[2008-10-05-WWE-No Mercy] Triple H vs Jeff Hardy

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWE Champion Tripe H vs Jeff Hardy - No Mercy 2008

I got into it a little with Dave Meltzer on Twitter recently. Nothing too extreme maybe three tweets each traded back and forth about how classic wrestling is timeless. He believes that today's wrestling far outstrips yesterday's wrestling and most five star matches of yesteryear would be more like ****. As a staunch fan of the years gone by, I took great umbrage with this. He made the point the evolution is natural and today's wrestlers have learnt then refine on their predecessor's work. My point was a lot of today's wrestlers only picked up bits and pieces and more often than not are missing that connective tissue. This match is a great example. This is a very good match. There is nothing bad about it, but there is nothing excellent about it. Triple H gives a souless Ric Flair travelling NWA Champion against feel-good fan favorite Jeff Hardy. Triple H is a perfect example of somebody who has studied pro wrestling, but is very mechanical often forgets the charisma and energy part of the performance. He plugs Jeff Hardy into his version of the Ric Flair formula, but does not do any of the stooging and bumping to really get the crowd going. The shine is just good when it could be great. The best part of the match is the transition to the heat segment. I liked the organic tease of the Pedigree by Hardy shouldertackling through the ropes but HHH negotiating him into a Pedigree position only to take a big back drop bump over the rope to the floor. Then Jeff Hardy comes flying over the top for a Swanton Bomb but eats nothing but floor. Tremendous sequence with a big time payoff. The heat segment was very ho-hum from HHH some targetting of the back, decent holds. The comeback was way too simple. Just a sling blade. Need to make him earn it. Hardy scores with the Swanton Bomb over the top but the commentators miss that this is the payoff for the earlier attempt. The finish run is pretty basic counter-secondary move-counter, but I do like that here are not hitting their moves. They are either missing or being countered. Hardy gets his big run with Whisper In The Wind, Twist of Fate and nails the Swanton. The place explodes they really think he is going to win. HHH gets an Oklahoma side roll due to Hardy's sloppy cover to escape. Some matches have a lot of great parts but the bad brings it to down to a very good rating. There are some matches that are very good and just never get to the next level, but there is nothing bad about them. This is the latter. ***1/2