Triple H: Best in the World

[Uncle Sam]

Watching the WWE Network has unearthed a lot of long buried memories: Raw on Friday nights; SmackDown on Saturday mornings; that time Mick Foley won the Monday night war; that time Stone Cold got hit by a car; Crash Holly weighing at allegedly well over four-hundred pounds; Big Bossman behaving badly. When Triple H became The Game and the Cerebral Assassin and, as we're going to discuss, probably the best damn wrestler on the planet.

Triple H is often excluded from the conversations that include Steve Austin and The Rock, or Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels, or even Mick Foley and The Undertaker. The string of matches and feuds Triple H had between late-1999 and mid-2001, one could argue, was better than anything those men, or any wrestler, had put together or has since. Specifically, this is about the span of time between Triple H's feud with Vince McMahon - the birth of the McMahon-Helmsley Era - and Triple H tearing his quad completely off the bone - the end of the Two Man Power Trip. It was the hot streak to end all hot streaks.

Prior to the birth of The Game - or, more accurately, prior to Triple H's first title win - it was unclear where Triple H fit in. He was undoubtedly good but the highest he'd risen was being an awkward Starscream to Undertaker's even more awkward Megatron in the Corporate Ministry. He'd been in the doghouse for a long time following his breaking of the fourth wall when he, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon and Diesel hugged it out in Madison Square Garden. Supposedly, Steve Austin really didn't want Triple H to win the belt, to the point that he lost clean to a Mankind double-arm DDT at SummerSlam 1999 rather than give the belt directly to Triple H. In fact, just before SummerSlam 1999, Triple H nearly lost his no. 1 contender status to Chyna. He actually did for a little while. I have vivid memories of watching Triple H's first title win in 1999 and feeling underwhelmed. I was seven.

After Triple H's return from injury in 2002, I think we all remember the discussions about politics, infinite title reigns, burials, twenty minute promos and banging the boss' daughter. No need to go back to that well again, is there?

A man is only as good as his opponent. People often use "Yeah, but he's not that good - look at who he wrestled" to tear someone down, but that's exceptionally silly. Jaws wouldn't have been nearly as good if Chief Brody had been played by Brian Blessed; that doesn't mean Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss weren't shit hot. A wrestling match is a partnership and Triple H was fortunate enough to be partnered with, in chronological order: Vince McMahon, Cactus Jack, The Rock, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Steve Austin, The Undertaker and... Kane. If you wanted to attempt a similar streak in 2015, you'd probably have at least one singles match against someone like, well, Kane thrown in your way.

That said, this period wasn't non-stop brilliance. For instance, the WWF going out of their way to stop The Rock and Triple H having a one-on-one match at WrestleMania, inserting The Big Show and simultaneously ruining Mick Foley's perfect retirement story, was ludicrous. On the other hand, at least five stone cold classic matches means they must have know what they were doing to some extent.

It quickly became apparent when writing this that this period couldn't be covered in a single post - at least if we take into account the attention span of your average forum contributor, and also my laziness. That in mind, this'll get done one match at a time. Obviously, feel free to sign up to the WWE Network (free for the entire month of February) and watch along. The first match:

Triple H versus Vince McMahon, Armageddon 1999:
The Birth of the McMahon-Helmsley Era​

A quick catch-up: Triple H doesn't like Vince. Vince doesn't like Triple H. You thought Austin versus McMahon was personal? You don't know anything. Vince costs Triple H the world championship. Triple H responds by putting roofies in Stephanie McMahon's drink and marrying her unconscious body, which is apparently legally binding. There's the implication of rape there, the marriage having apparently been "consummated" several times, but it's probably best not to get into that. Vince obviously takes exception to these events and agrees to a match at Armageddon. If Vince wins, Triple H and Stephanie's wedding will be annulled. If Triple H wins, he gets a championship match.

Cut to Armageddon.

Roman Reigns is full of shit. Oh, I wouldn't even know how to lock up correctly? Doesn't matter, mate - watch Triple H versus Vince McMahon at Armageddon 1999. Triple H hits two elbow drops - that's the extent of wrestling prowess on show. There's a lot of punches; a lot of stiff punches. I mean, Vince is never going to hit a brainbuster so work with what you've got, right? So he wallops the shit out of Triple H and Triple H wallops the shit out of him. Mick Foley brings out a shopping cart full of weapons at one point and the two take turns walloping the shit out of each other with those. They brawl over to the set at the ramp and wallop the shit out of each other with helicopters and heavy artillery. They brawl to the back and wallop the shit out of each other with cars and vending machines. They brawl into the parking lot. Triple H runs off. Or does he? No, he comes back in a car and tries to run over Vince. They brawl back through the parking lot, back through the backstage area, backstage through the artillery and back to ringside.

