When all is said and done - Triple H's place in history

[Slyfox696]

He's currently a ten year main-eventer in the WWE. He's been a part of the biggest boom era in wrestling history. He's been a mega heel and a mega face. He's a 13 time World champion. He's been a part of one of the greatest stables in history. And he still has several years left before he is done.

When Triple H finally hangs up the boots for good, where do you think he will rank in history? Will wrestling fans look back and consider him the greatest ever? Will he be the record holder of World titles? Will people see him as a "great", but not a "legend". Will he share the stage with guys like Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin, or just below them with guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels?

When all is said and done, where will Triple H rank in wrestling history?

 

[klunderbunker]

I'd say just below him. When you look back at guys like Austin and Hogan, they carried the company on their backs as easily the biggest things at the time. HHH has never really carried the company to greatness. he's carried it some, but when he has it's failed for the most part. He's definitely one of the all time greats, but he's in the Bret Hart/HBK area: great, but not in the pantheon of the best of all time. There's something that Flair, Austin and Hogan had the HHH just doesn't have. It's hard to describe but you know it when it's there. HHH has always seemed to be imitating that aspect instead of actually having it.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

He will definitely be remembered. I'm a huge fan, but I'm not biased. To say that he's gonna be revered like Austin and Hogan is ridiculous. He will be remembered as a legend for sure, just like Bret and Shawn. He's got all the credentials and stuff, but he just doesnt have the determining factor to be put with Austin and Hogan. He's a go to guy, but he's not THE guy. Definitely remembered, definitely a legend, just not an immortal.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I believe HHH will be in that second tier below Austin, Hogan, and Flair. I don't think he'll be remembered as a legend or icon but just simply great. He wasn't the top guy during the Attitude Era but I will give him this- you can arguably say during that era that he put on some of the greatest matches against HHH, Rock, and Austin. I believe he will pass Flair's 16 titles but I don't think people will hold that in awe like they do Flair's.

 

[King Patrick Star]

When Triple H finally hangs up the boots for good, where do you think he will rank in history?

I say he will rank in the Top 5 among the general consensus. As far as my own list, I say Top 10.

Will wrestling fans look back and consider him the greatest ever?

Half of the fans around the world already consider him the greatest ever and I think that will stick. There will be fans who are against Hunter for whatever reason, (politics), but regardless, when he clocks in, it’s all work till he clocks out.

Will he be the record holder of World titles?

I believe that he should. I think he may even increase the record to 20 before it’s all said and done. We’re talking about Vince’s Son. I can even picture HHH winning a World Title after his active career, a la V. K. M. winning the WWE Title at the Rumble.

Will people see him as a "great", but not a "legend"?

That’s the way it is now, but it can only improve from here. He just needs to pace himself and float away from the Main Event more often than not. All the Legends did / do.

Will he share the stage with guys like Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin, or just below them with guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels?

I believe the older fans will always see him as Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The younger fans, who missed Terra Ryzing, will only know of The Game, Triple H. To me, it’s like when I started watching wrestling and seeing Hulk Hogan. I wasn’t a true fan till after Mania V, and I missed out on the majority of Hogan’s prime in the Federation.

The important thing to remember here is that Triple H isn’t done and won’t be for a very long time. Even he “retired” from the ring, he’ll still be a part of the business. You see how hard it is for Flair to stay “retired”, imagine how hard it will be for the Heir of the WWE Throne. Now unless something ridiculously crazy were to happen, like Steph catches Paul in bed with the Women’s and Divas Champions at the same time (with the Titles), I think he’s on pace to becoming the “Greatest”. All he needs a few great stories playing the “Hero”. Cena and Undertaker and HBK Heel turn could do the trick. I think only Triple H can stop himself from destiny.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Triple H's success among a healthy number of fans, particularly the IWC, is something of a double edged sword.

The Positives:
Triple H has proven himself to be very capable in the ring and on the mic. He's been involved in many of the company's biggest high profile feuds for much of the past 10 years or so and has been involved in some big league and good matches.

Triple H, as already mentioned, is a 13 time world champion. While many don't consider it very impressive since most of his reigns weren't very long, it's still an impressive accomplishment. Ric Flair is the only man to win more world titles than Triple H.

