Michael Cole- "Triple H is a legend". Does that sound right?

[theBIGdealAndyP]

Is Triple H a legend?

Yes he a main eventer, a multi time world champion and one of the most recognizable figures within the wrestling industry today ...

Thats all about has to be said, i mean, c'mon noone thinks that hulk hogan was a good worker or that he didnt use politics to his advantage, but noone denies that hes a legend- whats the difference between HHH and HH? an extra H?

 

[proofinlife]

Hmm, for me, it's more of a definitional problem.

Doesn't legend generally refer to something that took place in the past? I don't consider HHH a legend the same way I don't consider, say, Derek Jeter a legend, or the War in Iraq "history." All of them are still too current to give them such distancing titles.

After he's retired, we can all look back on his career later and determine whether or not he deserves the title, kind of like people can look back now and call Babe Ruth a legend, or Andre the Giant a legend, or the Vietnam War history.

I'm kind of with you, OP-- I think that HHH has done a lot, but the fact of the matter (for now at least) is just that WWE announcers love to throw around hyperboles.

He can easily be defined as a legend in two ways.

1) Everything everybody has said in this thread that I will not bother repeating for obvious reasons, lol.

2) They've already labelled Undertaker a legend, and even had the "WWE Legends" logo above his name on his entrance when they were doing that WWE Legends toy line. Yet, the Undertaker has not retired, and with your logic (no offense intended), he shouldn't be a legend because he's not retired yet.

Triple H may have accomplished a lot way too fast, but no one can deny his fantastic heel work throughout his career, even beginning during his Pedigree days in WCW. He's a technically gifted wrestler and that alone deserves him championship runs, tack on amazing heel work and a string of GREAT matches over the years with the most unexpected opponents (like John Cena and Randy Orton, hell, even his Rikishi match was unexpectedly good back in 2002).

Now a lot of his reigns were during the 1999-2002 era where belts were being traded between performers like spit in a porn shoot, but that is most definitely not his fault that he had 6 reigns inside of a 16 month span, that's booking for ya, and I truly do not believe that he has as much greed as Meltzer and Alvarez and many other lower reporters claim he does. He obviously understands the business and I personally believe he wouldn't do something that he knew would destroy it. Also, i can't think of one example where one of his reigns caused direct negative impact on ratings; a lot of those time frames people say he killed the show also had very sloppy writing and nearly unwatchable feuds in all levels of the card.

 

[Southwind]

Guys Triple H has made big:

Jeff Hardy
Batista
Randy Orton
Chris Benoit (tapped out to him several times and tried to get him over with the crowd)
Eugene (do I really need to say anything else)
Sheamus
etc...

I'll give you Batista, Hardy, Eugene, and Benoit, but Sheamus is a guy he "chose" to be champion. And used backstage politicking to make him get that spot. He just used him as a figure head, and will (more or less) bury him at WM 26.

But Randy Orton haahhahaha he buried the poor kid., Orton got destroyed on Raw, then got buried at Unforgiven 2004. He beat Trips in a survivor series elimination match once, and got buried throughout his entire feud with Trips.

Orton didn't recover for years, until his absolute golden feud with the Undertaker.

Triple H is no legend, he is a great performer, and steady safe choice to be a champion But being a legend means more than just titles. Trips was never anything special.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Triple H is very good at carrying a match and making someone look good. His match tonight against Jack Swagger (Not Rhodes as you said) was a perfect example of that and he does it often.

One of the more famous examples is the Shelton Benjamin win over Triple H many tears back after Benjamin had been drafted to Raw. That win carried Benjamin for months.

A lot of people seem to have this underlying hatred for Triple H, maybe due to his relationship with Vince but he is very deserving of his spot and, sure he may get a slight rub of the green every now and then but even without Vince in his corner, he'd still be up there. He is a legend. In his own right. Just because he has had matches with The Rock or Stone Cold or Kurt Angle doesn't mean that it was them that made it good. Triple H was a great heel to all three of the above (and occasionally face) not everyone can be that flexible with their character. I feel he is worthy of that status.

