The "Confirmed Stories of Triple H Being A Total Douchebag" Thread

[kjh]

It matches the Torch's coverage in their archive section. With the benefit of hindsight, I'd say The Rock's side of the story was closer to the truth than Triple H's.

[Marty]

Steph's 9/11 transcript has been covered, but since I don't believe any exist for HHH's speech on Owen (CRZ didn't transcribe any of the tributes of that show), here's a video with the first group of them:

 

 

Hunter's (not including Chyna's) goes from about 5:50 to 8:35.

[artDDP]

I found a copy of Triple-H's That Damn Good DVD for $5 yesterday. The disc covers the matches that took place between late 1999 and early 2002 including the pre-match video packages. It's interesting to me how he dominated all the pre-match build and then won the matches themselves. For example, prior to Fully Loaded 2000, Jericho costs him a match or two to get heat but when he and Hunter face off on Raw or Smackdown, he beats the hell out of him. Same with McMahon, Foley, Angle...

[Marty]

I used to have the VHS version of that set, which had the HHH intros, but the matches were clipped. It always amused me how HHH led up to his big WM18 title win by never once mentioning who his opponent was.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

Didn't HHH say on Conan just days before WM18 that Jericho wasn't at the level he needed to be?

[Loss]

It was on Off The Record. He said something to the effect of Jericho not quite being where he needed to be, but that he hoped Jericho would put it all together at some point.

[JMFabianoRPL]

I was wondering if anyone mentioned Goldberg yet in the thread. Trip just fucked him up the ass royally.

 

John

Yep. Much like he did Scott Steiner, who could have refresh the product as Big Poppa Pump was an excellent heel character and a WCW one to boot, so the WWF crowd would have surely hated him. So of course Steiner has to work face because god knows you don't want Big Poppa Pump to get actual heel heat because no one should be a bigger heel that Triple H. And of course Steiner gets to work those long "classic" Triple H style matches so he's exposed as a guy who can't work WWF style main event. Well done sir.

 

Actually it was part HHH, part WWE doing their version of the Revenge of the Sith hunt down and kill all the Jedis (I forget the plan's number, having blocked out most of the prequels from my mind), except after the inVasion they were pretty much signing and jobbing any of the major WCW stars they didn't get to. Steiner, not being a WWE creation and a remnant of the company they wanted to kill for good, wouldn't have had a chance anyway. Just like the rest of the nWo, Goldberg, Bischoff, Booker (for good measure), and a case can be made for Flair mostly being in HHH's shadow.

[JMFabianoRPL]

This thread reminded me of something: WWE has yet to release any Chris Jericho DVD retrospective. I only recall a hastily-produced VHS release in the spring of 2000. Even Chris Benoit got a surprisingly well-done DVD set.

They're probably waiting until he leaves for good, which will either be when Fozzy really catches or when his second book gets released.

 

And there's the little matter of much of his career being linked with that guy they're still not quite ready to admit existed. If a set came out now, I'm sure the IWC members who still feel the need to consider said guy their god or whatever would be bitching to no end.

[MJH]

I don't see why they can't include Benoit's matches and just pay whatever royalties to Nancy's family, just not make a big song and dance about it. Eddie's second set being free of Benoit (going so far as to cut footage of HHH in his place on the tribute show) felt like it was missing an important chapter. "We want to fairly chronicle Eddie/Jericho's career, Benoit was heavilly linked to both and the royalties are going to Nancy's family" hardly seems something people would be up-in-arms about.

[Loss]

Jericho's career is obviously heavily tied to Benoit's, but the only Benoit matches that would feel wrong to leave off would be the ladder match and the quad tear tag. They could work around that - if anything, it gives them the chance to frame HHH and HBK as his greatest opponents.

[Marty]

The ladder match was released on the Ladder Match set, as well as the RR Anthology, both of which were just before Benoit's murder suicide.

 

I don't know if the quad tear match ever got a full release. They did a Best of 2001 release, but I never saw the DVD version, so I don't know if it's in full (televised full anyway). Oddly enough, HHH of course references it in his last DVD release (produced just after the Benoit murder suicide) and even gets to say, "Steve and I were wrestling Benoit and Jericho" complete with clip of Benoit and Jericho.

[JMFabianoRPL]

I don't see why they can't include Benoit's matches and just pay whatever royalties to Nancy's family, just not make a big song and dance about it. Eddie's second set being free of Benoit (going so far as to cut footage of HHH in his place on the tribute show) felt like it was missing an important chapter. "We want to fairly chronicle Eddie/Jericho's career, Benoit was heavilly linked to both and the royalties are going to Nancy's family" hardly seems something people would be up-in-arms about.