The Negatives:
Triple H's connection to the "Kliq", his role in the Montreal Screwjob and his general relationship with the McMahon family is something that has cost him a lot of respect both among colleagues back in the locker room and among fans. While Triple H is talented, he is also known to be a major backstage politician and there have been times when he has used his political clout to further himself, sometimes at the expense of others. As I've said, Triple H is a talented competitor but he has used politics as much as talent to get himself to where he is.

The 13 world titles he's won, while impressive, are a bit of a burden in and of themselves. There are many that claim Triple H has used the fact he's Vince McMahon's son-in-law and the fact that he's been sleeping with his daughter for nigh onto a decade now to keep himself in the world title picture for much too long of a period. There is a strong possibility that Triple H ultimately wants to surpass Ric Flair's total of world title reigns but, even if that occurs, it ultimately won't carry as much weight as Flair's. While it'll be impressive to accomplish, Triple H has never just dominated the WWE the way Flair dominated the NWA back in the 1980s. The quality of Flair's reigns during the 80s can never be called into question as Flair was (A.) the NWA's biggest draw, (B.) Arguably the best overall worker the NWA had, (C.) Almost always had matches of the highest quality and (D.) Many of his reigns lasted for years rather than weeks or a few months.

However, when it's all said and done, the WWE will hype the hell out of Triple H no matter what. Not to say that he isn't deserving of much of it, but I think there will always be a little tainted edge to Triple H's greatness. Would I place him in the top 10 of all time? Probably not. Top 15 maybe, but not the top 10.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Fuck, whatever, ill say it.


Top 5-7. Is absolutely were he SHOULD be remembered. Drawing, heat, look, great matches, making new stars. The man has done it all, multiple times, for an incredibly long time. He didnt change anything, usher in a new era, although one could debate that DX was just as responsible for wrestling becoming "cool" as Austin was. The WWE's top grossing year EVER (up until that point, not sure if the number still stands) was the year when the whole show was about Triple H and steph, and Austin and Rock spent most of the year out with injuries. Dont belive me? look it up.

Impeccable heat as a heel and face, insane matches. Piles of title reigns and WM main events. Triple H is horribly underrated by the vast majority of people on these forums.

 

[Dave]

I would say that Triple H will be slightly behind Austin. Though I am not sure that that is completely fair. If you ask me, I would say that Triple H has done quite a but more in terms of wrestling, than Stone Cold Steve Austin has. Of course, both were around during the Attitude Era and both were very successful at that time. Austin, however, was always seen to be better than Triple H. Bigger story lines were given to him i.e. the feud with McMahon. After all that Austin has done for the WWE, he will always be viewed as a legend.

Triple H on the other hand is disliked by a lot of people. Many feel that a lot of the talent in the WWE are being held back by an ageing Triple H. Hell, even here, one of our rep ranks is "... is being held being held back by Triple H. My point is, everyone condemns Triple H for staying in the WWE to this point. He is getting on a bit and many feel that now is the time for him to hang up the boots. I would say why? You do not know the influence and impact someone like Triple H can have on a young wrestlers career. Someone with so much experience and success can be a major help to someone who is just trying to start out and make a name for themselves. It's the saem everywhere, not just in wrestling.

Triple H though is one of the greatest names in the WWE. I believe he will rank alongside Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, or at least he should. People's prejudices should not stand in the way of a man who has accomplished all there is to do with the WWE. The whole argument about Triple H only being so successful because he married Stephanie is untrue and I think that people hold this against him. Triple H was always going to be successful, he is a company man and was on the way up long before he married the Boss' daughter.

 

[Baximus]

I don't care what HHH does behind the curtain, he's definitely one of the greats.

In my mind, he goes down as one of the greatest heel characters in history. His run during the McMahon-Helmsley faction storyline is my personal favorite time from wrestling. To me, HHH defined what a heel should be.

I can't wait until Vince turns him bad again.

I'd put only Hogan, Rock, Austin and perhaps Taker ahead of him in the history of WWE.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I think that HHH will be in that second teir among HBK and 'Taker. He definately isn't up there with Flair, Hogan, or Austin. I think that he will reach legendary status, however. He will go done as one of the all time greats because, he is one. If he were to quit right now today, he would still be remembered as an all time great. He is definately a future Hall of Famer.