Meanwhile, Stephanie McMahon looks concerned.

In the final moments, Vinnie Mac finally has Hunter bang to rights. The Game is cornered and the boss has the sledgehammer. Triple H is about to get his head stoved in by his own signature weapon. But wait - what's Stephanie doing in the ring? Oh, she wants to do it - she wants to cave her alleged rapist's head in. Women! Am I right? But wait - she doesn't have the heart for it. Women! Am I right? Triple H grabs the hammer from her, lays Vince out with it, gets the one, gets the two and gets the three. He's not done yet either - he wants to lay Stephanie out, the sick bastard. She turns, looks at him, heartbroken, terrified... pleased? She smiles. The two embrace

SWERVE. Are you sure Russo has left? He has? Oh, because I thought this might be a DOUBLE SWERVE.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Stephanie McMahon kiss. They celebrate over Vince's unconscious body. The McMahon-Helmsley era has begun. Before the next pay-per-view, the Royal Rumble, Triple H is the WWF Champion.

From a storyline perspective, things make more sense after the swerve than before. Months previous, Vince had been instrumental in having Stephanie kidnapped by and nearly married to The Undertaker. What is it with Stephanie and weddings? Anyway, yeah, why wouldn't Stephanie be pissed off by this incredible betrayal of trust? This is the birth of Stephanie McMahon, Jezebel of biblical proportions. Prior to this, she was the only McMahon (well, other than Linda) that was innocent and pure and not a monstrous megalomaniac. After this, she's a hugely significant component of what makes Triple H work. There's a reason the McMahon-Helmsley Era is the McMahon-Helmsley Era.

From an in-ring perspective, this is not Triple H's best. Nor, however, is it his worst. Like I've explained, it is just punching and weapon shots. It goes on for half an hour, which is incredibly impressive for a match featuring a non-wrestler, but also quite long for something that doesn't feature so much as a DDT. But it's good. It's a hot storyline. It's got some inventive spots. It shows how good Triple H is, making a fifty-something non-wrestler looks like a genuine threat. It shows his humility as a person, being willing to do that. It shows his ruthlessness as a character, literally making attempts on his opponent's life.

Most importantly, it was the start of something very special.

Next Time: Cactus Jack and The Best WWF Championship Match Ever

 

[Mustang Sally]

Women! Am I right?

Yes, you're right. What a fickle breed are we! But I'll always remember that match because the ending took me by surprise more than anything I had ever seen in WWE or WCW. It made sense to watch Stephanie kneeling over her father's unconscious body; he was her hero, trying to defend her honor, going after the dastardly SOB who took her for an unconscious ride through the Chapel o' Love. When she turned and smiled at Triple H....and he smiled back, looking like a vulture eyeing his prey, I was totally floored. As you say, an entire new era was ushered in by the results of that single match.

Can't say enough about Triple H's performance; he led a non-wrestler to a good looking match; better than anything I would have expected from Vince McMahon, for heaven's sake.

To me, the value of Paul Levesque in WWE is the sum of his experiences as a wrestler. Sure, we can remember individual matches, but the total body of work is what places him as the equal of Rock, Hogan, Austin, etc etc.

He could work with anyone.....and make them look good even as he advanced his own career. He wrestled five matches on one Raw program to bow to a condition set by his boss; a night's work you would have expected them to lay on someone less highly regarded than Triple H. He lost matches that a person with his power in the corporation might have insisted on winning.....he's still doing that.

But starting with an Arkansas Hog Pen match with Henry O. Godwinn and ending with a loss to Daniel Bryan, the man has had the damndest career of just about anyone in pro wrestling.

 

[Lowdown]

You have to give kudos to the role Trips played back then. But if you think about it, it was Mick Foley that really set the tone for making Trips "The Game". During the latter part of '99, fans weren't really sold on Triple H as a top guy alongside the Rock, and that carried over leading up to the Rumble. Having Stephanie helped of course, but in Mick's book" Foley is Good" he specifically wanted to feud with Trip to help his character evolve into what he eventually became, and also be the one to "retire" him. The true starting point of Trip's evolution was the street fight at Royal Rumble 2000. Him and Foley our on a great match, and Trip himself said that he owes gratitude to Mick for helping him excel at being a top star.

