Exposing HHH
For those who watch WWE blindly without knowing what’s REALLY going on behind the scenes, allow me to clue you in.
HHH is the biggest cancer Vince McMahon has, and he is slowly but surely killing the WWE so covertly that even Vince himself doesn’t know it.
Let’s discuss everyone’s favorite freak, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. First, I’ll give props. HHH is an honors student of the wrestling business, and his dedication to his profession is second to none. He also had the initiative to make the most of his minor push in 1999, and had a banner Wrestler of the Year-caliber year in 2000. He has enough ****+ matches under his belt to make him a bonafide top-level worker. While his in-ring quality slipped after returning from his quad injury, it has slowly been getting better as he begins to shed some of his excess muscle mass.
Now comes the bad news. Like the original wrestling mastermind Double H (at home sleeping, according to Vince), Triple H is only out for himself. He has proceeded to bury talent after talent, because he sees them as threats to his position. And since he is bumping uglies with the head writer of WWE’s storylines, he weilds tons of power.
Here are some of the casualties of HHH’s backstage manipulations:
Jeff Hardy
Back when the Hardys were red hot, everyone was talking about Jeff as the heir to Shawn Michaels. While some were rightly skeptical of that notion, Jeff had a solid fan base, had good-to-great matches, and was genuinely on the rise as a popular WWE superstar.
Seeing the threat, HHH booked himself in a match with Jeff and buried him underground. I mean, it was just a total squash. Those who say wins and losses mean nothing (that’s you, Vinnie Ru), eat it. Ever since this match, Jeff has gone way downhill in every possible way, and is about 3 more tardies away from termination.
Brock Lesnar
Back when Brock debuted in WWE and was being booked incorrectly, some were suggesting a different way. Brock could win his matches by ref stoppage, which was novel and would’ve greatly added to his superstar era. Great idea, right?
Yes. So great, that HHH knew it would work. And HHH would have none of that.
HHH weilded that power and got Vince to nix the ref stoppage gimmick. As a result, Brock floundered in midcard nothingness with the likes of Bubba Ray Dudley. It wasn’t until Brock jumped to SmackDown (no HHH to be found there) that Brock got proper buildup for his SummerSlam main event.
Say what you will about Heyman’s booking of Brock, it took 2 unselfish people by the name of Rock and Hulk Hogan (who is terribly selfish, but not this past summer) who really got Brock over big-time. Their blood and believable selling increased Lesnar’s star power when he badly needed it most.
So just when Brock was becoming this legit superstar, HHH steals his thunder by annointing himself Raw champion. All that star power possessed by Brock was cut in half, just like that.
About the only positive is this keeps Brock away from Raw, where HHH is (unfortunately, SmackDown is where Undertaker is).
RVD
When HHH was away rehabbing his poor quad in ’01, RVD was a star on the rise. He was the only guy from the WCW/ECW invasion angle who was getting over, because he wrestled a spectacular style, had charisma, and carried over his cult following from ECW.
HHH saw this, and tried to capitalize on it. In an angle that went nowhere, RVD and Steph flirted with each other backstage for about 2 weeks. Why? Because HHH was only a few months away from returning, and he figured by then, RVD would be the company’s top star.
After it appeared RVD’s push was getting stifled due to his in-ring stiffness, the angle with Steph disappeared. How many of you even remember it? Just like that, gone.
RVD ran in circles for months, and only recently saw a bigger push. But he only got a push because he HAD to, as the Raw roster is slimmer than Harvey Whippleman. During the culmination of his big push, RVD was put in a main event with HHH. But ol’ Trip, that shrew bastard, made sure to bury RVD in his interviews so that no one would take him seriously. Not only he that, he put himself in long promo’s with RVD, so all the agents could see for themselves how weak RVD was on the mic. He saw Rob’s weakness, and put a magnifying glass on it.
And now, HHH gets to not only tag team with his idol Ric Flair, but he managed to create a program between Flair and RVD. Why? Because their 2 styles do NOT COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER AT ALL. It exposes RVD as the limited worker he is, and makes him work with someone who is the last person who should be taking Rob’s stiff offense. Now all the agents will see RVD have a clumsy match with Flair, and they sure aren’t gonna blame Flair.
HHH is so smart he should have Chris Nowinski’s gimmick.
I’m not saying RVD is the smoothest worker or most captivating talker, but a good booker knows how to build around those weaknesses. Just ask Paul E. He has done it with just about everyone who ever received an ECW paycheck (whether those checks cleared is another story).
Chris Jericho
HHH’s burial of Jericho was very noticeable in 2000. While the 2 might be buddies backstage trading their favorite heavy metal CDs, HHH clearly has other things in mind. Not only was Y2J booked to look like he was nowhere near HHH’s star level, he constantly laughed him off in the buildup. In media interviews, he branded Jericho as “not ready yet.” Jericho’s world title reign was booked clearly as 2nd in importance behind HHH’s main program. And remember that title win by Benoit and Jericho in San Jose? Even in his absence, HHH saw to it that neither guy made it to that next level.
And by the way, how come we almost never see Benoit vs. HHH matches? Is someone afraid to get outshined?
Let’s not gloss over HHH’s other grand accomplishments. At WrestleMania in ’01, he showed the world he was willing to do a clean job… to the Undertaker. Whoopty doo. How honorable of him. By losing to a legend, he didn’t hurt his stature one bit, and didn’t help ‘Taker’s any.
And then when he came back from his quad injury, he told Steph to make sure he gets weeks and weeks of proper buildup. Not only that, but he timed his return after 2 weeks of artificially low Raw ratings (due to X-mas and New Years). So viola, HHH returns to a sold out Garden to this huge pop, and a rating that jumped well over a point.
But the truth? MSG sold out anyway. HHH was going to get a big pop anyway. And that rating was going to increase anyway. But thanks to one man’s brilliance, he somehow managed to get everyone to think it was all due to himself. HHH should really write a book on this stuff.
And how about when Eric Bischoff returned, and proclaimed HHH as the one man he wanted in the Monday night wars more than anyone else? Gimme a break?? HHH was a nobody from ’96 to ’98, when Eric was winning. When HHH was a star in 2000, Eric didn’t even have power for very long. And if he did, do you think he’d have chosen HHH over Rock or Austin? Even Eric isn’t that stupid.
I’m sorry to expose HHH for the fraud he is, but someone has to. He can go on all those radio interviews and say that if everyone gets over and draws, then he wins too because it’s more money in his pocket. Please. If he wanted everyone to get over, he wouldn’t be burying them like he has for 2 years plus. It’s his way of looking like a good guy. We ain’t buyin’ it, man.
Hey HHH, here is my warning to you. You can bury everyone you want, but ultimately that spells the end for you. When no one gets over, nobody watches your shows. Nobody goes to your matches, and nobody buys your PPVs. If you keep killing off your opponents, there is no one left for you to face, and WWE dies.
How do I know this? Because before you there was someone named Double H who pulled your same stunts. He left behind one company out of business (WCW), and one that almost did (WWF). If you’re so smart, learn from wrestling’s forefathers. Unlike them, you actually love this business. So do we, so stop killing it for us.