Exactly. There is indeed an underlying hatred for Triple H not just because of his relationship with Vince, but also due to the fact he's been banging the boss' daughter for the last 10 years. Triple H is very good at what he does and he's helped make a lot of other wrestlers look good. As you pointed out, his match with Swagger is an example of that. Swagger's match against Triple H is the best Swagger has looked in months. While he didn't win, he wasn't really expected to and yet he did much better than I think most thought he would have considering that Swagger has been pretty misused since coming to Raw.

Triple H's The Game persona made him one of the best heels of the past decade. He left no doubt to anybody that he was no longer Shawn Michaels' second banana in DX. Triple H was so successful as a heel that I still can't really buy into him as a face due to The Game persona. Some have criticized his move set as predictable in the past but having a pattern to their moves is common. Ric Flair had it, Bret Hart had it, AJ Styles has it, Kurt Angle has it, Sting has it and so on and so forth.

Some have even accused Triple H of being where he is simply because of the McMahons and, to some degree that's true. That's true of any wrestler after all because you're not gonna move up in the ranks if the boss doesn't think you've got it. Call Vince McMahon what you will, hate him all you want, but if Triple H didn't have IT, then he would have never been on top for as long as he has been. So is he a legend? While it's true that there are wrestlers that do seem to fit the label a bit more, depending upon who you like, but I think legend probably does apply. He's been in some huge angles and feuds, has won more world championships than anybody in wrestling save for Ric Flair, had a promiment role in the Attitude Era, repackaged himself a bit in the 2000s and became one of the best heels in the business.

 

[cm ben]

@Rip and proofinlife--

I'm reading you (and thanks for not flaming, haha), but I'm saying that the WWE throws around the term "legend" too freely. You know, saying the guy is legendary sounds cooler than saying "HHH is a really good wrestler," but it doesn't necessarily mean anything. To me, at least.

I see what you mean about Undertaker, and I guess my logic is flawed, because I do consider him sort of legendary. Interesting about the length of HHH's career vs Hogan's, too, because I put Hogan in the same boat as 'Taker. Maybe it's because even though neither of those guys are really retired yet, it's apparent that their peak is over.

Whatever! They're all good at what they do, I guess.

 

[proofinlife]

@Rip and proofinlife--

I'm reading you (and thanks for not flaming, haha), but I'm saying that the WWE throws around the term "legend" too freely. You know, saying the guy is legendary sounds cooler than saying "HHH is a really good wrestler," but it doesn't necessarily mean anything. To me, at least.

I see what you mean about Undertaker, and I guess my logic is flawed, because I do consider him sort of legendary. Interesting about the length of HHH's career vs Hogan's, too, because I put Hogan in the same boat as 'Taker. Maybe it's because even though neither of those guys are really retired yet, it's apparent that their peak is over.

Whatever! They're all good at what they do, I guess.

Oh, for sure. The Term legend is ****ed out beyond any reasonable means. I'm not sure if it's in Cole or Striker's scripts to say these things, or if it's just them putting people over by use of heavy terms wrestling fans can identify with.

Just one thing I need to remind everyone of. Go back to 1989 - 1993, watch WCW and WWF. Nearly every show different talent are randomly addressed as "Legends", far worse than even Cole could do it today.

Just like "Future Hall of Famer", it's really just a way to put over the fact that "This guy's really good, so if you've never watched our television show, just know HE'S REALLY FREAKIN' GOOD CAUSE HE'S A LEGEND!!!". Nothing more, in my opinion.

While it's true that Triple H WILL eventually grace that HOF stage (granted if it lasts that long) and take his place, I think it is safe to say that he is a FUTURE legend, so in mixing my above comment about using it as a tool to be put over with an otherwise oblivious audience, it's a spot-on way to classify a top-tier wrestler that has been around a fairly long time in the major leagues... '94 (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong) in WCW all the way to today, so that's 16 years in the major leagues, and 12 years in the main event of WWE. Just like Rip said, the respect is due because he's been on top for a steady amount of time longer than Hogan ever was in any promotion he's been in.

 

[Tastycles]

The only way that Triple H isn't a legend is if you only include those that have changed the sport. In which case, you have about two - Lou Thesz and Hulk Hogan. Triple H has accomplished more than anyone else in the most successful company in wrestling history in terms of championships. He's had some huge feuds and he's been the biggest heel and the biggest face in the biggest company at different times in his career. People say a lot about what he doesn't deserve, but there is no denying that he's been a part of some great matches ad angles over the past few years.