This was Triple H’s greatest achievement.
Criticised over the course of his career for never being in the same league as the man who shaped it—Shawn Michaels—here, he went one better than his old backstage mentor by manipulating us into buying the closest near-fall in company history, one that followed a genuine master performance of real brutality and psychological prowess. That Superkick into a Pedigree spot wasn’t just genius in itself; in the magic of the moment, a very unlikely notion became a grim and most viable prospect. Even our awareness of Trips’ ego and backstage stroke couldn’t really make us believe—until he did.
Triple H, the guy who was never going to end the Streak, was going to end the Streak.
