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Posts Tagged ‘Triple-H’

It’s not official yet, but completely obvious: after last Monday’s RAW, Triple H will face down the Undertaker in an attempt to break “the Streak” at this year’s WrestleMania. Why else would Taker interrupt the firing of John Laurenitus as the “interim general manager of RAW?”

Undertaker’s most hyped career record is being undefeated at WrestleMania. He always wins, compiling a 19-0 record. Two of those wins have been over Triple H. The first came in at Wrestlemania X-Seven, the second came last year at WrestleMania XXVII, and in what could be the final match of his historic career, it appears the third WM match between the pair will come this year.

Hunter and Taker put on an impressive show at least year’s Wrestlemania, so a rubber match is no surprise. We’ll see how soon they make the obvious official. In the interim, expect the interim general manager of RAW to remain Laurenitus, with perhaps a stipulation attached to the match that if Taker wins, he becomes the permanent GM of RAW.

You heard the speculation here first!

It might have been easy to miss, but when Vince McMahon appeared on RAW to “fire” Triple H on Monday’s very shoot-oriented RAW, he did not have Hunter step down as CEO, only as RAW general manager. So there’s potential for The Game to assert his authority in the future.

In the meantime, the nice angle here is that they didn’t go with the typical “Vince returns” option, but named the tall, creepy-looking, heel-fave, John Laurenitis, as RAW’s “interim general manager.” The raspy-voice, behind-the-scenes power broker, who is vice president of talent relations, is not naturally charismatic but is drawing a solid heel-pop from the crowd so far.

Laurenitis looks sharp in his Armani exchange coupons-acquired suits, though he’s quite raw in front of the camera has lacks the necessary presence to be a long-term answer. Still, kudos to Vince and company for moving the storyline in a less-predictable direction.

It’s not clear whether it’s a one-week experiment to hype the live SmackDown this Tuesday, or a permanent change, but storyline WWE COO Triple H announced on last night’s RAW that the brand split between Raw and Smackdown has come to an end, with superstars from both shows now free to appear on both shows.

Of course, this sets up a potential roster-trimming for the future, meaning some WWE superstars could be headed for physician assistant jobs soon. After all, the brand split was created so that the top-tier names wouldn’t dominate the screen time on both shows; now that the brand-split is ended, it is likely that both shows will give a majority of screen time to the top names, leaving less room for legit midcarders.

While it might sound like great news for some folks, rest assured, this will lead some lower-level wrestlers straight the the soup kitchen lines.

Last week’s RAW scored a 3.83 Nielsen rating, the show’s biggest draw in almost two years, with their heavily-promoted 2/21/11 episode. With interest at a high after The Rock’s return to WWE the week before, fans flocked to the show to see what might be next.

Fortunately, it wasn’t the return of Leaping Lanny Poffo (remember him?) and his shilling of a diet pill that works. Instead, it was about what folks expected… the Undertaker made his return after a long injury layoff. Of course, there was a twist: Triple H returned from similar circumstances as well.

A double injury-return weeks out from WrestleMania? Good call.

WWE confirmed on Friday that Undertaker’s opponent for WrestleMania 27 will be Triple H. Both are coming off IR and have a rich history that should play into the build-up to the match.

Taker defeated Triple H about ten years ago to maintain his “undefeated at WrestleMania” streak, and ended Shawn Michaels’ career just last year at WrestleMania 26, so it appears there will be plenty of history between the two, and that WWE is acknowledging all of this in promoting the match.

Smart move. WWE fans will need an appetite suppressant to hold them over until this one!

OK, so there was this match at Armageddon tonight and both Edge and Triple H were involved … and Jeff Hardy overcame those odds to win it all, taking home the WWE Title for the first time in his career, and becoming the first wrestler to ever wear the TNA belt and THEN go on to win a major WWE title.

No, this is not a practical joke, a dream, a prank, and you’re not on Candid WebCam. Jeff Hardy really did beat Triple H and Edge to win the title at WWE Armageddon tonight. At long last!

Hardy, often believed to be one of the most under-appreciated wrestlers on the WWE roster both before and after his stint and title run over at TNA, overcame staid and stale booking habits and other long odds to finally win the biggest belt of all … or at least the biggest belt on SmackDown.

Of course, the booking was scripted to make Hardy look a bit flukey for his first major singles title win; Triple H did the heavy lifting, delivering a Pedigree on Edge for the apparent predictable win, but then Hardy hit the Swanton to dislodge Hunter, take his place pinning Edge, and earning the three-count and a free set of luggage… or not, on the luggage.

