The worst thing about HHH between 2002-2004

[SuperstarNeilC]

I'll do whatever the fuck i want, cunt

 

[tiger_rick]

Of course you will.

[JohnnyChimpo]

BANHAMMER~

[simonworden]

The Orton feud was what really started me on the triple H hating and came and was the final straw in the one period of time in my life I didnt follow even the results.

 

Before that RAW was getting tedious and in late 2002 - 2003 I didnt follow it at all either as I foudn it tedious. It jsut felt slow and that everyone that was in the top of the card was shit, never loved RVD, Booker T or even goldberg.

[The Maestro]

The Orton feud was what really started me on the triple H hating and came and was the final straw in the one period of time in my life I didnt follow even the results.

 

Agreed.

 

Triple H dominated the Raw scene for the whole of 2003 with those long, drawn-out, dreadful matches that buried all the top ex-WCW wrestlers but he did finish it off with that great match he had with HBK on the last Raw of that year and was pretty much enjoyable from then on until Unforgiven. As shit as it was, I can imagine Triple H getting the belt off Orton was probably only down to Orton stinking as a babyface. I started enjoying Triple H again when he had his feud with Batista.

[Carbomb]

Why the fuck did they spunk it so soon after the title win? Orton won the title mid 2004. And one night later, he was out of the group. No slow burn, no build up of jealousy from HHH to Randy, no tension, no scheming, nothing. Just a beatdown and thats it. Obviously the angle and subsequent feud bombed and we ended up with HHH/Batista (which wasn't a bad thing), but the Orton deal could have been so much more.

 

IIRC, it was because they'd just lost Lesnar pretty publicly, and they didn't want him holding their record of "youngest-ever world champion" - Orton was probably the only guy at the time with the prospect of realistically holding a strap at that time to break the record and erase Lesnar from the books, as he was already getting pretty over.

[didcotfc]

I always think of HHH as a very solid, consistent wrestler who gave a match its structure and held everything together but who lacked razamataz of some of his peers . Lets face it, the cold, calculating assasin role that he played for so long is not going to be the most scintillating. I suppose he's that great defensive midfielder who, while rarely spectacular, does all the groundwork that allows the flair players to shine. Throughout 1999 to early 2001 he laid down the solid basis of the match, allowing let guys like The Rock, Mick Foley, Steve Austin etc to bring the colour. This is not meant as an insult, that was his role and he did it better than anyone.

 

It felt like from 2002 onwards he didn't really have the opponents who could bring the same level of flair that would compliment his 'ring general' schtick and, coupled with his heath problems, this meant his matches suffered. Its also fair to say that we had all been well and truely spoiled for several years and a noticeable drop in performance was going to be jumped upon. At the time I was a work rate wanker so my opinion is probably clouded. Obviously, HBK was able to bring some excitement and colour and the matches with him were still very good.

 

Incidentally, I think this is one of the reasons why the main event of WM25 sucked so horribly. He was paired with Randy Orton who is also consistent but rarely spectacular and does a similar cold calculating gimmick. One of them really needed to step up and provide the fireworks. In the build up, they did a great job of having Orton driving HHH to the limits with his attacks on Vince, Stephanie etc. It seemed that HHH's cold exterior had been broken and we were about to see him fighting back with fire and passion. Unfortunately, they put some kind of stipulation that HHH could lose on a DQ (or something like that) and so, having spent so much effort into driving HHH out of his calculating ways and into desperation, they put him in a match where he couldn't show all that passion and anger and we all got a snorefest...

 

Anyway, after all that rambling, my view is that he is one of the top wrestlers in recent history but lacks the excitement factor that'd make him be remembered as fondly as others. I think over 2002-2004 this was rather exposed.

[uwc39]

With the exception of his matches with Shawn Michaels, every match was pretty dull. I'll give him some slack with Scott Steiner but RVD, Booker T, Jericho, Orton, Kane and even Goldberg (not that he was much good anyway) all came out of angles with him looking pretty bad. He had a stinker with the Undertaker at King of the Ring 2002 as well.

