Who did Triple H keep down?

[Tastycles]

It's the classic argument that people make about Triple H - he used his influence with the McMahons to keep on top of the company, keeping everyone else down along the way. I'm asking you, IWC, who did he keep down? Randy Orton and Batista are the obvious candidates for who he helped put over, but he also lost high profile matches to John Cena and Chris Benoit, amongst others.

Now, I'm by no means an expert of this period of wrestling - I've seen all the biggest matches, but wasn't watching week in, week out - so I'm throwing it open to the floor. As far as I can see, Triple H did the logical thing. In 2003-4, all of the bigger Attitude stars were leaving, or shit champions like Undertaker. The people who were being built to replace them had either taken their ball and gone home, like Lesnar, or suffered catastrophic injuries, like Edge. So, Triple H, as the most proven of anyone looked after the belt until the next generation of Batista, Orton, Cena et al. were ready to take over. Compare that to the status quo on Smackdown, where randomers were being given the title for no reason - Eddie Guerrero and JBL being the most obvious beneficiaries of this - and Triple H's dominance makes sense.

So, the question is this - who do you think Triple H prevented from being a World Champion? Shelton Benjamin? Booker T? Someone else? Let's hear them. My answer, if it isn't obvious, is that he didn't prevent anyone who would have otherwise been a champion from being one.

 

[MrHashasheen]

It's the classic argument that people make about Triple H - he used his influence with the McMahons to keep on top of the company, keeping everyone else down along the way. I'm asking you, IWC, who did he keep down? Randy Orton and Batista are the obvious candidates for who he helped put over, but he also lost high profile matches to John Cena and Chris Benoit, amongst others.

Now, I'm by no means an expert of this period of wrestling - I've seen all the biggest matches, but wasn't watching week in, week out - so I'm throwing it open to the floor. As far as I can see, Triple H did the logical thing. In 2003-4, all of the bigger Attitude stars were leaving, or shit champions like Undertaker. The people who were being built to replace them had either taken their ball and gone home, like Lesnar, or suffered catastrophic injuries, like Edge. So, Triple H, as the most proven of anyone looked after the belt until the next generation of Batista, Orton, Cena et al. were ready to take over. Compare that to the status quo on Smackdown, where randomers were being given the title for no reason - Eddie Guerrero and JBL being the most obvious beneficiaries of this - and Triple H's dominance makes sense.

So, the question is this - who do you think Triple H prevented from being a World Champion? Shelton Benjamin? Booker T? Someone else? Let's hear them. My answer, if it isn't obvious, is that he didn't prevent anyone who would have otherwise been a champion from being one.

Hm....

I've heard complaints over Benoit's short reign on Raw, since Randy's face turn didn't really do much and he lost the title to HHH pretty quick. There's Booker T who tagged with Golddust for much of his time on Raw... the Kane unmasking that really took away a lot of his credibility... We could probably throw in Test since he seemed in line for a big push back in 1999 when HHH exploded into the main-event with the McMahon-Helmsley Regime...

Those are the most common ones I've heard.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Keeping down wrestlers is one of the two things that HHH gets a lot of shit for with the other being his marriage to Stephanie. However both those accusations are way off the mark.

It is said that Triple H kept down a lot of WCW talent like Booker T, Goldberg and RVD who was from ECW. I think that this is a false accusation and something that Triple H should be blamed for. Vince never wanted to push anyone from WCW and always wanted to show that his homegrown talent was better than that of WCW. HHH, I believe was just in the right place at the right time. Think about it this way. Austin had retired by 2003 and Rock had left to make movies and that left HHH as the biggest star of the Attitude Era remaining on the roster. That, in my opinion, is the only reason why HHH got those wins over Booker and RVD and Goldberg. Say if Austin had been the one remaining on the roster after 2003, I think he would have wound up getting those victories that HHH got. Either way the fate of these men from the rival companies was sealed the moment they joined the WWE.

