10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Triple H

6. Just How Long It Took To Get Him To The Top...

Triple H
WWE.com

To ask Triple H, you'd think the Attitude Era and runaway success of WWE from 1997 through to WCW's closure in 2001 was down Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and...Triple H.

This rules out a number of enormously important figures who will get their due plaudits shortly, but this line of nonsense is doubly dubious beyond 'The Game' putting himself in the bracket with the actual top guys. He wasn't just on the tier below them, but he was also years behind them in the top-of-the-roster rat race too.

As far back as 1997, Hunter and Rock were part of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart's political war as their respective locker room proteges. Considering who won that particular turf war and Rocky Maivia's abysmal start to life, it was something of a shock when Nation leader Rock had lapped DX boss Hunter one year later. The two went to war over the Intercontinental Title in much the same way Michaels and Hart had in 1992, and yet again mirroring that pairing, one lost upwards to the World Title and the other stayed secondary for longer. 

After Triple H couldn't hold a candle to Austin as a babyface in '98, he turned heel on DX in '99 right in time for Rock switching sides and doing just fine sharing the top spot with 'The Rattlesnake'. When fans didn't buy 'The Game' as a top bad guy, he reunited the stable as his goons, adopted a worked shoot attitude in his promos and pinned just about every wrestler alive in a series of television and pay-per-view trials designed to force you into accepting him as the man.

Examples, you say? Read on...

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett