Magic, Memories, and Mania VALENTINO'S MAGIC, MEMORIES, AND MANIA: The Five Defining Moments of Triple H’s Career
Nov 28, 2013 - 1:26:48 PM
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By Shawn Valentino, PWTorch specialist
A few weeks ago, one of our readers asked us to compare the careers of Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Randy Savage. I did an extended analysis comparing the two legends at various key categories that make a wrestling superstar. I followed that up with a list of the top five defining moments of Macho Man’s career. Looking back at the careers of these respective wrestlers has been a trip down memory lane for me because they are iconic figures that played large role in the two biggest boom periods in WWF/E history. I also saw nearly all of both of their careers play out in real-time, although I was extremely young in Savage’s prime.
The trajectory of The Game’s career is one of the most interesting in wrestling history. He went from being punished for one of the most famous kayfabe-breaking incidents to becoming the most powerful wrestler in the industry. Today we will look back at the five defining moments in the career of Triple H.
Honorable Mention: Triple H looks down at Hulkamania
I would not call this a major defining moment, but one of my favorite Triple H moments was when Hulk Hogan returned to WWF in 2002. They were face-to-face and Hulk gave him the famously cheesy “Watcha gonna do” line and Triple H just gave him a condescending smirk and no-sold it. It looked like he was about to burst out laughing in Hogan’s face, and I may have thrown my couch out the window in excitement if he had. As someone that never liked the formulaic Hulkster act, I thought this was the best reaction anyone has ever had to Hulkamania.
(5) Hunter Hearst Helmsley is punished for the Curtain Call
It is ironic that the earliest defining moment in Triple H’s career was one that he was a background player in during his infancy with the WWF. It is of the most infamous moments in wrestling history. Razor Ramon and Diesel were leaving to WCW, and after a cage match in Madison Square Garden, Vince McMahon’s Mecca, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hunter, and Shawn Michaels all hugged and bowed in the middle of the ring. Some saw it as the day kayfabe officially died.
HBK was the WWF Champion at the time, and the other two were leaving the company, so Triple H was punished for the incident. He was supposed to win the King of the Ring in 1996, but plans changed and fate would have it that Steve Austin would be crowned and deliver one of the most famous promos of all time. Supposedly, Hunter was made the scapegoat for months, and I believe it is one of the situations that motivated him to greatness in the ring and having a powerful political position behind the scenes.
(4) Shawn Michaels “retires” and Triple H becomes leader of DX
After the Curtain Call, Hunter reestablished his position as one of the rising stars of the New Generation Era. Lucky for him, he had a powerful cohort in Michaels, who was the biggest star in WWF at the time. To combat the NWO, which reignited wrestling into the mainstream, they formed D-Generation X. I still consider the original DX of Michaels and Helmsley to be the absolute coolest act I have seen in all my years of watching wrestling. They were arrogant, rebellious, sarcastic, and each had a swagger that defined the WWF Attitude movement that would soon put WWF back on the pop culture map.
Of course, the Heartbreak Kid was a big star so when he “retired” after his back injury, it left room for Hunter to emerge from his shadow and take over DX. The promo he gave the day after WrestleMania 14 that pronounced his position as the new leader of the DX Army was a true star-making moment that was the first step to his ascension to main event status.
(3) Triple H and Mick Foley steal the show at the Royal Rumble
In early 2000, WWF was enjoying its most successful run, and it was legitimately an entertainment juggernaut. With stars like Stone Cold and The Rock in their primes, and major supporting players like The Undertaker and Mick Foley, the company was well on its way to winning the Monday Night Wars. Triple H was already a large part of their success in defeating Nitro consistently, but he had yet to become a consistent main event performer. It was his feud with Foley that took him to the next level and their greatest battle was on the Royal Rumble stage.
They competed in a brutal street fight that stole the show and earned Triple H the respect he needed to catapult his career. For the next year leading up to his quad injury, he was the best all-around wrestler in the industry. Foley is often given credit for being the wrestler that really helped his ascension more than his other peers, and after their feud together, Hunter has been at the center of top programs ever since.
(2) The Last Outlaws and the End of an Era at WrestleMania
The five-year odyssey that started with Michaels “ending” the career of Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24 and culminated with Triple H fighting The Undertaker to end an era at WrestleMania 28 is one of the great sagas in wrestling history. It was wrestling at its best both in and out of the ring. They were larger-than-life, well-defined characters in feuds based on the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat competing on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
Triple H gets heat for this, but when he called himself and Taker “the Last Outlaws” I believe he was absolutely correct because it felt like they were the last of the cool, badass characters. I was there at WrestleMania for their two epic showdowns, and it truly did feel like the end of an era of the greatest Superstars in wrestling history. Before his quest to end The Streak, I was not convinced that The Game was one of the great wrestlers in history, but he earned my respect, especially in the serious manner they built up to the match.
It was wrestling storytelling at its finest, and it is also irritating because it shows that Triple H really does know how to create a compelling wrestling program that isn’t too insider or winking and smiling at the camera. I am hoping that he can study the promos and in-ring action in this series with Undertaker and apply what worked to build other characters and feuds. The brilliance that he showed in building compelling characters and in-ring psychology to tell an epic story is what I hope becomes the defining philosophy of Triple H’s career.
(1) The McMahon-Helmsley regime begins.
This topic could be several defining moments in Triple H’s career, including the current power trip storyline, but I go back to the original McMahon-Helmsley regime. I keep using this word, but I believe it is the defining term of Triple H’s career, but how ironic that these two would play the powerful couple in their younger years, and now they are the ones that control the future of the wrestling industry as we know it.
It was the classic case of life imitating art because we all know the story of the eventual union of Paul Levesque and Stephanie McMahon. Without his future wife at the time, then the story of Triple H’s career, both in and out of the ring would not be complete, and I believe it his relationship and marriage into the most powerful family in wrestling history is what will ultimately define his career.
Please send questions, comments, and feedback to shawnvalentino@showstopperlifestyle.com
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