Let’s hope WWE and Smackdown play it smart and keep the title on Hardy a good long time… like, all the way to WrestleMania, at least.

The match result on this one makes a person feel like Triple-H has wholesale ownership of the WWE Title, given that he’s the boss’s son-in-law. No one’s worked harder over on Smackdown to take the show to a new level than Jeff Hardy, and he was no exception in this match.

Unfortunately, though both men put on a solid show, the Rainbow-Haired Warrior was forced to job to The In-Law Assassin anyway, and perhaps even scratch his head in wonder about why he returned from TNA, which had made him a world champion, just to job out to an aging Hunter yet again. Ugh.

WINNER: Triple H
RATING: 7.8

Before this match, there was an entertaining segment involving MVP, Ted DiBiase Jr., Cody Rhodes, Manu, C.M. Punk, and Kofi Kingston that was entertaining, and a couple of too-brief filler matches in which Batista totally dominated JBL and Big Show won via TKO stoppage over Undertaker. But I’d rather skip right to the meaty dual main event matches, to shine a sconce on the real interesting matches tonight.

The first of these was a SmackDown match involving Triple H defending the WWE Title against Jeff Hardy. These two rarely hook up, but it’s always been memorable when they do and tonight’s match was no exception. Lots of fast-n-furious near-falls, reversals and such that really kept a person guessing at the finish, and Jim Ross was in top form on the announcing duties, really doing great at putting Hardy over as a legit threat to Triple H’s title reign.

The final minute or two is what put the match over the top and made this, in my opinion, the best match of the night. Great 17-minute match.

WINNER: Triple H retains the WWE Title

RATING: 9.1 (out of 10)

Despite using the same format of match that made the ECW Title match so entertaining earlier in the night, the Smackdown Scramble for the WWE title felt a bit less fresh due to WWE playing it safe and allowing Triple H to retain the title.

Still, with Jeff Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, MVP and Brian Kendrick all involved, the five-way match was a wonderful, 20-minute showcase for five top SmackDown talents to show their abilities in the ring. With a savvy veteran like Hunter as the title holder, the match went over well throughout. Both Jeff Hardy and MVP had high-spots that proved they are ready to take the next step and claim the WWE title, but for tonight, it was not to be. Shelton Benjamin was the weak link of the night; his act is getting stale. As for Kendrick, he played well with the big boys and shows promise as being a rising singles star with potential.

All in all, the match wasn’t quite as enjoyable as Mediterranean cruises, but it was a solid, if somewhat safe, entry onto what is shaping up to be one of the most even, high-quality PPV cards of the year.

Did anyone catch Lawler’s opening blunder? It was typical but still kind of amusing when he exclaimed, “Everyone here is erect — electrifyed by…” Amusing bit; maybe Lawler needs a dose or two of Orovo, though.

The PPV lead off with two of the best wrestlers still on the Smackdown brand; Matt Hardy versus MVP. Hardy’s an old hand in WWE terms, but a solid worker now in his solo career; and MVP is a solid up-and-comer with a gimmick that won’t get in the way of him someday reaching the top of a future PPV card. Good match to represent the Smackdown brand.

Mick Foley was less than great, though, filling in for Coach, calling Matt Hardy, Matt Hardly. Hardy’s surprising win over MVP was a fun and thrilling finish, but doesn’t really take much shine off MVP’s rising star, even though it put the US Title on Hardy. However, I suspect MVP is being groomed to move up and take on Undertaker soon for the World Heavyweight Championship, so getting the US Title off him was a necessary move.

Next up was Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero for the ECW Title. Kane’s a completely uninspiring champion and Guerrero’s no better an option, so this made for a really boring match. Giving this match over 10 minutes to play out really cut against Kane’s dominating title win at WrestleMania, in which he bested the same opponent in well under a minute. Whatever. Vince, mend fences with Paul Heyman and make ECW matter again. Please.

Now it’s back to the SmackDown-Raw cross-brand match up with Raw’s Big Show taking on SmackDown’s Great Khali. Two giants is always a fun concept match, and these are two of the biggest men in the pro ring today. It’s also a smart match for WWE to use to advance Show’s return after the high-profile boxer vs. wrestler match at WrestleMania, when Show took on Floyd Mayweather.

The “battle of the head-butts” was a rather boring way to start the match, and the crowd wasn’t loving it, to be sure. There was even a “BO-RING” chant gong at one point. Khali was allowed to dominate most of the six-minute-or-so match, with Show pulling off only a couple really successful moves; a bodyslam, which he blew on his first attempt; and a reversal out of a chokeslam for a chokeslam of his own. Typical big-man matchup, but Show was given the win after jobbing to the under-160-pound Floyd Mayweather at WrestleMania last month.

