6 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (August 31st)
3. Stroking The Boss Ego
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KJ8pSROaWc Did you know that Triple H is The Man, and even the people who he beats by using a sledgehammer still respect him? Did you know that hes still the measuring stick which all other world champions are measured against? In case you didnt know this, WWE proudly provided this information on Raw via Sting and Stephanie McMahon. Sting called WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins half the man Triple H is, which Stephanie quickly seized on and told a posturing Rollins that legends are built over time as she clearly was calling her husband a legendary champ. Look, Triple H was a great wrestler and former champ. And its reasonable that he (the character) would have an ego about being one of the greatest champions of all time. But the combination of Sting talking about how he respects Hunter with Stephanie crowing about him just smacks of the kind of revisionism that drives longtime fans crazy. Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Undertaker, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and John Cena all were standard-bearers during Triple Hs time, and they could make cases for being better. If WWE is going to do this self-aggrandizing stuff about Triple H, it better lead to a master-versus-student match, or else its just meaningless ego-stroking.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.