve Austin, Survivor Series 2000
-Triple H vs Kurt Angle, Royal Rumble 2001
-Triple H vs Steve Austin, 2/3 falls, No Way Out 2001
-Triple H vs Undertaker, Wrestlemania X-7
-Triple H vs Kane, Chain match, Judgment Day 2001
Well, I managed it. After watching these 13 matches, I can say that yes indeed, the run of
matches WAS great. Of these 13 matches, I didn’t enjoy 4 of them; the two
Angle singles matches, the Austin match from Survivor Series 00, and the Kane match,
meaning there (in my opinion) was 9 top quality matches put on by HHH on PPV in his
‘great run’ of 2000-2001. This approximately means that 70% of HHH’s
singles matches on PPV were great.
Moving onto HHH’s return from injury now. Since his return in January 2002, HHH has
fought 10 times on PPV. Discount Royal Rumble 2002 (he was in the rumble itself)
and Survivor Series 2002 (6-Way match) for the same reasons as above, and HHH has fought
in 8 singles matches since his return. Those matches (and yes, I’ve watched
THEM all too) are:
-Triple H vs Kurt Angle, No Way Out 2002
-Triple H vs Chris Jericho, Wrestlemania X-8
-Triple H vs Hulk Hogan, Backlash 2002
-Triple H vs Chris Jericho, Hell in a Cell, Judgment Day 2002
-Triple H vs Undertaker, King of the Ring 2002
-Triple H vs Shawn Michaels, Summerslam 2002
-Triple H vs Rob Van Dam, Unforgiven 2002
-Triple H vs Kane, No Mercy 2002
Out of those 8 matches, after watching them, I only enjoyed 2 of them. The matches
in question were the Hell In A Cell vs Jericho, and the Michaels match at Summerslam. This
translates to 2 out of 8 good matches, or 25% of his matches were good since his
return to action. This 25% is way, way down from the 70% of matches that were good in his
‘great run’. So what exactly has happened? Has Triple H’s work completely
deteriorated, due to injuries, added bulk, laziness, or other factors? Or, is the truth
buried under the great matches? Was HHH ever a great worker?
Well, the first thing that should be done really while looking at his run since returning
from injury is give him time to get back into ring shape, get rid of the ring rust. We can
do this by using the precedent set by Steve Austin in 2000. Austin was out for a long
time, and upon return, it took him about 3 months to get back into decent ring shape, and
you can see this, as his matches with Rikishi and HHH both sucked, and his work in the 6
man Hell in a Cell was minimal. So, that’s HHH’s excuse for not having good
matches with Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho at their respective meetings in the early part
of HHH’s return. However, moving on through the year, it became painfully obvious
that Helmsley’s ringwork was getting nowhere near the quality he produced in
2000-2001. His matches with Hogan and Undertaker hovered on negative stars by many
writers, and are considered probably the worst PPV main events of the year. The match with
Jericho in the Hell In A Cell wasn’t exactly mind-blowing either, and while it was a
good, enjoyable match (with the wrong person going over might I add), it was nothing like
their Last Man Standing match in 2000. So, HHH defenders (including myself at the time)
needed to look for another reason for this problem, and they quickly found one.
HHH, during his great run of 2000-2001 always played the heel. The only matches he played
a full blown face in were those against Kurt Angle at Unforgiven, and Chris Benoit at No
Mercy. The match against Angle was horrid by their usual standards, and although the
Benoit match was awesome (a MOTYC), it’s Chris Benoit. So maybe this was the problem,
that HHH, the master heel, didn’t know how to play an effective babyface? After all,
Helmsley hadn’t played the babyface since his DX days back in 1998, and had been a
full-blown heel since 1999. So, shortly after the Vengeance PPV in July (which HHH missed
through injury), he was turned heel, and began a feud with his longtime friend Shawn
Michaels. The match they put on at Summerslam 2002 (Michaels’ first in four years)
was nothing short of phenomenal, and is many people’s Match of the Year. Triple H
played a full blown heel again, and after that match, I myself thought “He’s got
it back”. How wrong could I be? Not only did HHH’s politicking and ego-fucking
himself to the top of the RAW roster get even worse, but his ring work did not improve one
bit. HHH’s matches against Van Dam and Kane in the following months were terrible,
marred by poor angles going into the matches which made the challengers look like pussies,
screwy finishes usually involving Ric Flair, and overall bad ringwork by Helmsley. The
heel factor was obviously not a factor, so what was causing this continuing deterioration?
One of the original reasons put forward for HHH’s bad ringwork, around February/March
time, was that to over-compensate for his bad leg, during rehab Hunter had put too much
bulk, and bloated muscle mass onto his upper body, therefore slowing him down, and causing
less intense, less varied, and generally worse matches. The theory in itself is certainly
viable; Kane lost bulk upon his return this year, and is much quicker and agile in the
ring. Scott Steiner may be a ‘genetic freak’ these days, but due to his added
bulk, and accumulative injuries, he’s not the same Scott Steiner that Ric Flair
wanted to give the Jesus push to in 1991. However, once again the theory can be shot down.