As Tastycles has already mentioned HHH helped make the careers of Orton, Batista and Cena rather than bury them. The only guy who could complain a bit is Orton. HHH did win the belt back rather quickly after Orton won but that was only to get Orton more sympathy. Fact is that at that point Orton just wasn't ready to take up the role of the face of the company and that is why he failed. HHH should not be blamed for that.

The other two names that come up for discussion in this topic are those of Edge and Kane. People say that Kane was really over during his "Katie Vick" angle and that he should have won the title. Once again Kane is someone whom I do not think the company has enough faith in to be given such a high place on the card. The fact that Triple H made a main eventer out of Kane is something that HHH should be lauded for as the only other man to do so has been The Undertaker.

In 2002 there were some rumors that Edge was supposed to win the first ever Elimintion Chamber match and that HHH vetoed the ide because he wanted HBK to win the title on his return. That might be true, though there is little concrete proof to say so. In any case I think that HHH made the correct decision seeing how shoddy a face Edge is.

 

[vampirek]

Hm....

I've heard complaints over Benoit's short reign on Raw, since Randy's face turn didn't really do much and he lost the title to HHH pretty quick. There's Booker T who tagged with Golddust for much of his time on Raw... the Kane unmasking that really took away a lot of his credibility... We could probably throw in Test since he seemed in line for a big push back in 1999 when HHH exploded into the main-event with the McMahon-Helmsley Regime...

Those are the most common ones I've heard.

- Benoit short reign? He held it from Wrestlemania to Summerslam, that is quite some time when you consider not many champions make it past 3 months.
- Booker T tagging with Goldust, I somehow doubt that had anything to do with HHH but simply a case of they saw something good between the two man and it worked.
- Kane losing his mask, utter rubbish. Glen Jacobs wanted to lose the mask as he found them hard to wear. They adapted them over the years to make it easier for him before he simply got fed up with it all.
- Test to begin with looked like he was on his way to the main event but I highly doubt it had anything to do with HHH more of a case they realised the truth Test just didnt have it.

 

[jobesukulele]

Yeah I have to agree with basically everything that rattlesnake4eva has said.

Triple H has obvious influence because of his family position but the decisions that have been put on him do seem to have fair reasons.

As for his own push, we can't really blame him for not denying it to himself. Should we really expect him to hold himself back because he has a bit more say than other wrestler? No.

Also, no one has mentioned yet how he took the brunt of the blame the Kliq incident at MSG. He paid his dues just like everyone else before he got his lucky break with DX and through DX his push to the main event scene felt natural.

One last thing to keep in mind is the current situation with Seamus. HHH apparently (so people say) likes Seamus and gave him a Massive rub last year. But now because Kevin Dunn apparently (so people say) doesn't like Seamus, for jealousy or whatever reason. We have seen Seamus get completely buried.
That has to be proof that the push or burial of stars isn't all on trips shoulders.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Hmmm one I can think of (allegedly)

Chris Jericho - It's obvious Triple H was never high on Jericho. He even made some public statements saying he was just a mid carder around WMX8 (great way to bury the former World Champion) and mocked his return back in Nov 07. It's strange, almost too coincidental, that the only time Jericho became champion on RAW was when HHH was on Smackdown.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Keeping down wrestlers is one of the two things that HHH gets a lot of shit for with the other being his marriage to Stephanie. However both those accusations are way off the mark.

It is said that Triple H kept down a lot of WCW talent like Booker T, Goldberg and RVD who was from ECW. I think that this is a false accusation and something that Triple H should be blamed for. Vince never wanted to push anyone from WCW and always wanted to show that his homegrown talent was better than that of WCW. HHH, I believe was just in the right place at the right time. Think about it this way. Austin had retired by 2003 and Rock had left to make movies and that left HHH as the biggest star of the Attitude Era remaining on the roster. That, in my opinion, is the only reason why HHH got those wins over Booker and RVD and Goldberg. Say if Austin had been the one remaining on the roster after 2003, I think he would have wound up getting those victories that HHH got. Either way the fate of these men from the rival companies was sealed the moment they joined the WWE.