 

[Uncle Sam]

If you were to be a professional wrestler and got to mold yourself a physique out of clay, what would you go for? People think that a build like Daniel Bryan's might be disadvantageous, and maybe it would be, but he's still muscular, quick and agile, even if he's a little bit small. A body like, say, Earthquake might not be ideal if you want to live a long life but if you're going to be a big lad, be a big lad - a lad so big that the earth quakes as you walk. Most might choose a look like Triple H: large but not comically so, exceptionally muscular - and fairly tanned around WrestleMania time. You'd be ill-advised to want to be built like Mick Foley.

Mick Foley is big but not intimidatingly big. He's fat in a way that's really more just unathletic than terrifyingly rotund. In fact, Foley doesn't really have an athletic bone in his body. He can't really run, he can't really jump and he doesn't seem exceptionally strong. Mick Foley's body wasn't built for athletic competition, regardless of how real or fake that athletic competition may be. He wasn't neccesarily an attractive man before he lost an ear. Maybe that's why Foley's so endearing - because, despite not getting a single number in the genetic lottery, Mick Foley was one of the greatest professional wrestlers ever.

A top five Mick Foley moments could be a top five Attitude Era moments. If you're really not interested in breadth, variety or, well, accuracy, a top five Mick Foley moments could be a top five professional wrestling moments. It wouldn't be that weird.

Moment number one: Mankind is thrown thirteen feet from the top of a cell, onto - and through - the announce table below. Perhaps the most infamous moment in professional wrestling history.

Moment number two: Mankind pins The Rock on Raw to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. The Monday Night War is won.

Moment number three: Mankind presents "Rock, this is your life!" which remains the highest rated segment of Monday Night Raw to this day.

Moment number four: Mankind forfeits his right to a championship match at the Royal Rumble and names a substitute in his place. You might know the guy. Mankind removes his mask and tears his bloody shirt off. His name is Cactus Jack!

Moment number five: probably somewhere in the weeks that follow.

We come into Mick Foley's life at a time when he's particularly unathletic. Years of sacrificing his body has left him worn down. His recently operated on knees hurt constantly and the extra weight he's put on isn't helping. A light jog would be a bit of a challenge. He wears sweatpants and sneakers to the ring. On the mike, as one half of The Rock & Sock Connection and The Rock's lovable buddy, he still delivers every night but, as Mick himself is acutely aware, his days in the ring are probably numbered.

Enter Triple H. Weeks after putting Vince McMahon down, Triple H is the new authority in the WWF. He grants himself a match with the champion, The Big Show, on Raw and wins. Who will stand up to such a tyrant? Steve Austin's injured, The Undertaker's absent, and that leaves Mankind and The Rock, who duly tell Triple H that they're not taking any of his shit. That would be fine, only Triple H is a real bastard and puts the two in a Pink Slip On A Pole match (and yes, Russo was definitely gone at this point) which Mankind loses.

Not for the last time, Mick Foley is gone from the WWF forever. And not for the last time, Mick Foley doesn't really go anywhere.

While Foley delivers sympathetic interviews about his lack of putting bread on the table abilities, Triple H dresses Mideon (yes, it was Mideon) up as Mankind and routinely mocks him in segments entitled Have A Bad Day. Clever. "Highlights" include Triple H dressing up as Dr. Hung Lo and berating the fake Mankind in Engrish.

For whatever reason, this doesn't sit well with the WWF roster, who demonstrate en masse and threaten to go elsewhere to form the World Rock Federation unless Mick Foley is reinstated. WCW in the year 2000 is stiff enough competition without Triple H having to go toe to toe with a newly formed WRF, particularly as his roster would just be himself, X-Pac and Road Dogg. The Game sees sense and reinstates Foley.

But all is still not well. The Game is too much for Mankind, too good and too sadistic. No, sir, Mankind is no match for the WWF Champion. But there is another man who just might be.

It's a clever flip of the script. It would have been totally fine to have Mankind face Triple H. Yes, he was now goofier, cuddlier and less intimidating but that arguably would have just made him an even bigger babyface and would have just made Triple H look even more sadistic in dismantling him. However, this isn't the story of the underdog. This is the story of the man who's had too much, can't cope, snaps and decides it's time to remind everyone just how dangerous he is. This is the story of Walter White. Foley had something more important than adaptability as a wrestler; he had adaptability as a character.

