This week, I have mostly been playing Championship Manager 4 and CSI: The Game on my brand spanking new PC - a damned fine deal from Mark at SpecialTech.co.uk (Remembered the plug this week, Mark! Whooo!) but I have caught some wrestling in between times. Oh yes. That wrestling - it’s quite good, y’know?
So, I was doing my usual searching of the various sites dotted around the net and various forums and message boards and on the SmashWrestling message boards, we have a thread entitled “The Official Smash Trips Rantin’ and-a Ravin’ Thread” - for people to get their various rants about Trips off their chest. Before we had it, nearly every thread degenerated into a pro-Trips vs. anti-Trips debate - keeping it in one place seems to have calmed down, but that thread gained a life of it’s own. Soon it’ll need it’s own forum, let alone thread.
I generally try to steer clear of it, as some of the people in there scare me (hi New Boy and LG) with their loyalty to or against the man himself. I pop up with the odd comment but I’ve never really delved into the whole Trips debate on a grand scale. Even in past columns, I mention him in passing, but never really get stuck in. Until now.
I’m going to look at the Triple H phenomenon - how he’s rapidly assembled a reputation as the most hated man in wrestling. I want to try and be objective, so I’ll look at the most common accusations thrown at him, good or bad.
OK this is the most common dig at Trips, and for the record, I’ve often used it myself. To be honest, I now see this as more of a joke than as a fact. The bottom line is - the general public (myself included in that) have no knowledge of the inner workings of the WWE. There are a few peeps on the Internet that do, but generally, you’ll find there’s some form of agenda there.
A lot of people point to Chris Jericho’s record against Trips - again, I’ve done it myself - and show that as an example of how Trips’ holds him down. That’s right, being the first Undisputed Champion, and beating both Stone Cold and The Rock in one night is being held down... but then it starts again : “Jericho only got that so that Trips could take the titles off him at WrestleMania” to which my response is :
So? That’s a sign of good forward planning. When Jericho got the belts, Trips was on the verge of coming back from a career threatening injury that kept him out for 9 months - it was obvious he’d be given a hero’s welcome by the fans, and return as a face - building up a heel champion to go into WrestleMania and let the face pick up the win so the fans go home happy - sound booking to me.
I’m not saying Trips is entirely innocent of the charges - he has siphoned heat from Booker T and RVD this year alone by going over them cleanly, but he’s by no means as guilty as people would have you think. The past month or so, Trips has made RVD look like a million bucks on Raw, and even given Maven more credibility in one match than he’s had since he arrived in the WWE.
Verdict : Not Proven
Well, that’s true. In 2000, Trips was on top of the world. He was the best in the business and worked like a demon in and out of the ring. Now, he’s a mere shadow of what he used to be, with the odd flash of what once was. That’s not in question.
Injuries have taken their toll, as his Trips’ tendency to work through the injuries no matter what - finishing the infamous tag match on Raw, working Armageddon on basically one leg - even down to last week’s match against The Dudleys, where it looked like he could barely walk.
Add to that Trips is one of the hardest workers when it comes to the house show circuit - very rare is it that Trips is booked for a house show and no-shows it - even last week, he couldn’t work because of his leg injury, but still turned up to stand at ringside. That is a man who is dedicated. The only way he’ll get back to 2000 standard performances is by trying to work his way back - which is what he’s been doing. The past month has probably been the best for Trips since his return.
Verdict : Guilty
Probably true. The backstage stuff is again, speculation, but even in the ring in matches against Michaels or Nash you could see Trips go the extra mile to improve the match. As I’ve said before, that’s nothing bad, just human nature. If any one of us got a chance to help out one of our friends in their career, we’d do it - well, I know I would, anyway. I’m a bad man at heart...
Verdict : Guilty
Yes, it has. Undoubtedly. Look at the list of people he had to work with during the past 6 months of it though - Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, Booker T, Shawn Michaels. Michaels vs. HHH was a long standing feud that the fans really bought into - the classic match at Summerslam 2002 only adding fuel to that fire.
Booker T wasn’t really allowed any sort of chance to shine against Trips, and seemed to me to be an enforced challenger for the title. Maybe once he’s had a bit of a run with the IC title things will be different - but he wasn’t ready for the position of WrestleMania challenger.
Scott Steiner? The less said about that debacle the better. I doubt even the almighty Ric Flair could have dragged a decent 20 minute match out of Steiner at those two PPVs - the booing from the Rumble match should have convinced the WWE that a rematch was a bad idea.
Kevin Nash comes from the same school as Steiner - he has a reputation, and a big name - but doesn’t have what it takes in the ring to back it up anymore. The HIAC match between the two wasn’t bad, but a lot of that can be put at the feet of Mick Foley’s involvement - the 2 or 3 weeks worth of Triple H - Mick Foley interaction was infinitely better than the 2 months of Trips/Nash feuding, and the 2 months of Trips/Steiner feuding put together.
A long title reign means one thing - it’s going to be a huge deal for whoever takes the belt from Trips eventually. The Raw belt had no credibility to start with, so a long title reign was the right thing to do.
Verdict : Guilty by association
This one is a no-brainer - yes, Trips gets heat from working with Ric Flair and Randy Orton - who wouldn’t? But I defy anyone to claim Randy Orton hasn’t improved tenfold since he’s been in Evolution. He couldn’t have got arrested when he made his “big” comeback - but now, he’s a legitimate player with a huge future.
Trips has raised his game to avoid being outshined by The Nature Boy and the young pretender to the throne, but hey - that’s not a bad thing by any means. The Champion appears strong? Oh the shame! Imagine that!
Verdict : Not Guilty
Yeah, that’s right Vince McMahon will purposely let one man run roughshod over his company because his daughter is shacked up with him. Vince is no dummy. Egotistical, arrogant, and downright annoying at times, yes - dumb? No. If Trips is in a position on top of the company, it’s either because he earned it, or because Vince thinks he earned it.
Verdict : Not Guilty
So what’s The Live Wire verdict overall on Triple H? My opinion is that Trips is very clever, perhaps too clever for his own good. He takes a lot of stick from the fans on the Internet, not all of it earned, but a good deal of it is. Do I hate him? No. Hate is a strong word, and to be honest, the Trips hating has become a bit of a joke now.
A lot of it has become a badge of honour to be worn on your sleeve - “Hey, I hate Triple H - ain’t I cool?” Like him or loathe him, nobody can deny that he has suffered in the WWE (the Madison Square Garden incident) and that he works extremely hard for the company, even to his own detriment at times.
I’m by no means his biggest fan, but I’m also not going to jump on the Anti-HHH bandwagon because it’s become the cool trend of the moment. Trips is doing the best he can, and has become the biggest heel on Raw simply by being Triple H, and being engaged to Stephanie. That’s his biggest crime, and probably, his biggest punishment too...
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