 

The Booker T angle pre-WrestleMania XIX was horrible, him unmasking Kane on an episode of Raw was pointless, RVD went from being the most over guy post-Invasion to bring thrown in tag teams and Orton's first face run ended up a total failure.

 

Only good thing he did was put Benoit over strong.

[Arch Stanton]

Despite many of the criticisms in this thread being absolutely justified, I'd still love for HHH to return to Raw as a top heel now. The show is missing him.

[air_raid]

him unmasking Kane on an episode of Raw was pointless,

 

Apart from reinventing Kane and turning him heel in the process.

[PowerButchi]

With the exception of his matches with Shawn Michaels, every match was pretty dull. I'll give him some slack with Scott Steiner but RVD, Booker T, Jericho, Orton, Kane and even Goldberg (not that he was much good anyway) all came out of angles with him looking pretty bad. He had a stinker with the Undertaker at King of the Ring 2002 as well.

 

The Booker T angle pre-WrestleMania XIX was horrible, him unmasking Kane on an episode of Raw was pointless, RVD went from being the most over guy post-Invasion to bring thrown in tag teams and Orton's first face run ended up a total failure.

 

Only good thing he did was put Benoit over strong.

 

Tut tut tut.

[Carbomb]

Despite many of the criticisms in this thread being absolutely justified, I'd still love for HHH to return to Raw as a top heel now. The show is missing him.

 

I think most would. Nobody's criticising him for his recent work, we're talking specifically about the period from just after Summerslam 2002 to just before Wrestlemania 20.

[simonworden]

Incidentally, I think this is one of the reasons why the main event of WM25 sucked so horribly. He was paired with Randy Orton who is also consistent but rarely spectacular and does a similar cold calculating gimmick. One of them really needed to step up and provide the fireworks. In the build up, they did a great job of having Orton driving HHH to the limits with his attacks on Vince, Stephanie etc. It seemed that HHH's cold exterior had been broken and we were about to see him fighting back with fire and passion. Unfortunately, they put some kind of stipulation that HHH could lose on a DQ (or something like that) and so, having spent so much effort into driving HHH out of his calculating ways and into desperation, they put him in a match where he couldn't show all that passion and anger and we all got a snorefest...

 

 

Agree completely with this, although I would add that the original plan had the match at WM 25 having legacy and the mcmahons getting involved with Batistas return finishing it off. Personally I would have preffered to see that. If it had been mid card then the match being a bit of a bore with this ending as a no contest/ DQ would have been fine as people would have got a cheap pop for batista. Even a slight juggle to give HHH the pinfall at the end would have made it better.

 

The match though did stink of the HHH of 2002-04. One thing I do have to say is back in those days he didnt force himself into the final match on many cards unless it had to be. In fact I think it was only Gimmick Matches where he went on last untill Unforgiven 2003 from King of the Ring 2002.

[MerlinsMagique]

There was a comment online at the time that Steiner gets so blown up, that when he takes a deep breath to suck some more oxygen in half the front row of the audience pass out

 

I've heard Cornette use that line a couple of times. Don't know if he's the one who came up with it though.

 

I've watched WWE(F) since 1998 and have never cared one way or the other for Triple H. That said, during the time period specified, it always annoyed me how even when he wasn't the champion, he always seemed to be made the centre of the show. As a specific example, it pissed me off that in the months leading up to Wrestlemania 18 where Trips beat Jericho for the undisputed championship, the focus was on Triple H's relationship with Stephanie, and Jericho (the champion) was left playing second fiddle as Stephanie's lapdog. Apparently it pissed Jericho off too, since he spoke about it in detail in his most recent book.

[Arch Stanton]

I think most would. Nobody's criticising him for his recent work, we're talking specifically about the period from just after Summerslam 2002 to just before Wrestlemania 20.

I was talking specifically about Triple H being the top heel again, as he was from 02 to 04. It's now been 5 full years since he turned face and I can't stand him in the role. If he returns to the ring full time, even if for just a short run, I'd love for him to go out on top as the bastard heel character that he was when heading up Evolution.