As Tastycles has already mentioned HHH helped make the careers of Orton, Batista and Cena rather than bury them. The only guy who could complain a bit is Orton. HHH did win the belt back rather quickly after Orton won but that was only to get Orton more sympathy. Fact is that at that point Orton just wasn't ready to take up the role of the face of the company and that is why he failed. HHH should not be blamed for that.

The other two names that come up for discussion in this topic are those of Edge and Kane. People say that Kane was really over during his "Katie Vick" angle and that he should have won the title. Once again Kane is someone whom I do not think the company has enough faith in to be given such a high place on the card. The fact that Triple H made a main eventer out of Kane is something that HHH should be lauded for as the only other man to do so has been The Undertaker.

In 2002 there were some rumors that Edge was supposed to win the first ever Elimintion Chamber match and that HHH vetoed the ide because he wanted HBK to win the title on his return. That might be true, though there is little concrete proof to say so. In any case I think that HHH made the correct decision seeing how shoddy a face Edge is.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's go through some of those names you threw up, shall we?

Booker T- The problem with Triple H beating Booker T at WMXIX was that, if you see the match again, Triple H gives Booker T one predigree, lays on the canvas forever, crawls over and places one arm over Booker T's prone body. It made Booker T look bad because a Pedigree which stuns Booker so much that he can easily be beaten with one arm draped over him doesn't make Booker look good.

Goldberg- This is FREAKIN' Goldberg, the man with the winning streak in WCW, the man who dominated the Elimination Chamber at Summerslam 2003, only to be beaten by a lame Triple H, who was so injured that the WWE had to change the match from a Triple H-Goldberg match to a Chamber to cover Triple H's injured groin, and Triple H was hardly in the Chamber, yet he beat a guy who had easily beaten the other four men in the Chamber just minutes before.

RVD- He did such favours for RVD that, after main-eventing Survivor Series 2002 in the first Elimination Chamber match, RVD was strangely absent from a PPV (Armageddon 2002) for the first time in two years, just because, allegedly, RVD jumped off the Chamber onto Triple H's throat, and winded him. Coincidence?

Kane- Yeah. The Katie Vick storyline did Kane favours? He went from being a believable monster who was tied up in an attic, and was accused of burning down the Undertaker's house, to having his TLC moment forgotten about by Triple H's revelation just seconds later, and then having his backstory become one where he parties and commits date-rape. I wouldn't be surprised if removing Kane's mask was Triple H's idea too.

Randy Orton- Yeah, they hotshotted that angle, and put the belt on Orton so soon, because I suspect that Orton was a better wrestler, better on the mike and more popular than Triple H, so he had to "cut off " sooner. Instead Triple H buried Orton repeatedly and then finally allowed the "safe" option of Batista beating him at WM21 instead (Batista, who had less charisma, and less talent than Triple H, and who Triple H trained, so it made Tripper look good).

These and many more examples I could sight. I mean, forgive me, falling into bed with Stephanie was unplanned, was it? Triple H had held more people down than most (except maybe Hogan and Nash). That's okay, if you're honest about it. But don't say that Triple H is some saint, and puts people over. What about his numerous title reigns, in an attempt to be a 16-time champion, like Ric Flair?

If you want to canonise him, admit it. But don't make up stories when the facts are clear.

 

[thatcrazybiatch]

i'll agree with jericho, jerichos NEVER champ while HHH is around and when was the last time jericho pinned HHH???
if you listen to HHH's interveiws etc he realy doesnt seem to like anyone at all from what iv heard this includes the hardys jericho booker etc

booker T should have been given the rub at WM as should orton at WM
HHH seems to win when it just doesnt make sence.

why vince didnt want to ever push rvd or booker i dont know as they where MEGA over and loyal to the wwe at that time, we wouldnt need the youth movement if they had kept the good tallent they had.
its also been reported that hbk and taker realy wanted to make a new generation of stars while HHH wanted things to stay the same(worked for wcw, NOT)

im in disagreement of the guys who say HHH was good 02-03 this was his reign of terror when new stars could have been made, he was the best guy to put people over but he never did!

