On Monday Night Raw this week (8/27), Triple H, said his goodbyes to the WWE fans. It wasn't official, as he said "never say never." However, the tears were in his eyes, and it was truly one of the better farewell moments I've seen on Raw.
Over the last 15 years, I've watched HHH go from "Hunter Hearst Helmsley" the dignified heel, to a member of DX with Shawn Michaels, and then become a superstar in his own right at "The Game."
What were some of your favorite moments of Triple H's career? Were you a fan?
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
when I first started watching wrestling in 2005-ish, he was one of my favourites and I still do enjoy watching him once and a while, I'm kinda sad to see him go
Triple H was a unique performer for me. His heel run with evolution was the first time I remember not hearing anyone have anything good, or even respectful to say about a heel. Several times I've seen heels that are great at what they do and people love them for it, but Triple H seemed to be able to get around that to the point people just flat out hated him as a wrestler and as a person, granted his push matching up pretty close to marring Stephanie probobly didn't help.
That's honestly what I remember most for me he was the first heel to truly get everyone to hate him regardless of his talent and ability, and it was a very cool thing to watch.
Don't get me wrong, I get what they were trying to do with this, because what was supposed to be HHH's moment in the sun after his match with Lesnar at Summerslam, and HHH was the only one left in the ring, he was there to soak up the glory and admiration as he reflected on his career. What did he get instead? Chants of "You Tapped Out." It took the writers another week to figure out how they were going to correct this to attempt to get the reaction they wanted. Cue this... speech.
This "farewell speech" "retirement speech" whatever you want to call it, yeah, it was one of the worst spun promos I've ever seen because me, and pretty much all of the other smarks aka the half of the crowd that chants Cena sucks... did not buy this for a second.
Does anyone really think that if this was a wrestling retirement speech that they wouldn't go over the top and make it elaborate? Edge got to give his retirement speech on two different shows. Heck, he even got to make an entrance one last time and had a moment with Christian when Christian won his first major WWE title. they made something out of it.
Ric Flair's WWE Retirement? Everybody was out there, Flair got a gold watch. Shawn Michael's WWE Retirement: A long speech, appearance by HHH and the Undertaker, DX glowsticks left on the entrance ramp etc. If WWE wanted to make this HHH "retirement speech" have the slightest chance of being legitimate, Shawn Michaels would have been there in person.
This was terrible. Its sad when a Katie Vick reference was the most entertaining part of the show. That's twice now where some of the worst gimmicks ever conceived were used to entertain in the new Raw 3 Hour Format. You know what I would have rather seen during this HHH speech. A wrestling match.
HHH got to the top because he because he corralled a group of people and marginalized anybody not named them. Well, at least they tried too. The Cliq was far more successful at this in WCW than in WWF. Seeing that he couldn't get to the top that was because the group moved to WCW or had to retire due to back injuries, he upgraded from Chyna to the Boss's Daughter Stephanie McMahon. Ultimately this secured HHH's future. Since he was now with the Boss's Daughter, anything he wanted was now his. Moved to Smackdown? Of course HHH is the champion, who would have guessed.
HHH has buried more wrestlers in his career than I care to recount. HHH is a great in ring performer. He isn't the best wrestler ever, but he knows how to carry a match. HHH twice finished a match with a torn Quad which when you think about it is kinda ridiculous. He performed through pain. His match at Wrestlemania 27 against Taker was one of the best matches I've ever seen. I saw it live and in person and I will never forget it. He created an atmosphere whenever he came out. However I cannot not forget the backstage politics of HHH.
I guess, for me, I put the backstage politics aside and think "what did you do for me inside the ring?" And to answer that question with anything other than "Everything" is impossible for me. He was not the best wrestler, I agree, but yeah, he really could carry a match.
When I really started to get into Wrestling, the Attitude era had just begun, and HHH was at the forefront of that with DX. The guy that grew from that into the heel that was probably the best "heel" I had ever seen (seriously, I "hated" his guts), and then he goes to be at the top of the game, wrestling Undertaker at Wrestlemania. It is a storied career if nothing else.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
Over the last 15 years, I've watched HHH go from "Hunter Hearst Helmsley" the dignified heel, to a member of DX with Shawn Michaels, and then become a superstar in his own right at "The Game."
What were some of your favorite moments of Triple H's career? Were you a fan?
My favorite moment of his career was when he married Stephanie McMahon and got a huge push to become a superstar, rather than an upper midcarder.
Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad wrestler -- but so many better wrestlers have been overlooked because they suck at backstage politics.
That's honestly what I remember most for me he was the first heel to truly get everyone to hate him regardless of his talent and ability, and it was a very cool thing to watch.
This "farewell speech" "retirement speech" whatever you want to call it, yeah, it was one of the worst spun promos I've ever seen because me, and pretty much all of the other smarks aka the half of the crowd that chants Cena sucks... did not buy this for a second.
Does anyone really think that if this was a wrestling retirement speech that they wouldn't go over the top and make it elaborate? Edge got to give his retirement speech on two different shows. Heck, he even got to make an entrance one last time and had a moment with Christian when Christian won his first major WWE title. they made something out of it.
Ric Flair's WWE Retirement? Everybody was out there, Flair got a gold watch. Shawn Michael's WWE Retirement: A long speech, appearance by HHH and the Undertaker, DX glowsticks left on the entrance ramp etc. If WWE wanted to make this HHH "retirement speech" have the slightest chance of being legitimate, Shawn Michaels would have been there in person.
This was terrible. Its sad when a Katie Vick reference was the most entertaining part of the show. That's twice now where some of the worst gimmicks ever conceived were used to entertain in the new Raw 3 Hour Format. You know what I would have rather seen during this HHH speech. A wrestling match.
HHH got to the top because he because he corralled a group of people and marginalized anybody not named them. Well, at least they tried too. The Cliq was far more successful at this in WCW than in WWF. Seeing that he couldn't get to the top that was because the group moved to WCW or had to retire due to back injuries, he upgraded from Chyna to the Boss's Daughter Stephanie McMahon. Ultimately this secured HHH's future. Since he was now with the Boss's Daughter, anything he wanted was now his. Moved to Smackdown? Of course HHH is the champion, who would have guessed.
HHH has buried more wrestlers in his career than I care to recount. HHH is a great in ring performer. He isn't the best wrestler ever, but he knows how to carry a match. HHH twice finished a match with a torn Quad which when you think about it is kinda ridiculous. He performed through pain. His match at Wrestlemania 27 against Taker was one of the best matches I've ever seen. I saw it live and in person and I will never forget it. He created an atmosphere whenever he came out. However I cannot not forget the backstage politics of HHH.
When I really started to get into Wrestling, the Attitude era had just begun, and HHH was at the forefront of that with DX. The guy that grew from that into the heel that was probably the best "heel" I had ever seen (seriously, I "hated" his guts), and then he goes to be at the top of the game, wrestling Undertaker at Wrestlemania. It is a storied career if nothing else.