Watch one of Hunter’s matches from 2000, say, the Jericho Last Man Standing match,
then watch his match from Unforgiven with Van Dam. To look at, HHH isn’t really any
bigger. But the ringwork? Well, Stevie Wonder could see the difference. OK, shoot THAT
theory in the head. So maybe it’s the injury? Surely not. Although a quad tear is a
highly serious, sometimes career ending injury, and it is true that HHH rushed back from
the injury to help the flagging ratings (which have got worse since his return! Isn’t
it ironic?), the injury shouldn’t really affect him now. He’s had a year’s
worth of ringwork to get back into wrestling, and after all, it only took Benoit and
Austin a couple of months to get over their injuries, which were just as serious.
So, being an inquisitive little bastard, I tried to think what the hell DID cause this
change. Was it just a simple case of laziness, as HHH no longer had to fight for his spot,
due to his relationship with Stephanie? It’s a possibility, but then again, Stephanie
gained power in late 2000. HHH still put on incredible matches with Undertaker, Austin and
others during that period. So, I looked at the other things, the angles and such
surrounding the matches. Was it the number of gimmick matches? Nope, as that doesn’t
add up to much really. If anything, a gimmick would restrict ringwork. Then, it hit
me. What if HHH WASN’T the great worker that he was made out to be? What if
we’d all been fooled? What if…what if HHH had been CARRIED to all those
great matches?
Let’s look at the calibre of opponents that HHH faced during his great run. Foley.
Rock. Jericho. Benoit. Austin. That list is like a list of the greatest workers of the
past 5 years. Kurt Angle is conspicuous by his absence, but at the point which HHH faced
him, he wasn’t as accomplished as a worker as he is now, and besides, maybe they just
didn’t mesh. So, discounting the ‘ring rust’ matches, let’s look at
HHH’s opponents from 2002. Hogan. Undertaker. Van Dam. Kane. With the exceptions of
Jericho and Michaels, the opponents from that year aren’t exactly the world’s
best workers. Hogan is renowned for shoddy ringwork, and Undertaker, as much as I defend
the man, hasn’t had the best year in match quality terms. Van Dam still has a LOT
to learn and I wouldn’t consider him a great worker, and Kane is simply a slightly
above average big man. He’s not exactly Ric Flair. So looking at that, I’m going
out on a limb. Triple H’s so-called ‘great run of matches’ was mostly down
to the right opponents, and the right push. Triple H was never the next Ric Flair. He
could never have carried a broomstick (or Sid) to ****. But wait, you say…surely this
isn’t true! Hunter did MORE than his fair share of work in those matches! Well,
let’s look at something else.
Ric Flair’s run in the late 80’s. Shawn Michaels’ run in ’96.
Austin’s run in ’01. Undertaker’s run in ’97. Taker’s
doesn’t exactly belong, does it? Well, just dwell on that thought for a second.
Taker, in 1997, wrestled on PPV 10 times. Of those, only one can be discounted
(Final Four’s four-way match), meaning Taker had 9 singles matches on PPV. Of
those, 7 were top quality matches, reaching the heights of HHH’s matches in
2000-2001 easily. Just think about it, the match with Foley at ‘Revenge of the
Taker’. The match with Vader at ‘Canadian Stampede’. The matches against
Michaels, once of which (Hell in a Cell) was Match of the Year for 1997. But, Taker’s
‘run’ was broken up by two abortions of matches against Sid and Faarooq, two
poorer workers. Taker’s opponents in the great matches? Foley, Vader, Austin, Hart,
Michaels. Five of the greatest North American workers at the time, and most certainly five
of the best in the WWE. So, people looking back would say that Taker was carried. However,
he wasn’t. Taker was in matches with the greatest wrestlers in the world, and he
worked his ass off to work at their level. You can carry a lazy wrestler who’s not so
good like Sid, but the match won’t be a classic. But when you have someone who’s
not so good, but works their ass off, like Taker, the match can quite easily turn into
something special.
I would never, ever consider the Undertaker to be one of the best workers of the last five
years. Taker had the right matches, with the right opponents, and put on some incredible
matches, but he was never a great worker. A hard worker yes, a decent worker, yes, but
never outstanding. And so we return to Triple H, who is exactly the same. In 2000-2001, it
wasn’t HHH carrying all those great matches. HHH wasn’t the Hart, or the
Michaels, or the Foley. HHH was the Undertaker, working his ass off, and pulling himself
up to those great opponent’s levels. Triple H has Chris Jericho, The Rock, Mick
Foley, Chris Benoit, and the right booking to thank for his ‘great run’ of
2000-2001. And to think, the man actually had us believing that he was the next Ric Flair.
He truly is the ‘smartest man in the game’.
Scott Newman: scott.newman@ntlworld.com
AOLIM: thesuperstar24
|