odd that HHH never lost the title to jeff hardy, they had big storylines and then boom jeff pinned edge for the title which took away a little steam from him and the fued

also anytime orton has lost to HHH its been in 6 man tags and after HHH has had more matches than orton, he made orton a star but he hasnt built him up as one

all in all wwe seems to suffer whenever HHH is around, certain stars NEVER appear on the brand hes on or dont get pushed, recently wwe had an awesome year with HHH injured, say goodbye to the cancer of wwe at this years WM , yay

HHH reminds me of the football team manchester united, people like him becouse hes got a good record (which of course in wwe is scripted) other than that hes not a great wrestler, hes a good talker but theres better, its just that hes been made huge and his the self given gimmick of a hard man

 

[WunNightStan619]

In all honesty i really dont think that it was more HHH holding them down as much as it was HHH thinking he was better than everywun else. I mean lets really think about this for a second. Who else in 2003-4 was even really ready to be main event headlining status? Look at Raw's roster during that time. Basically what you had was HHH, HBK and bunch of midcarders and WCW fillers. In HHH's eyes, he prolly thought that him being champion was the best move and in fact it was. Nobody else really has any real legitimacy to be able to hold the world title. They all made for great feuds, but at the end of the day HHH was the best choice for champion and he knew it.

 

[Nate DaMac]

Booker T- The feud leading up to Wrestlemaina XIX was TAILOR MADE for Booker to go over Hunter and become the Superstar he had always been. For the life of me I will never understand why the fuck this didn't happen. Booker was one of the most over guys on the whole damn roster. It would have been the perfect chance to pull the trigger, but of course Hunter wasn't going to lower himself to losing to a black man. I'm sorry but this was fucking atrocious.

[YOUTUBE]tGMIClWJbc4[/YOUTUBE]

Once again, I state the Booker should have wenr over.

Kane- Even after losing the mask, for some reason there was no revenge angle at all. Kane was another crazy popular guy that got the shaft. After we lost the mask, we got stupid shit like this:

[YOUTUBE]fRMgGJod7p8[/YOUTUBE]

Listen to that fucking crowd and tell me Kane wasn't crazy popular at this time. To me, everything with this angle went to absolute shit when Kane attacked Austin. In my mind, logic would dictate Hunter interrupting the conversation to stir the pot setting up the next PPV where Kane would finally exact his revenge on Hunter and take the World Title in what would have been a classic moment. Hunter had the opportunity to build a mega face and he fucking blew it. Instead, we go on to have Hunter vs Goldberg in another long, lame, drawn out feud while Kane had some meaningless yet memorable programs with the likes of RVD and Shane McMahon.


I will admit that I've forgiven him for most of this because I feel he's made up for it by putting over the likes of Benoit, Batista, Orton, Cena, and Sheamus. But it doesn't take away from the fact that he totally fucked over some more deserving talent like Book, Kane and even RVD to stroke his own ego.

 

[Decarow]

Besides the obvious answers that have already been given, I'll throw one out there.

Paul Burchill.

The guy has talent oozing out his anus. He had an entertaining run as a pirate. He made Regal dress in a dress. The guy was going places. But reports say that Triple H was not fond of him. Add HHH's politics with a failed incest angle, you have a future endeavored future of the company.

 

[Saeros]

First off let me just say that if this topic was made in 2005 - 07, not one person here would be standin up for HHH. The whole IWC was going nuts about the fact that he "obviously" was holding talent down. The bam, a few years go by, people grow up, and because it hasnt been evident lately, people change there tune.

Fact is, do we know that he held down anyone? No. we don't. It may of appeared that he did and yes he has obviously had a lot of pull, but to say that he influenced the Katie Vick storyline? Come on. That did more damage to Triple H than to Kane in my opinion.

Tastycles, sorry but i think your post is a little ignorant. To say randomers were just given the belt like Eddie and JBL for no reason??

Why does anyone get the belt? Because they're over, they're working hard, they connect with the crowd.

