16 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Triple H
15. His Big Punishment Wasn't Really That Bad
In the 1999 Sunday Night Heat interview with Jim Ross that served as the latest attempt to get Triple H over the midcard hump, 'The Game' that he was "stick to his stomach" by the way he was treated after The Kliq's "curtain call" house show embrace at Madison Square Garden in 1996.
A nothing situation now that was an everything one then, babyfaces Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon linked arms with heels Diesel and Hunter Hearst Helmsley following the headline bout between 'HBK' and 'Big Daddy Cool' as a farewell to Kevin Nash and Scott Hall before the departed for WCW. It had been given the nod by Vince McMahon before the show, but the infuriated locker room response resulted in Hunter - the only one realistically punishable - taking the bullet. For years and years, the generational burial was spoken of as if the company were hanging him out to dry week after week with no end in sight until the wily and determined future 'King Of Kings' gutted his way back to the promised land.
The truth is much less dramatic. Yes, he lost a King Of The Ring victory, but he was back on the throne literally 12 months later and it's not as though 1996's winner turned out to be the wrong choice. In the meantime, HHH lost on house shows (most heels did and do) for five months, won TV squashes, was involved in a major storyline with Mr Perfect over the summer, and was back on pay-per-view and winning the Intercontinental Championship by October.
WWE had neither the roster depth nor inclination to treat Hunter worse than any other midcarders that weren't exactly pulling up trees at the box office. But what an obsession with winning it bred in him...