Well Nancy Grace and her ilk would still find something to complain over, I'm sure, so I guess it's "good business" to have been leaving him off stuff. But it sounds like they might be easing up...recall Vince's mini-statement in that History of WWE magazine. Also, in the WM issue this year, they give the results of all the WM's, and Benoit is mentioned by name in them this time.

 

Not that I am one of those who are pushing them to bring him back. I am actually against the IWC on this debate, not just for the realistic aspects of it, but because I am just sick of the whole matter. One tends to forget Nancy and Daniel when it becomes all about Chris and his career.

 

That said, maybe Jericho DOESN'T want a DVD set until there's the smallest possibility that they can bring back the Benoit matches? Remember at the beginning of his book, he was one who said that the Benoit of that weekend wasn't the one he knew. So maybe he wants to wait till it's "safe" to restore that man he did know?

 

Back to the main topic, yes there is something therapeutic and/or fun in recalling how awful HHH is. But am I the only one who finds this and the J.R. thread terribly depressing? Just cause it opens a bunch of old wounds, most of them reminding me how terrible the business has seemed to become in this last decade or so? Mostly the way backstage politics and mean-spiritedness seep out in the final product. I realize that wrestling's always been like that, but it just seemed more noticeable from the Attitude Era on. Perhaps me having the Internet helped (hurt?) too, but I was thinking back to having read Bret's book and contrasting the sex and drugs and all of the '80s with the characters I saw on TV every week. They may have been scummy and jerky off-camera, but on camera they were good, they were evil, they were funny, heroic, and COOL. I miss that!

[artDDP]

When CM Punk first won the Raw championship, wasn't Hunter quoted as saying, "They'd better program him against Shawn Michaels so he can learn how to work a main event match"?

[Bob Morris]

I don't see why they can't include Benoit's matches and just pay whatever royalties to Nancy's family, just not make a big song and dance about it. Eddie's second set being free of Benoit (going so far as to cut footage of HHH in his place on the tribute show) felt like it was missing an important chapter. "We want to fairly chronicle Eddie/Jericho's career, Benoit was heavilly linked to both and the royalties are going to Nancy's family" hardly seems something people would be up-in-arms about.

Well Nancy Grace and her ilk would still find something to complain over, I'm sure, so I guess it's "good business" to have been leaving him off stuff. But it sounds like they might be easing up...recall Vince's mini-statement in that History of WWE magazine. Also, in the WM issue this year, they give the results of all the WM's, and Benoit is mentioned by name in them this time.

 

Not that I am one of those who are pushing them to bring him back. I am actually against the IWC on this debate, not just for the realistic aspects of it, but because I am just sick of the whole matter. One tends to forget Nancy and Daniel when it becomes all about Chris and his career.

 

That said, maybe Jericho DOESN'T want a DVD set until there's the smallest possibility that they can bring back the Benoit matches? Remember at the beginning of his book, he was one who said that the Benoit of that weekend wasn't the one he knew. So maybe he wants to wait till it's "safe" to restore that man he did know?

 

Back to the main topic, yes there is something therapeutic and/or fun in recalling how awful HHH is. But am I the only one who finds this and the J.R. thread terribly depressing? Just cause it opens a bunch of old wounds, most of them reminding me how terrible the business has seemed to become in this last decade or so? Mostly the way backstage politics and mean-spiritedness seep out in the final product. I realize that wrestling's always been like that, but it just seemed more noticeable from the Attitude Era on. Perhaps me having the Internet helped (hurt?) too, but I was thinking back to having read Bret's book and contrasting the sex and drugs and all of the '80s with the characters I saw on TV every week. They may have been scummy and jerky off-camera, but on camera they were good, they were evil, they were funny, heroic, and COOL. I miss that!

 

I doubt anyone from the MSM will care about a Chris Benoit match being slipped onto a DVD, although I'd imagine they might jump on a full Benoit DVD coming out (which we know will never happen). It's not like the MSM cares enough about it any longer... they quit caring when the investigators ruled out "roid rage" as what led to Chris' actions.

 

And Dave Meltzer has always said Nancy Grace was one of the few who started to understand the real issues. Now if you wish to cite Geraldo Rivera as being embarassing with his coverage of it, feel free.