Eddie was shit hot in late 2003 and early 2004. Calling him a randomer is just plain silly. Oh look, we have a guy on our roster thats selling merchendise by the bucket load, is getting the biggest face reaction in the company, and has worked extremely hard to get to where he is today...but hes a randomer, still lets give him the belt just because we can...

JBL also worked very hard to make that gimmick work. And in 2004 and 2005 there wasnt a heel in the WWE that was more hated and people just wanted to see his ass get beaten all over the building.

I dont know if HHH held down anybody. He may of held down Test, Booker, Jericho, RVD. I seriously doubt he held down Kane. And then again, he mat not have.

Personally i never found Booker T a convincing Main Eventer, even in WCW i thought he was sub par. RVD also, He always came across as an upper Midcarder because of his gimmick. I just couldnt take him seriously. So those two i wont be blaming HHH for.

 

[MrHashasheen]

- Benoit short reign? He held it from Wrestlemania to Summerslam, that is quite some time when you consider not many champions make it past 3 months.
- Booker T tagging with Goldust, I somehow doubt that had anything to do with HHH but simply a case of they saw something good between the two man and it worked.
- Kane losing his mask, utter rubbish. Glen Jacobs wanted to lose the mask as he found them hard to wear. They adapted them over the years to make it easier for him before he simply got fed up with it all.
- Test to begin with looked like he was on his way to the main event but I highly doubt it had anything to do with HHH more of a case they realised the truth Test just didnt have it.

Like I said, those are the ones I've heard the most. Don't know if they're true or not, since I haven't watched much of that era.

Oh yeah, and there's RVD and Goldberg as well, if I remember correctly.

 

[GideonGodsend]

i remember when HHH came back in 06 or 07, he feuded with umaga. and i dont umaga had ONE victory over him, to me that was the feud that buried him and then he got future endeavored and he was a GREAT talent. i also remember he was in a handicap match against cade and murdoch and he beat them in like 5 minutes and not even with the pedigree, with the spinebuster. then london and kendrick came in to aide HHH when he was attacked after the match then he pedigreed both of them and now none of them are working for the company anymore, to me that match was just a bury fest to people that didnt deserve it

 

[Rshadow]

i have only 1 person to say. Sean O'Haire. O'Haire was slated to be in the feud with HBK and beat him leading to him being in evolution instead of batista. But of course Tripps wanted his trainee to suceed so he put O'Haire down and with that terrible Piper angle. Plus O'Haire was actually able to cut a promo. He was a tweener, just imagine having the Cerebral Assassin Tripps, The Cocky Orton, The Woman's Man Flair, and the Strong Athletic Devil's Advocate O'Haire.

 

[m1k3b14z3]

so i have a question if triple h held so many people down why does he have a losing record at wrestlemania which is the biggest show of the year?

 

[stasheroo]

How about when him and his good buddy decimated the Spirit Squad, which was essentially the graduating class from OVW?

Someone tell me how two guys continuing to punk out and undermine five guys is good business?

And then the guy talks about not having enough young talent?!?!?

Pretty tough to do when you yourself continue to destroy it!

Ask Chris Masters about getting punked and insulted time after time by the son-in-law. Think that helped his career?

Think Sheamus thinks his 'good buddy' helped his career this week?

There are tons of examples, past and present where the son-in-law has undermined and held back far better talent than he ever was.

You'd be hard-pressed to go through any of these posts to find any names who weren't far superior in-ring performers to the mid-carder they were forced to job to because he was in with the boss.

The guys has been a cancer to the industry and the sooner he is gone, the better the industry will be for it.

 

[m1k3b14z3]

ok now im not a cena fan but alot of people in the IWC hate on him for whatever their reason is (mine personally that hes always in the main event) but it just seems to me no matter who you are or whatever a persons postion in the company is that if your successful and win all the time that somehow that person is holding back other talent (which in some cases may be true) but you know what every person that has been successful someone probably got held back cause of it just food for thought

 

[PagingMr.ass]

What about Billy Gunn. He always claimed HHH put a stop to his pushes. He one King of The Ring which shows the company was ready to get behind him. If you remember was upon a time during dx's hayday as a five piece stable billy Gunn got a ppv match against The Rock at summer slam I believe. I'm sure that it didn't go over very well that Billy Gunn was going against the face of the company at one of the years biggest ppvs instead of himself the leader of DX. every time it looked like billy was being pushed as a singles guy he landed right back in the tag division. And of course Goldberg.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's go through some of those names you threw up, shall we?

