[1997-02-13-WWF-Raw Thursday] Rocky Maivia vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

A little glimpse into a major rivalry a few years down the line. Last few minutes. Helmsley, who I should add was a perfectly acceptable heel midcarder, slaps Rock around and toys with him, but Rocky keeps kicking out. Nice little story with Helmsley having Rocky beat but being cocky and losing the IC title. Big pop for the finish that they would not have gotten without setting up that finish so cleverly.

[Zenjo]

Time hasn't been any kinder to Rocky's haircut. He was green in the ring as well as the outdated babyface gimmick.

[soup23]

These two wrestling in this capacity is amazing and it is crazy how different they both act and look a mere three years later. Ending run was perfectly fine stuff and this was probably the best pop of Rocky's young career. In retrospect, its surprising they gave him this win only 2 months after he debuted.

[Kevin Ridge]

Rocky giving it his all. This is in the middle of the Honky Tonk Man search for his protege for the next great Intercontinental Champion. Helmsley goofs around and ends up getting rolled up. We are still a year plus before this feud picks up. Rocky promises he will give the best he can as champion.

[stomperspc]

Both guys looked fine here and the finish was well done. I agree that Triple H is pretty good in his mid card heel role here. Rock on the other hand is miscast in his current role but still looked okay.

[ajtroma]

Time hasn't been any kinder to Rocky's haircut. He was green in the ring as well as the outdated babyface gimmick.

They'd trimmed it a little so it wasn't the complete pineapple thing he had at Survivor Series. They also canned that pancho or whatever the hell that thing was.

[PeteF3]

Contrary to history's re-telling of things, Rocky's victory DID draw a big pop here. But as well-executed as the finish was, this was way too much, way too soon.

[Exposer]

Pretty good match actually. It's kind of weird watching HHH & The Rock have a wrestling match with holds before they were HHH & The Rock. I liked Rock kicking out of all of HHH's big offense making him look tough. They also protected the pedigree here & paid off The Rock's gutsiness with the small package & the big victory. Cool upset. The place popped for him. His post-match promo is forgettable & it's obvious is main problem as a white meat babyface is character which comes across when he's talking.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Just a year and half later this match would have a totally different feel at Summerslam 98 even though it for the same belt. That is one of the 8 million issues with today's wrestling landscape. No one freshens up their character anymore. You don't even have to necessarily change your name. Just change your look and your gimmick like these two.

 

They have a very basic, wrestling 101 match that HHH leads Rocky through. Rocky has a lot of raw athleticism, but those dropkicks such and he really does not have much going for him. HHH is a poor man's Flair with none of the energy or charisma, but at least it is a template to hold everything together. HHH does show some good heel moments: the Curtsey at the beginning, the bug punches in the corner, the slaps to Rocky. The superplex was a great spot. This was a very good cocky heel overestimating the rookie upstart. The ultimate finish to this is of course HH taking way too long to polish off Rocky and getting caught in the small package to lose the championship in quite the upset. The Lowell crowd and the PWO posters seem to love the finish, I felt it to be a little mild. Rocky's promo sucked, but he would get better at those.

[KB8]

Yeah, fascinating look at two guys who'd be in very different positions a year, two years and especially three years from now. I wonder who looked at Rocky and listened to post-match promo and thought, "yep, I can absolutely see that guy being one of the biggest stars in the history of the business some day."