Triple H interviewed by The Masked Man

[The Man Known as Dan]

Weird world when I am 100% percent behind FSW in a debate.

[jaedmc]

Yep, I'm with FSW on this. Triple H got a good push because he was talented and got an even better push because the crowds responded to him AND he was committed. He got put in positions to succeed because he showed he could succeed. 

[SirSmUgly]

As I recall, while HHH had sustained pushes except for during the MSG-incident punishment, he was WAAAAAAY over for most of it, too. Around Summerslam '98, he was clearly a future World Champ. 

 

I think what happened, as I recall correctly, is that people took a lot of time to buy him as champion by the time he got to the main event scene for good in '99. It took a lot of pushes and ultimately the Cactus Jack series to get him over. Even then, though, I don't know how much people ever bought him as the heel ace. It probably does not help that his Race/Flair hybrid character that he likes to portray as an ace is a number of steps below either of those guys' actual work.

 

This is probably dumb, but watching HHH in, say, 2003-2004, I always feel like he reminds me that I could instead be watching 1987 Ric Flair and it would be pretty much what he is doing except far more entertaining. 

 

Anyway, I cannot remember if something happened to throw him off track between Summerslam in 1998 and Summerslam in 1999, but my remembrance is that he was a surefire world champ in '98 after that ladder match judging by crowd reaction, but a year later people weren't fully behind him and it took some convincing booking to get him there. 

[Hooker]

 

Actually, HHH was pretty right about his comments to Foley. The dude didn't put his hands up. Who the hell wouldn't put a hand up (or flinch) on instinct when someone is swinging a chair at your head, unless it's by a complete and total surprise? 

 

Why would Triple H continue across the ring when Irish-whipped, only to rebound back toward his waiting opponent?

 

The answer to your question, my question, and really to any question about the mechanics of pro wrestling, as always, is "Because it's pro wrestling." 

 

Yeah, exactly.  Pro wrestlers don't try to block punches to the head, Triple H included.  It's a spectacle that has very little to do with reality.  The bigger the spectacle, the better the response from the crowd.

[Brian Fowler]

He blew his knee out later in 98, and the heel turn in '99 was confusing, somewhat pointless, and didn't take off.  He eventually got over it, and got over in a big way.

 

Post tearing his quad in 2001, he's been significantly less consistently good, but 2000-2001 he was damn good in the ring, Dylan's list aside.

[Charlie M.]

Yep, I'm with FSW on this. Triple H got a good push because he was talented and got an even better push because the crowds responded to him AND he was committed. He got put in positions to succeed because he showed he could succeed. 

 

They had to push someone too.  Who got passed over in that timeframe in WWF?  Billy Gunn?

[Big Z]

I thought HHH was awesome until the quad injury in 2001, and deserved his spot at the top of the card. Now, he lost a few steps on the comeback and took time rounding into form, and probably not coincidentally business really slipped during that time. Still, he had enough good matches post quad injury to round out a strong career, and played a big part in putting over Benoit, Batista, and Cena at consecutive Wrestlemanias. 

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

2005 - DX Triple H was a great run IMO, great matches with Benoit, Batista, Flair, Cena and Show.

[The Man Known as Dan]

The only guys I can think of on the "who could have got the push" question are Test and D'Lo, and I doubt those are good answers.

[offspring515]

 

 

But you know that HHH & Orton will try their damnest to ensure that Bryan is properly buried.

 

 

I don't know that in the slightest bit.  Pretty sure that HHH, at least, has every intention of making sure Bryan gets as far as possible, because he's trying to find stars to help ensure the future of a company he hopes to leave to his daughter's some day.

 

 

Also does Orton have a noted history of holding people down or burying them?  I think Orton knows he's reached that "constantly over" level where it doesn't really matter if he jobs out constantly, fans will pop just at the sound of his music.  If anything he'd probably love to push Bryan to the next level so their feud draws even more money.

[Jiji]

 

Yep, I'm with FSW on this. Triple H got a good push because he was talented and got an even better push because the crowds responded to him AND he was committed. He got put in positions to succeed because he showed he could succeed. 

 

They had to push someone too.  Who got passed over in that timeframe in WWF?  Billy Gunn?

 

'Kishi. He did it for the people.

 

 

Big Z's assessment is spot on in my opinion. He had a strong '99 followed by a great '00 and things looked on the up and up until the quad injury. Never was the same and he had some terrible angles/feuds following that. He just sucks as a face. But then again, his 20 minute opening heel promos pre-quad injury sucked too.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

The only guys I can think of on the "who could have got the push" question are Test and D'Lo, and I doubt those are good answers.

D'Lo would have been awesome, everybody loved D'Lo. I think Test was late in Hunter's run to get Hunter's push, if that makes sense.

[Brian Fowler]

Kish wasn't main event ready until well after Triple H became a top guy.

[Ace]

 

 

 

But you know that HHH & Orton will try their damnest to ensure that Bryan is properly buried.

 

 

I don't know that in the slightest bit.  Pretty sure that HHH, at least, has every intention of making sure Bryan gets as far as possible, because he's trying to find stars to help ensure the future of a company he hopes to leave to his daughter's some day.

 

 

Also does Orton have a noted history of holding people down or burying them?  I think Orton knows he's reached that "constantly over" level where it doesn't really matter if he jobs out constantly, fans will pop just at the sound of his music.  If anything he'd probably love to push Bryan to the next level so their feud draws even more money.

 

 

Just Kennedy. But that was Cena AND Orton.

[Big Z]

The lasting memories from that SummerSlam '98 card are Austin-Taker, HHH-Rock ladder match, and the opener between D'Lo and Val Venis. Those were the three matches way over with the crowd, and looked like the foundation of the company going forward. The first four names become icons (Taker and Austin were basically there already), while the D-Lo/Droz incident happened and Val had too many character changes to ever rise above the mid-card.