Booker T- The problem with Triple H beating Booker T at WMXIX was that, if you see the match again, Triple H gives Booker T one predigree, lays on the canvas forever, crawls over and places one arm over Booker T's prone body. It made Booker T look bad because a Pedigree which stuns Booker so much that he can easily be beaten with one arm draped over him doesn't make Booker look good.

Goldberg- This is FREAKIN' Goldberg, the man with the winning streak in WCW, the man who dominated the Elimination Chamber at Summerslam 2003, only to be beaten by a lame Triple H, who was so injured that the WWE had to change the match from a Triple H-Goldberg match to a Chamber to cover Triple H's injured groin, and Triple H was hardly in the Chamber, yet he beat a guy who had easily beaten the other four men in the Chamber just minutes before.

RVD- He did such favours for RVD that, after main-eventing Survivor Series 2002 in the first Elimination Chamber match, RVD was strangely absent from a PPV (Armageddon 2002) for the first time in two years, just because, allegedly, RVD jumped off the Chamber onto Triple H's throat, and winded him. Coincidence?

For fuck's sake READ what I have written. When has Vince ever pushed WCW/ ECW talent over his own? Did you not see the Invasion storyline or were you so dense that you did not understand it? Vince did not want any WCW talent to beat his guys. Triple H merely served as a medium for burying them. Had Austin or Rock been there instead of HHH you would have seen the same thing happen. HHH was the biggest star of the Attitude Era left in the WWE post Summerslam 2002 with Rock only making sporadic appearances and Austin coming back for just one match. That is why HHH won against those guys.

Kane- Yeah. The Katie Vick storyline did Kane favours? He went from being a believable monster who was tied up in an attic, and was accused of burning down the Undertaker's house, to having his TLC moment forgotten about by Triple H's revelation just seconds later, and then having his backstory become one where he parties and commits date-rape. I wouldn't be surprised if removing Kane's mask was Triple H's idea too.

Yeah tell me WHEN Kane has main evented without being involved in some sort of storyline with The Undertaker. The answer is never. And please read up facts before you make assumptions. Removing Kane's mask was Kane's idea as he was not comfortable working with it. Kane had been out of the main event for years before he had that storyline with Triple H. Want me to remind you the last time Kane got a World Title match on PPV prior to this storyline against HHH? Against Austin in 1998. For 4 years Kane was a nobody.

Randy Orton- Yeah, they hotshotted that angle, and put the belt on Orton so soon, because I suspect that Orton was a better wrestler, better on the mike and more popular than Triple H, so he had to "cut off " sooner. Instead Triple H buried Orton repeatedly and then finally allowed the "safe" option of Batista beating him at WM21 instead (Batista, who had less charisma, and less talent than Triple H, and who Triple H trained, so it made Tripper look good).

Yep Orton was in every PPV main event from Summerslam 2004 to Elimination Chamber 2005. That is called burying, no? Nope the angle failed because Orton failed to connect with the fans. He had the perfect face turn after being thrown out by Evolution and Triple H won every match by cheating. Orton should have generated more sympathy than a guy who had lost his family in a road accident but no one gave a fuck about him. Not Triple H's fault. Anyhow most of your post is assumption anyway.

These and many more examples I could sight. I mean, forgive me, falling into bed with Stephanie was unplanned, was it? Triple H had held more people down than most (except maybe Hogan and Nash). That's okay, if you're honest about it. But don't say that Triple H is some saint, and puts people over. What about his numerous title reigns, in an attempt to be a 16-time champion, like Ric Flair?

How bout being World Champion BEFORE he started dating Stephanie? Have you ever considered that Hunter and Stephanie LOVE each other? Nah that's an alien concept for you.