 

[Blade]

Triple H will simply be remembered as this generations Ric Flair. Because that is essentially what Triple H is.
He's been around forever and is still going strong. He's won countless titles. Put on great matches throughout his entire career (or at least, since he's been Triple H..). He's had rivalries with pretty much every main eventer who has been in the WWE in the last 10 years (With the exception of Lesnar, but that was supposed to happen at Mania 21). He's a powerful indivdual and gets alot of critisism for it. But at the end of the day, he will be remembered as one of the best of all time. A year after he retires, people will be missing him.
So yeah, he is the Ric Flair of the attitude generation.

 

[Rickabod]

One of the greats no doubt, as jack hammer correctly points out one of the things that will always go against him will be the backstage stuff.

People sometimes forget that he is one of the greatest workers in wrestling history.

Now admittedly he has done all he can to retain his spot at the top, but what superstars haven't?

Nearly every other main event star at one time or another has put himself first , and not always done the right thing HHH is no exception, perhaps to his credit and another reason why he is so hated at times is because he is so clever when it comes to dropping the belt for business.

He did it with Goldberg despite their well known ill feeling towards each other, he even tried to do it when WWE brought in Scott Steiner, now some may say he went out of his way to make Steiner look bad to keep the belt, but its probably more likely Steiner just wasn't able to put on a good match due to his catalogue of injuries.

I think HHH will be seen as a great, whether or not he passes Flair's 16 titles is up for questioning, I would like to think he'll come close, but not over take it as that would probably be better for business, and as we know it's all about the 'game'.

 

[Mr. Steve]

ah, the great wrestling debate.
Will Paul Levesque, better known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, be remembered in this business?

I say yes, he will. He's the go-to guy on wrestling today. He's long past the status of "student of the game." and reached the status of "the guy to learn the biz from." Simply put, the man has had great matches, as well as the shitty match. But at the same time, he's the guy who gets pinned on pretty much every bad thing that happens when he's on a brand somewhere in the E.

He's the new millenium Ric Flair. The fact that Flair practically worships the man adds to this. But we have to admit, Hunter was on the rise before the dreaded curtain call, and he handled his punishment like a man. After that, his involvement in DX, one of the most well-known stables ever. Levesque was, as he says in his promos, a constant during and post-attitude era.

You can't deny the man has gotten himself to where he is. Off the curtain, he's just married to a co-worker. Coincidentally, that co-worker is the daughter of the owner of the promotion he works for. Crazy string o' coincidences, no?

He's earned his bloodstripes by finishing a match with a torn quad. Gets rehab, and comes back to quite possibly the biggest pop in the history of the E in MSG. Admit it, the guy got a HUGE pop.

Well, you know the rest after this. Evolution, HBK-HHH feud, etc. etc.

His work in the E is one of the most notable works in the late 90's and 00's. He just got stigma-slapped by being told that "he buries people." which is far from the point.

Point is, Hunter's a surefire Hall of Fame, and he damn sure earned his place there. And after hanging up his boots, it's a sure thing that he'll be around in WWE helping the younger stars.

IMO, HHH's one of the last guys with that old school style to him, which is the product of him getting training from Kowalski.

Just my 2 cents right there.

 

[Black Snow]

Okay, here's the thing about Hunter and his backstage stroke. You can't deny that he doesn't have it. HHH absolutely has gotten where he is now because of who he knows. That being said, it's still up to him to be a great performer and keep his spot. If the fans completely hated him and he was a horrible wrestler than it wouldn't matter how many babies he put in Stephanie. Vince would NOT let him win 13 titles and main event WrestleMania every year.

Triple H's career has been a big tradeoff. He's gotten all of the benefits of knowing the right people but he will forever be somewhat tarnished. That's why he'll always be good and not great. Great is Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin. Very, very good is The Rock, Bret Hart, Sting and Shawn Michaels. Just good is Triple H. It's not a bad spot to be in. Your name will always be remembered but it just won't be the first name on people's lips. When fans think of the greatest stars of the Attitude Era Rock and Austin will be said before Triple H. Even when people discuss the greatest stars of the 00s (what do you call this decade anyway?) names like Kurt Angle, John Cena and maybe even Randy Orton and Edge will be mentioned before Hunter. Hunter will be talked about. No question. He transcends a couple of eras. He's just not the true top of the food chain no matter how many less than spectacular 'Mania title matches he has and no matter if (when) he breaks Flair's 16-time record.