 

To further answer the question of who besides HHH deserves that push, D-Lo is really the only semi-credible alternative. The Radicals jumping ship, along with Jericho going sooner, were the biggest game changers in WWE putting away WCW for good. The WWE had by far the hotter main events from 1998 till then, but WCW always had a strong undercurrent of talent being mishandled and not properly utilized. And though the WWE midcard had some over acts at the time, in a lot of ways they turned out to be smoke and mirrors that were not sustainable. Once they acquired WCW's best potential talents and basically filled out the rest of the card with them, it was game-set-match (even though I held out small hope for a WCW revival up until their dying days).

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

 

 

 

 

But you know that HHH & Orton will try their damnest to ensure that Bryan is properly buried.

 

 

I don't know that in the slightest bit.  Pretty sure that HHH, at least, has every intention of making sure Bryan gets as far as possible, because he's trying to find stars to help ensure the future of a company he hopes to leave to his daughter's some day.

 

 

Also does Orton have a noted history of holding people down or burying them?  I think Orton knows he's reached that "constantly over" level where it doesn't really matter if he jobs out constantly, fans will pop just at the sound of his music.  If anything he'd probably love to push Bryan to the next level so their feud draws even more money.

 

 

Just Kennedy. But that was Cena AND Orton.

 

And he injured one, almost injured the other, and IIRC had something to do with Lashley getting hurt too.

[mco543]

 

 

 

 

But you know that HHH & Orton will try their damnest to ensure that Bryan is properly buried.

 

 

I don't know that in the slightest bit.  Pretty sure that HHH, at least, has every intention of making sure Bryan gets as far as possible, because he's trying to find stars to help ensure the future of a company he hopes to leave to his daughter's some day.

 

 

Also does Orton have a noted history of holding people down or burying them?  I think Orton knows he's reached that "constantly over" level where it doesn't really matter if he jobs out constantly, fans will pop just at the sound of his music.  If anything he'd probably love to push Bryan to the next level so their feud draws even more money.

 

 

Just Kennedy. But that was Cena AND Orton.

 

 

They should be commended for that.

[The Man Known as Dan]

Val is a good one, and someone who got stuck: he got noticed and was memorable because of his gimmick, but no force could get him past it. Clear top card potential the gimmick killed.

[SirSmUgly]

He blew his knee out later in 98, and the heel turn in '99 was confusing, somewhat pointless, and didn't take off.  He eventually got over it, and got over in a big way.

 

Post tearing his quad in 2001, he's been significantly less consistently good, but 2000-2001 he was damn good in the ring, Dylan's list aside.

 

I remembered the knee injury, but you know what? I forgot about the heel turn, and now that I consider it, I think we can point to the confusing turn on DX and joining of the Corporation as a big de-railer. That and Austin not putting him over clean at Summerslam '99. 

[Reggie20x6]

The answer to the "Why was HHH pushed so hard" question was answered in the very article that started this thread.

 

HHH made the sacrifices necessary to be at the morning meetings when Vince asked him to show up, and give his opinion. Many other wrestlers were given that opportunity, and almost none of them took Vince up on the offer.

 

He doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs - all of which are things Vince hates.

 

He claims that he and his friends only talked about wrestling, and being better at it than anyone else. All Vince wants to do is talk wrestling - even at cook-outs.

 

So when 1999 rolls around, and Vince needs someone to take over while Austin is on the shelf - who better than the guy who always showed up early to work, never partook in the nightlife, and always wanted to talk about wrestling?

 

You couldn't have come up with a safer and more reliable choice to build a company around (other than being injury-prone due to being *ahem* chemically-enhanced).

[Zakk_Sabbath]

 

The only guys I can think of on the "who could have got the push" question are Test and D'Lo, and I doubt those are good answers.

D'Lo would have been awesome, everybody loved D'Lo. I think Test was late in Hunter's run to get Hunter's push, if that makes sense.

 

 

I agree with you on Test, but D'lo is a bit of a reach. The only way I could see that having gone down is if he were more prominent in the IC title scene in summer-fall of 98 when it revolved around Rock, Shamrock and HHH.

 

I saw where someone else mentioned Venis above. The pornstar thing probably didn't have a long shelf life, but I could see him being on top if his character kinda evolved a bit into some weird hybrid of Rick Rude and "Live Sex Celebration"-era Edge.

 

I hate to be morbid, but what about Owen?

[Victator]

He was definitely shoved down the fans throats by 97. Which isn't a point against him. He is not suppose to say "No no, push that guy."The Warrior match was definitely a big deal. In some ways it was the biggest match at Wrestlemania 12. They did not go into detail, but it seems like it was suppose to be worked more evenly than it was. D'Lo is probably the first small crack, the WWF exposed. In the sense you see the first bit of bullshit that has so royally fucked them up today. They pushed D'Lo for over a year and then just stopped. They decided he was not a big deal and he was never going to matter again. It did not matter how much money they invested in him over a year. It was not even the Droz incident. He just said the wrong thing to the wrong person. It was not noticeable in 1999 or 2000, when they had a massive over roster. But today it happens constantly and they are suffering. 

[MORELOCK]

I don't know if Owen could have gotten any higher than he was during the Sole Survivor deal.

D'Lo was over and talented, but I can't see him as more than an upper midcard guy.

First I've heard of the idea that Venis could have been a top level guy, and I couldn't disagree more.

[Josh Mann]

There was also Jarrett who was quashed 1) for political reasons and 2) because it was Jeff Fucking Jarrett.

[Gonzalez]

It was not even the Droz incident. He just said the wrong thing to the wrong person. It was not noticeable in 1999 or 2000, when they had a massive over roster.  

What happened?