How Good Was Triple H Actually?
7. Time’s Test
Because Triple H is a very faithful devotee of the business, his work holds up (the matches in which he isn’t so much slowing it down but crawling, at least).
He was very adept at the shine/cut-off/heat/hope/comeback/finish formula that has endured in the U.S. mainstream for decades and decades. It’s a very simplistic structure, but it’s evidently very effective, enough to feel timeless.
Great execution will never fall out of style either. Triple H’s best work really is enthralling, frustratingly so. Why couldn’t Triple H make the ring shake with those 10/10 flat back bumps more often?
Some people mock Triple H and his tough guy fantasies, but to his credit, he could make a brawl feel sickeningly, awesomely violent. The more bloodthirsty fans among us could watch Royal Rumble 2000 forever.
Ironically, since Triple H constantly drones on about the importance of storytelling, downplaying the importance of the wrestling action itself, it’s his work outside of the ring that dates very, very badly.
He was even more racist than you remember in the Attitude Era. You’ll recall the Nation of Domination blackface parody, since it was one of the most memorable segments in an unforgettable time period, but you might have forgotten the time he aimed a monkey gesture in the direction of Mark Henry. You might have glossed over the time Triple H played a grotesquely stereotypical Asian doctor named ‘Dr. Hung Lo’. Or the time Triple H adopted a Pakistani accent to ridicule shopowners in an on-location shoot in New York. Also, that time Triple H made this stuff the key thread of a World title match at WrestleMania. He did this stuff a lot, and since he didn’t always do it as a heel, he can’t use “heat” as an excuse. It almost bordered on a hobby.
When he wasn’t allowed to do his bad taste material - let’s also not forget the homophobia, particularly intense in 2006 - he was so repetitive that it wasn’t even worth watching in full at the time. You already had the gist 10 minutes before he stopped saying anything.
7/10 (outside of the ring is 0)