And how about the fact that he has not won a single title in three years? An that he won no titles in 2006 and 2007? If Triple H wanted to have more championship belts than Ric Flair he would have had them by now. But he cares about the business and understands it better than a guy like you, whose biggest achievement might be cleaning up his room once in six months.

But don't make up stories when the facts are clear.

The only fact that is clear here is that you smoke pot and have a double digit IQ. And that is apparent from this abomination of a post that you have made.

 

[clinicallyawesome]

Yeah the idea that HHH has somehow kept people from being stars is some bull shit. Lets recap the list of who he helped build, Orton, Batista, Cena, Benoit... you can even make a case that he helped Shelton get away from his tag team specialist typecast as Shelton beat him clean on back to back weeks when he first when into singles...

In the case of Jericho, he was in the process of solidifying Jericho and Benoit as maineventers when he blew his quad out in 2002. Jericho in his book reaps tons of praise on his matches with HHH ( other then the Wrestlemania one, but that was too piss poor booking of the feud up untill the match... )...so I don't think HHH held Jericho back.... if you can even say Jericho was held back at all.... I mean shit, how much more does he need to accomplish?

He's a two time best selling author, a grandslam champion, the first ever Undisputed champion... what did HHH possibly keep him from?

 

[shattered dreams]

It is tough to prove it by examples of who did not make it because then you get into debates over how far this talent should have gone or what was the reason. I think it is somewhat easier to see where the idea comes from when you look at who did make it, and then work backwards. Who did make it? Practically everyone that HHH handpicked. Who made it in spite of that? Very few. Not that any of this is surprising. It is kind of like saying Vince has held people down. No shit sherlock. The job they do tends to focus on pick this guy and not this guy.

So the question is not necessarily about holding people down, it is about making questionable decisions. Did HHH pick his friends or purposely pick people with less talent? Did he get booked stronger than his own personal talent dictated? I would say yes to both but I am unsure how large the effect actually was. You can hold someone back by many means that go beyond just a title. HHH and Michaels are pretty notorious for this. I have a hard time believing that many wrestlers have had an issue with this if it isn't a real thing.

 

[Trill Co$by]

As much as this will kill everyone to think so... I've got some names that might be rather controversial, but I would have to say that they're most likely the best examples.

First, I want to say Shawn Michaels. Don't look at me like that, at the first ever Elimination Chamber match in WWE history, HBK won the belt. And instead of getting a decent title run, his own "best friend" used his backstage politics and ended up winning at Armageddon just literally one month after HBK won the belt. And after that, HBK was never given another title reign.

After that, I'm going to put the obvious Booker T. But not just off of WrestleMania 19 alone... It's because every single time Booker T and Triple H were in the same ring at the same time, or in the same rivalry, Triple H mowed through Booker like he was nothing. In 2007, Booker T was on his best heel reign in the WWE. He went from being World Heavyweight Champion to being one of the top heels on Raw and the second that Triple H came back, Booker was forced to job to Triple H. Say what you want, but for some reason, I happen to think that HHH fears the success of what could've been in Booker T so he ended it quickly.

Chris Jericho is a no brainer... Everyone in their right mind can tell you that Jericho is always screwed over whenever HHH is involved. And if I have to be honest with you, I would honestly say that it's because of how well Jericho can damn well turn anybody into a star with a blink of an eye. The dude has some of the most memorable matches in WWE, and even was put at the top when HHH decided to overdose on his roids and tear a quad. Jericho, imo, is one of the few people who were able to bounce back from something like that and I honestly give him all the respect because of that.

And last but not least... Sheamus. Yes, the workout buddy of HHH has also been shafted by HHH. Last year, Triple H and Sheamus were building to a decent rivalry that went through WrestleMania and finished at Extreme Rules. Last year, Triple H won at Mania but Sheamus did have an impressive showing, sure... but why the hell did Triple H not take the loss at Extreme Rules? Why did Sheamus have to wait until the next night to blindside Triple H and take him out? Why couldn't Sheamus have been the one to win? Because Triple H has too big of an ego.

