On this date in WWF history: Benched for eight months due to injury, Triple H finally returns
by Jesse Holland on Jan 7, 2012 10:00 AM EST
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On the May 21, 2001, edition of World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) Monday Night RAW, Triple H planted his leg awkwardly and tore the quadriceps muscle in his left ham-hock. The devastating injury occurred during a tag team match featuring Trips and Steve Austin taking on Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit for the tag team titles.
Somehow, "The Game" managed to finish the match with half a leg.
Said Helmsley, in a follow-up interview with the WWF website:
"I'm a young guy. I'm 31 years old. I'm not even near my peak in this business yet. This is not a big deal. It's a bump in the road. I'll be back in a few months and in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal."
Emphasis mine.
No, Trips hadn't peaked, as we can clearly see in hindsight, but at the time it was a major setback. But you know what they say about absence and the heart.
After the jump, watch Triple H make his triumphant return on the January 7, 2002, edition of RAW to one of the more impressive pops in the history of pro wrestling.
The injury:
The return:
Triple H would go on to win the 2002 Royal Rumble and take the Undisputed Championship from Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 18.
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Sadly, that injury hampered what was the only WWF career that was shaping up to the level of Shawn Michaels.
But unlike what Rawuncutxtrated says, Triple H still provided a lot of great matches and moments post injury.
Do you really think HHH is/was in that tier?
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!" Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
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by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 7, 2012 2:43 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Before his quad injury, I'd say Triple H's career was shaping up to that level.
Post injury, he dipped several football fields in quality. Pre-injury Triple H wouldn’t have been caught dead involved in shit like this, hell, this was considered the worst match of 2003, and it’s still barely the worst match Triple H and Scott Steiner had together.
He still had plenty of good to great matches post 2001, but from January 2000 to May 2001, not only was he hitting four stars at practically every PPV, he was being consistently pushed like he was the best in the world. There have been a few WWF guys who have put on four stars at every PPV, but they were either just below the number 1 guy in the company level (Angle, Benoit), or their injuries caught up with them before they could show everything they were made of (Austin, Triple H, Eddie Guerrero to a lesser extent).
You misinterprited my post.
It’s not that ther haven’t been plenty of WWF/E guys on Triple H’s level who also could’ve surpassed HBK. Guys like Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Undertaker, Angle, Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Bryan Danielson, and Stone Cold Steve Austin all could’ve surpassed HBK just as Triple H almost did, and many of those guys were actually better than Hunter in his prime at many things: but no one had as many chances to surpass HBK as Triple H.
Danielson has never been given a serious push by the WWE, and the faith I have that he’ll ever get one would be an imaginary number if measured as a digit. Hunter was always pushed to a decent level, and even stuff like jobbing to Warrior and the Hog Pen match was never as detrimental to Hunter as Cole has been to Danielson.
Bret Hart was always good, but he was only becoming great on a legendary level starting in 1997, which is the only year I can think of when Hart was better than HBK. Once Hart left for WCW, his career was pretty much over outside of that one night in Kansas City at the Owen Tribute Show.
Owen Hart was, in my opinion, a better athlete and worker than Bret, but hiss career was finished after he broke Steve Austin’s neck and never apologized for it. Triple H never made enemies with anyone who had more power than him at the time. Not to mention the fact that Owen was always under pushed in the WWF outside of 1994.
Steve Austin was on borrowed time ever since his neck was broken in 1997, he made a lot of it, but not enough to surpass HBK. Triple H never had Austin’s neck issues outside of 2005, and once it started to flare up, he had the sense to take a couple months off and recoup rather than wait for it to brake.
Undertaker was purposely told to wrestle shitty matches against shitty opponents for most of his career. Triple H never had to do that.
Angle was from the start unstable, a drug addict and completely fell off the wagon mentally in 2006, and Benoit was the same except his breakdown happened a year later. Triple H has never been a Vicodin addict, nor did he have neck surgery prior to or during his pro wrestling career.
Eddie Guerrero’s heart was already acting up on him by the time WWE gave him his main event push in 2004, so he only had 18 months as a WWE main eventer to cement his status, not to mention how short his AAA run lasted before the Mexican Economy went into the shitter and Art Barr died simultaneously. Triple H never had a heart condition, never got hooked on the lifestyle Eddie led, and never had to rely on a government held together by a used piece of Poncho Villa’s spitting tobacco.
