15 EXACT Moments Failed WWE Attitude Era Gimmicks Actually Got Over

6. Triple H (April 20, 1998)

D-Generation X DX X-Pac Triple H
WWE.com

While he had displayed flashes of personality in 1997, and was dragged to a brilliant effort by Cactus Jack on the September 22 Raw, Triple H was not exactly over: he was stood next to the guy who was over, after spending a year stood next to the girl who was over, and this was laid bare every time he went 20 minutes and bored everybody stiff. He was, post-Rick Rude, the third most over member of the three-person D-Generation X stable. Considering how much faith had been placed in him, he was a failure. A tedious failure. 

It’s ironic that Triple H would later market himself as the ‘Cerebral Assassin’ - a ruthless mastermind so clever that he was able to take over the very company under the McMahon-Helmsley Regime. It’s also ironic that this became a shoot; after a decades-long campaign, Paul Levesque now presides over WWE as head booker. 

That is because Triple H first got over by playing to drunken college kids in the transformative spring of 1998. Triple H was clever enough to sense that being dumb was in vogue, and they didn’t see him as a teetotal impostor because he shared their puerile sense of humour. Almost as soon as Shawn Michaels went on hiatus as a result of his career-threatening back injury, Triple H and the new DX turned face, and let the fans in on the joke. The new DX was over straight away - the lads in the stands loved telling everybody to suck them off - and this penile obsession informed a stunt designed to retain the audience in the desperate Monday Night Wars era. 

Basically, Triple H vowed to piss on the audience with his massive wang before revealing that it was in fact a giant water gun. The fans loved it because they were young, dumb, and full o’ c*m. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!