That Time Triple H Got His Hand Caught In The Cookie Jar
HHH bumped like a madman for Taka throughout a blistering start, taking the shine knowing full well he was about to obliterate him with a positively brutal over-the-top-rope lariat. Triple H, humiliated and pissed off at Taka’s spirited performance, drove his foot into his throat, drawing the ire of referee Earl Hebner and serving as the catalyst for enthralling, shared universe mayhem. This manifested in that great, great near-fall, one that underscored Triple H’s unmatched brilliance as a performer. He almost lost to a joke of a character, and yet did not remotely dent his aura.
On the July 27, 2000 SmackDown, by which time Mick Foley’s role as Commissioner had undermined his onscreen authority, his old nemesis thrust him into an unwinnable position: a a tag team match opposite his renewed nemesis The Rock and his wife Stephanie McMahon. Trish Stratus was his partner, but she wasn’t particularly…experienced, and so Trips helped her out.
He taught her a few holds backstage, including a hammerlock. Upon showing her the counter-hold, Stephanie walked in as Trish had bent herself over. To Stephanie, this looked like a doggy-style dry-hump, and she stormed out of the dressing room. “He got his hand caught in the cookie jar!” Jerry Lawler squealed.
A choice bit of physical comedy, the idea of Triple H canoodling with this blonde bombshell was viable enough to fracture his marriage, and set the events of the Triple H/Stephanie McMahon/Kurt Angle love triangle into motion. It was a unique and very over plot development—believable soap opera, oxymoronically enough— but Triple H soon applied the brakes. To him, the notion of Stephanie showing interest in the square-jawed Clark Kent of Olympic gold stardom wasn’t viable, and long-term plans were swiftly changed.
The old insecurity had resurfaced, to the detriment of WWF fans, and to the perception of the Triple H character. He remained an astonishing super-worker until that fateful quadricep tear of May 21, 2001—but his refusal to show ass in the years to come shaped his complex legacy as a performer.
CONT'D...(4 of 5)