Triple H is the only guy in wrestling who was consistently pushed by a huge company, never got addicted to non muscular enhancement drugs, never had a mental problem, never had a concussion problem, never was forced to wrestle shitty matches while in the main event or uppercard, never got screwed over by the government, never made enemies of anyone who could hurt him, and had the talent to back up his huge push. He wasn’t the best talent pro-wrestling has ever seen, nor was HBK,* but nobody had more chances at having the greatest wrestling career ever than Triple H, and it’s a tragedy that the quad injury obliterated that chance.
*There have probably been wrestlers with more overall talent than HBK, i.e. Kurt Angle was more athletic and just as charismatic, but HBK is considered the greatest of all time because he best utilized a very high level of talent, rather than just having more talent than anyone else.
man I don't always agree with you
but I always respect your very informed opinion.
that said I thank you nailed it with the technical aspect of H³.
I take the monetary part in to very high consideration so I feel like he falls a bit short in GOAT status.
still very high on the list imo
its also the reason I have the huckster so darn high as much as I hate it, facts suck ya know
He knows the guy with the bandage on his ass is going no were. Were you going fucking no were
by Elstriko on Jan 7, 2012 11:49 PM EST via Android app up reply actions
Thank you.
There was a time where I thought Hulk Hogan was the worst wrestler of all time, but nowadays I take the consistency a company pushes a guy vs. the revenue and quality product they bring in very seriously. A guy can be the best wrestler in the world, but if the company doesn’t treat them as such, said wrestler will never get the match length and crowd heat necessary to generate great matches and be considered great by the non-hardcore fans, just look at Bryan Danielson.
Nowadays, even though there are days I never want to see Cena or Hogan again, I would still unhesitatingly induct both guys into any wrestling Hall of Fame they’re eligible for.
true
very tru my man.
He knows the guy with the bandage on his ass is going no were. Were you going fucking no were
by Elstriko on Jan 8, 2012 12:25 AM EST via Android app up reply actions
that being said
I would love to hear your all consideration GOAT list.
your depth of knowledge seems legit
He knows the guy with the bandage on his ass is going no were. Were you going fucking no were
by Elstriko on Jan 8, 2012 12:35 AM EST via Android app up reply actions
That would be pretty difficult.
In no particular order except number 1:
10. Stone Cold Steve Austin
9. Ric Flair
8. Bryan Danielson
7. Kenta Kobashi
6. Toshiaki Kawada
5. Kurt Angle
4. Mitsuharu Misawa
3. Jumbo Tsuruta
2. The Undertaker
1. Shawn Michaels
I could do a pretty good measurement of WWE/WCW careers in order, and though I could do a pretty decent list of the puro legends like Fujinami, Tiger Mask, Dynamite Kid, Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, Jumbo, Dr. Death, and Stan Hansen, my knowledge of puro isn’t on the level of guys like Meltzer and David Ditch to really do that list justice like I could with the North American list, and even if I could, I doubt I’d be able to match up the two lists with each other unless I mostly disregard order.
Indy guys are trickiest to judge because even though a lot of material is available for those willing to look, most of the guys involved haven’t had that long careers, or been in enough important matches to match up with the all time greats, except Bryan Danielson. If Bryan Danielson were to die tomorrow, he’d still be remembered in the pantheon of greats for his run as ROH champion alone, let alone the other eight or so years he was on the Indy circuit, and if WWE wasn’t stupid enough to have a heel PBP commentator, he might be remembered on the level of a much less charismatic Shawn Michaels.
Salute this man
It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
by Jesse Holland on Jan 7, 2012 4:22 PM EST up reply actions
You misinterprited my post.
See my response to Geno.
I like the dirtbag HHH better than the suit and tie HHH
it seems to fit him better with his unatural love of denim and leather.
Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Jack Butler, Greg Lloyd, Andy Russell, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene, Curtis Martin, Willie Roaf, Andre Reed and Jerry Kramer
"Back in my day we killed five hookers and thought nothing of it" Craig James
I’ve always wondered how different the Invasion angle would of been if HHH was involved, Rock would of still been the savior for the WWF at the time most likely but it would of been cool to see HHH involved in it
The Legend
WCW still would've been squashed.
But there would’ve at least been some good and great Triple H matches in the mix when he wasn’t facing WCW guys, and even then, Triple H WCW squashes would’ve been much better matches than Undertaker/Kane WCW squash matches.
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