 

Back to HHH, I always remember how in 1999 the WWE did everything in their power to get him over and, aside from heel heat after his WM XV turn, the crowd could care less about him... he got zero heat. Granted, he was booked pretty stupidly at times, but the fans had no reason to boo him. It took the Steph heel turn to finally get him over.

 

And yes, the whole handling of the Trip-Steph-Angle love triangle irks me to no end. When they booked it so Steph chose Trip over Angle, instead of using the better option of Steph choosing Kurt, that was the end of WWF's momentum and their slide began.

[Slasher]

I think its more likely that Jericho doesn't want a set because he doesn't want to give the fans a reason to cheer him. Showcasing how awesome he was all these years would sort of counteract what he's trying to do nowadays as a heel, wouldn't it? Now before this heel run, no idea why they didn't produce a set.

[smkelly]

He returned on 11/19/07, and they knew several months earlier that he'd be back.

 

Still, it's pretty easy to see they could have fit Chris in there somewhere.

Vince is scared of Goodhelmet.

[Guest Cerebus The Aardvark]

He returned on 11/19/07, and they knew several months earlier that he'd be back.

 

Still, it's pretty easy to see they could have fit Chris in there somewhere.

Vince is scared of Goodhelmet.

 

He is wise to be so, frankly.

[Strummer]

Re: the Love Triangle

 

I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the way the angle ended but I remember at the time there was a report (Keller I think) that the other women in the company were kind of razzing Stephanie that she was going from guy to guy to guy (Test to HHH to Angle) and that she was being portrayed as this "loose" woman

[SteveJRogers]

Think we can add;

 

-Going over a red hot Punk at Night of Champions 2011 for no discernible reason. Which incidentally would be Punk's last PPV loss until Royal Rumble 2013.

 

-Pulling a goodbye speech after losing to Brock at SummerSlam that just proved that after all these years he still isn't anywhere near being over as a "beloved legend" the way he and the WWE constantly push him as.

 

-Slamming Flair and Foley one more time after said speech for leaving before embarrassing himself.

 

-Inserting himself in just about every "hey, we got Bruno back, in the Hall and we are doing DVDs" stories.

 

-Not jobbing a career threatening match to Brock Lesnar at WM when everyone knew that was what he SHOULD have done.

 

-Putting himself over Curtis Axel, making Axel look weak in his repackaged debut.

[Johnny Sorrow]

He didnt go over Axel.

[jdw]

Think we can add;

 

-Going over a red hot Punk at Night of Champions 2011 for no discernible reason. Which incidentally would be Punk's last PPV loss until Royal Rumble 2013.

He lost on the next two PPVs. The winning streak didn't begin until Survivors 2011 when he won the title.

[tigerpride]

Think we can add;

 

-Going over a red hot Punk at Night of Champions 2011 for no discernible reason. Which incidentally would be Punk's last PPV loss until Royal Rumble 2013.

 

-Inserting himself in just about every "hey, we got Bruno back, in the Hall and we are doing DVDs" stories.

Punk lost at Hell in a Cell v. Awesome Truth the very next month

 

He did help bring Bruno back, so he deserves credit for it.

[Strummer]

Jesus, it was less than two years ago that Miz and Truth were working on top as an "outsider" tag team. Insane.

[SteveJRogers]

Jesus, it was less than two years ago that Miz and Truth were working on top as an "outsider" tag team. Insane.

Someone trolled the nWo page on Wiki to include them, Kevin Nash and John Cena (don't ask) as the next nWo incarnation.

[Sidebottom]

The ladder match was released on the Ladder Match set, as well as the RR Anthology, both of which were just before Benoit's murder suicide.

 

I don't know if the quad tear match ever got a full release. They did a Best of 2001 release, but I never saw the DVD version, so I don't know if it's in full (televised full anyway). Oddly enough, HHH of course references it in his last DVD release (produced just after the Benoit murder suicide) and even gets to say, "Steve and I were wrestling Benoit and Jericho" complete with clip of Benoit and Jericho.

But the TLC3 match with Benoit was released on the Best of Smackdown DVD in 2009 which included Benoit, and was rated quite highly in the countdown. Even showed him entering the ring on a solo shot.

 

With Jericho and Benoit being interlinked, I strongly agree. For years the two went hand in hand for me. In 2000 they produced some classic stuff, mainly an absolute belter at Backlash 2000, and a great match at Judgement Day 2000. Although I was super let down by the 2/3 falls match at SummerSlam.