The Batista-HBK match, with Chris Jericho as the special guest referee, was the first real stamp of Raw on the Backlash PPV, since both HBK and Jericho are Raw guys and most of this storyline played out on Raw. This match was a great antidote to Show-Khali, as it was a much higher-energy, faster-paced match.

It was nice to see this match get over 25 minutes of ring-time to develop, although the ending was unexpected; Michaels came down wrong on a move and seemed to get a real knee injury, but then unexpectedly got up and delivered a Superkick with the injured knee being the support leg for the Superkick move. If this is a real knee injury, that was am impressive moment on Michaels’ part; if it was a sell-job, Michaels did great at playing possum. Either way, it was good to see Michaels get the best of the overrated Batista.

The 10-woman diva tag match was quick fun, which is all one could expect of a non-title women’s match, since not all the women are of equal ring-skill. At least it game Mickie James a nice spotlight.

The Undertaker-Edge match was next, with Taker defending the title he won at WrestleMania, against the same opponent from whom he won it. The rubber match concept is great for fued-building, but SmackDown’s not doing itself any favors by not injecting fresh blood into the title picture. Taker’s always reliable and Edge is an electrifying, polarizing personality, but more faces are needed at the top. Hopefully, MVP will soon be added to the mix, now that his US Title isn’t in the way. Having Taker win the rematch in virtually the same way he won the title intially pretty much puts a cap on their rivalry for a while and should open a path for new opponents to face off with Taker. Nice 12-minute or so match, not counting the entrances.

Finally, it was main event time and it’s a good one; a four-way match with elimination rules, one of my favorite stips since it doesn’t take one fluke pinfall to end it. Triple H, Orton, Cena and JBL makes for a rock-solid main event and fortunately, even though this PPV was Smackdown-heavy, it was this Raw-branded match that was given the top spot for a change, and deservedly so.

The 30 minutes given to the match to develop was terrific, and the match lived up to expectations for me. With four of the top workers in the biz in the same match, there was no weak spot, really. Cena brought the most energy to the match, fighting hard and fast and clean to show both his desire and momentum. He earned the first elimination, forcing JBL to tap out.

So it was a disappointment when Orton entered immediately afterward, delivered a kick to the head and speedily sent Cena packing for another night. That left just Orton and Triple H to settle things one-on-one, which was disappointing, since I wanted to see more three-corner action before we got to the second elimination.

Oh well.

As we all know by now, after earning his legitimacy with a WrestleMania win, WWE ended Orton’s reign with an entertaining, but fairly predictable title change to Triple H. HHH has been working hard and patiently since his return from injury, and the victory makes him a 12-time champion, which helps push him toward Flair territory (16 times).

With the summer PPV season upon us, I expect Triple H will reign at least through SummerSlam, but by then it should be up for grabs as the company starts to map out its road to next spring’s WrestleMania. All in all, not a bad PPV.

In the upcoming Fatal Four-Way match at Backlash, JBL has seemed the odd man out. While Cena, Orton and Triple H belong in the title picture, JBL has seemed like the interloper and the subject of an unmerited push.

That was remidied at the England broadcast of WWE Raw, when JBL cleaned house on both Triple H and current champ Randy Orton, in a well-orchestrated match that made him seem like a world-beater. Sure, John Cena’s absence from Raw made JBL’s victory a bit hollow, but the image of JBL holding Orton’s belt over his head as Raw closed will certainly help give JBL the final push he needs to make the Fatal Four-Way seem like a contest of equals.

After the beating Triple H and Orton took at the hands of JBL, they’ll definitely need some massage therapy to be ready to go again at tonight’s RAW King of the Ring broadcast.

You know, looking back over the main matches at WrestleMania again, I’d have to say that my favorite match was still the WWE title match between Randy Orton, Triple H and John Cena. While the Flair-HBK match had way more emotion, the truth of the matter is that the WWE Title match just had more youth and energy.

You don’t have to be a futures broker to see that John Cena and Randy Orton will be WWE mainstays for some time to come. The question here is where the next big stars are, who are lining up behind them.

I still like the long-term potential of Ken Kennedy and MVP, and Jeff Hardy isn’t exactly new, but his solo work in WWE since returning from TNA is like a fresh start for him. My main complaint, though, is that in both WrestleMania and now the upcoming Backlash, WWE continues to insist on overpromoting the inferior SmackDown brand.

Let’s face it; Raw is where the action is. Let’s start structuring the PPVs to reflect that, shall we?