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Best HHH matches


cm funk

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a controversial subject

 

I nominate HHH-Jericho last man standing from 00

 

I also nominate HHH-Foley from Royal Rumble 00

 

his triple threat matches with Benoit and HBK were pretty good, but stick him and HBK in a singles match and was bound to suck

 

he did some good stuff with Jeff Hardy

 

I'm kind of a fan of the guy as a worker, when he actually works and isn't all "I am HHH ARRRR" with his shit

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I guess what I'm saying there is when HHH bumps and shows ass he's fantastic at it. But a time and a place for all things. He's often way overcompensated and been selfish in matches, which, as a watcher.....that isn't entertaining, it's just bad wrestling

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Summerslam 2002 with Shawn and Rumble 2000 with Cactus are the standouts. Rock/HHH ladder match was Summerslam 98 was tremendous as well, mostly due to Rock.

 

I loved the Summerslam match with HBK because I was a huge HBK mark and it was cool seeing him in the ring again, and they built a great story with it, but on rewatch it's really shiity. Not HHH's fault, but that match hasn't aged well imo

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now that I think of it, the tag with Austin against Jericho and Benoit might be the best match. It sucks that he tore his quad and Benoit needed to go under the knife for neck surgery almost immediately after that, because that could have been a really hot program. They improvised when HHH went down, but still

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The Austin/HHH vs Benoit/Jericho tag was great at the time because it ended a bad two-month period for Raw and it looked like the Benoit/Jericho team was going to be pushed to main events. But that match isn't as good now to me, mainly because the referee was counting falls no matter who attempted them in that closing stretch when Austin and Jericho were the legal men and also because I hate the idea that you can pull the referee out of the ring during a fall count and not get disqualified for it.

 

I would actually call the Bryan match this year my favorite HHH match.

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I've always been a big fan of the cage match with Flair. It's not great, but I can't think of how he could've worked the match any better to get more out of what Flair could do at that point. I also remember really liking one of the Batista matches - I think it was the HIAC. And I agree with (BP) that the Raw match with Shawn was their best together.

 

Honestly, I quite like a fair amount of his work; it's only in the more overblown, overlong stuff where you think "he's good, but nowhere near as good as he thinks he is." I'm sure Meltzer said something on one of the radio shows a while back re: watching HHH at shows and him doing "exactly what I expected him to do at that point, given the various reactions, etc", and I got what he meant. I also quite like a lot of little spots he's done and introduced to the company: when he does the full hard posting and rotates right around onto his back, for instance, it looks more "complete" as a spot, for lack of a better word, and that's how more guys have started doing it; the Harley corner bump to the floor looks better off the short switch out of the same corner he goes over; I don't remember seeing a guy drape a leg over the ropes by the shin and drop the elbow into the back of the knee as the leg's positioned like a

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I don't really like either the Jericho (Last Man Standing) or Austin (3 stages of hell) matches. Both of them have very good patches but they end up as these hugely bloated affairs. HHH, more than any wrestler other than maybe TNA era Jarrett, just doesn't get that less is more. I bet there are dozens of Triple H matches that are 2/3rds good.

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He had a TV match with Big Show around 05'/06' (I think) that I remember really liking...largely because Triple H actually sells everything.

 

I liked the Hardy matches from 08' a good deal.

 

WM30 was definitely his best match in years.

 

Oddly enough, I remember thinking the DX vs. McMahons & Big Show cage match was fun, they had a pretty good bout with Rhodes & DiBiase later on, and I really liked the Evolution/Shield match at ER. Could or should a list of Triple H's best matches really include this many tag bouts? Never considered him a tag wrestler, but...

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The PPV match with Rhodes and DiBiase was excellent. I remember being surprised by how strong they were able to get over......but it's completely forgotten now.....and it didn't lead to anything. There was a point in the whole Legacy deal where they could have turned DiBiase into a red hot babyface.....and they didn't. And we ended up with a lame breakup and a lame 3 way match at WM

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Recently rewatched his HIAC match with Jericho and liked it a lot more than I expected too. Both guys wrestled like they were pissed off about being shunted after their Mania stuff and the aggression added to the match.

 

You beat me to it...this one doesnt get enough love and talk, but its a damn fine match without a HUGE HIAC fall or moment....and because HHH won, that will take some immediately out of liking it due to his VERY unpopular status in the IWC. 25 minutes and a couple years backstory make it even better....No more Steph involved..just the two in bascially their blow-off...Best HHH - Jericho match to eme

 

Others:

 

IYH Buried Alive 96 opener vs. Austin is really good and worth a rewatch, forgotten as it was a meaningless match to keep Austin building and was HHH's last doghouse match before being put into IC Title the next night and growing from there, but the match is really good.

 

May '96 match vs. Shawn on RAW was way better than it should have been, with Shawn as WWE Champ giving a TON to his buddy as HHH is about to head into his summer in the shithouse

 

12/14/98 WWf Title match vs. Rock on RAW was good with Test Debuting at the end...but a good match from A GREAT RAW with HHH / Rock / Shawn interracting with the great Corporate Shawn line to Hunter "He's NEVER been a main eventer, he's only hung out with them..." Followed by "Hit MY Music" for the DX Theme....

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Has anyone rewatched the Cactus Rumble match in the past decade? Would be interested to see how that stands up. I'm going on memory from watching it on the night.

 

I watched it live and then more recently and I do believe it stands up. I really liked HHH as a bumper back then and they both went all-out in this one. The callback to the Rock match from '99 was a nice storytelling touch. Really put over Foley strong too - often overlooked is the post-match where Foley destroys him (which is kind of weird given all the damage he took in the match - he pretty much no-sells it).

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Has anyone rewatched the Cactus Rumble match in the past decade? Would be interested to see how that stands up. I'm going on memory from watching it on the night.

I watched it a while ago since someone posted it on the PWG of the UG and it does stand up pretty well.

 

HHH's performance in this was great. The beating he took, his groggy selling, etc. was fantastic.

 

I know Foley's character was that he could withstand an incredible amount of punishment, but he pretty much no sold 95% of HHH's offense which I thought was a little to over the top for his character and much worse since he was going to lose anyway.

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That doesn't bother me. That was Foley's character at that point, the guy who could take insane ungodly amounts of pain and punishment and you had to murder him in the ring to keep him down. That was a huge part of the buildup to the match too.......HHH thought he had killed Foley for good and then.....Cactus Jack shows up! Bang bang! you don't want to mess with Cactus Jack

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His Summerslam 97 cage match against Mankind is pretty solid. I don't mind the no blood factor at all. They have some nice escape spots along with some decent violence. I really enjoy how the match starts with HHH just darting straight for the door without a lock up. Makes him look smart and a coward at the same time.

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I watched the Royal Rumble 2000 match last week and I don't think it holds up at all. It just drifts. The crowd isn't even into it. Also, as much as I like Foley, he does have a tendency to completely no-sell things to get to the next spot. I was watching the Over the Edge 98 match the other day and he no-sells two stunners at the end so he can move on to the next spot. I think it comes down to lazy structuring so that he has no other choice.

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If you watch the home video version of the 2000 Royal Rumble you get exclusive home video footage of Hunter lying bleeding on the stretcher, his leg about to be stitched shut, groaning "Somebody go find my mom and tell her I'm okay."

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