Don't get me wrong, I love Triple H... he's one of my favorites in the ring, hands down... but the guy is also as shallow as Hulk Hogan is.

 

[Iversen]

As much as this will kill everyone to think so... I've got some names that might be rather controversial, but I would have to say that they're most likely the best examples.

First, I want to say Shawn Michaels. Don't look at me like that, at the first ever Elimination Chamber match in WWE history, HBK won the belt. And instead of getting a decent title run, his own "best friend" used his backstage politics and ended up winning at Armageddon just literally one month after HBK won the belt. And after that, HBK was never given another title reign.

After that, I'm going to put the obvious Booker T. But not just off of WrestleMania 19 alone... It's because every single time Booker T and Triple H were in the same ring at the same time, or in the same rivalry, Triple H mowed through Booker like he was nothing. In 2007, Booker T was on his best heel reign in the WWE. He went from being World Heavyweight Champion to being one of the top heels on Raw and the second that Triple H came back, Booker was forced to job to Triple H. Say what you want, but for some reason, I happen to think that HHH fears the success of what could've been in Booker T so he ended it quickly.

Chris Jericho is a no brainer... Everyone in their right mind can tell you that Jericho is always screwed over whenever HHH is involved. And if I have to be honest with you, I would honestly say that it's because of how well Jericho can damn well turn anybody into a star with a blink of an eye. The dude has some of the most memorable matches in WWE, and even was put at the top when HHH decided to overdose on his roids and tear a quad. Jericho, imo, is one of the few people who were able to bounce back from something like that and I honestly give him all the respect because of that.

And last but not least... Sheamus. Yes, the workout buddy of HHH has also been shafted by HHH. Last year, Triple H and Sheamus were building to a decent rivalry that went through WrestleMania and finished at Extreme Rules. Last year, Triple H won at Mania but Sheamus did have an impressive showing, sure... but why the hell did Triple H not take the loss at Extreme Rules? Why did Sheamus have to wait until the next night to blindside Triple H and take him out? Why couldn't Sheamus have been the one to win? Because Triple H has too big of an ego.

Don't get me wrong, I love Triple H... he's one of my favorites in the ring, hands down... but the guy is also as shallow as Hulk Hogan is.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm almost 100% sure Sheamus beat Hunter at Extreme Rules. Wikipedia agrees with me but I know how dodgy that can be.

I think this is one of these things that has been massively overblown over the years. Sure I reckon Hunter has some power but I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as people reckon. He's put a hell of a lot of people over too. If he put everyone over he'd be putting himself under so to speak and wouldn't then realistically be considered a worthwhile talent.

People go on way to much about putting people over. Sure it has to be done and I get that. But if someone just puts everyone they face over then wheres the entertainment in that. I don't want to see young guys lining up to face all the old guys knowing they're always going to win. It's dull. The old guys need to win some too.

Everyone's gonna have a gripe with a guy like HHH purely because he's fought everyone and if your favorite guy goes up against him and wins it's very easy to jump on the bandwagon and blame HHH. Likewise with guys that get future endeavored. They just have to blame HHH and everyone accepts it as fact. People like having a scape goat for this kind of thing.

 

[multiverseman.com]

Test - Killed his momentum. You could argue that Test didn't have it. I'd argue, who cares? It's opportunity x creativity x luck. Ultimate Warrior wouldn't have succeeded in any other time period than he did.

Shelton Benjamin - Momentum, destroyed. Sure he had a streak against him, but they were all weak wins punctuated by his utter destruction at the end.

Jericho - CJ ought to be bigger than he is. He had "Rock love" at one point. The fact that he eventually stuck around and got over again, speaks to his talent. He had to totally reinvent the character HHH killed.

Booker T - Destroyed. Lived to fight another day based on his own talent.

Jeff Hardy - Should've been World Champ 4 years before he did.

Chris Masters - Done

Spirit Squad - Decimated

Umaga - Stomped

That's just on-camera stuff. I can only imagine the real work that got put in off camera.