Triple H versus Cactus Jack, Street Fight, Royal Rumble 2000:
The Best WWF Championship Match Ever​

Video packages are, it's sad to say, probably my favourite part of wrestling. Matches? Great. Promos? Brilliant. Premature deaths? Forgettaboutit! But what I love most is a good video package. Triple H versus Cactus Jack has not one but two great video packages supporting it and it annoys me that I can't find them online. The Network always skips video packages if you jump ahead to matches, which irks me. If you have the Network, watch the opening ten minutes of the pay-per-view, jump to Triple H versus Cactus Jack, rewind ten minutes and make sure you've seen both packages. They're amazing. "They say you can't be beat; I say I've played this game before - and won."

Far be it from me to suggest that Mick Foley is a more accomplished wrestler than Vince McMahon but Mick Foley is a more accomplished wrestler than Vince McMahon. That said, Triple H and Mick Foley's match is about on the same level of clinical masterpiece as Triple H and Vince's from the month prior. This one actually has a few wrestling moves and there's no wandering around the arena but it's still mostly brawling and weapon shots. And it's amazing.

That's the thing about Mick Foley - he never did a flip, nor a German suplex. The most exciting parts of Mick Foley's arsenal were an elbow drop, a pulling piledriver and a clothesline to the outside. On paper, Mick Foley sounds boring as fuck. This is why Mick Foley is the perfect illustration of how professional wrestling works. Professional wrestling isn't about athleticism; it's about characters and stories. When it comes to characters and stories, Mick Foley is second to none. Literally. The guy played four different characters, sometimes weeks, days or minutes apart.

This match, like Mick Foley, is all about characters and story. Like Mick Foley, it's all about the little things. It's about the stuff like how Triple H sends Stephanie McMahon to the back because this no place for a woman.

Women! Am I right?

Jack has a look in his eye like he wants to eat Triple H and he's looking forward to it. Triple H doesn't look so much afraid as he does determined not to get eaten. Cannibalism seems a realistic possibility after Cactus wins the first exchange of fists and follows up with a swinging neckbreaker on the outside and then, as Triple H tries to get back in the ring, a leg drop onto the bottom rope.

Triple H fights back with a ringbell to Cactus' head. Cactus gets up. Triple H grabs a chair and challenges Cactus to come get it. Cactus does and gets decimated by a chairshot to the head. Triple H celebrates. Cactus gets up.

The two brawl through the crowd until they reach a makeshift alleyway, complete with bricks, trashcans and wooden pallets, which they obviously throw each other into and with which they obviously hit each other with. Actually, in these early stages, it's mainly the psychotic Cactus straight up victimising his opponent.

Jack has all of Foley's resiliency and toughness but is also a violent psychopath - a point which is driven home when Triple H gets his head kneed into the steel steps. A point which is driven further home when a two-by-four covered in barbed wire gets introduced, although it's The Game who ends up using it, smacking it into Jack again and again and again. And again.

Jack fires back with a low blow and Earl Hebner uses the opportunity to take the two-by-four and give it to Hugo Savinovich for safekeeping. After a near fall, Cactus decks Hugo Savinovich, who it turns out has a glass jaw. He grabs the barbed wire, hits Triple H in the face with it, hits an elbow with it. Near fall. Triple H stumbles to his feet and gets another headshot. Helmsley tries to escape the ring and gets barbed wire grated across his forehead, which is pissing blood by this point.

Jack tries to piledrive Triple H on the announce table but Triple H somehow figures out a way to reverse the otherwise unreversible piledriver, backdropping Foley onto the table. The table doesn't collapse - instead it dents and crunches. It's also covered in blood, much of which is coming from Triple H's punctured calf. Enjoy, JR.

Jack obviously doesn't stay down long. Back in the ring, Hunter goes for the Pedigree but gets it reversed and gets catapulted into the turnbuckle, before Jack shoves his face into the barbed wire. You'd think Triple H would have passed out from blood loss at this point, but no - he kicks out of the ensuing pin attempt.

Cactus drives The Game outside with his patented clothesline. Cactus runs at The Game but gets hip tossed into the steps knee-first, which looks brutal.

This match is something of a greatest hits (and misses) of Mick Foley. There's wa-dushes and wer-dishes (and at one point he punches Triple H to the ground and loudly squeals like a pig). There's a spot where he collides with the stairs but - classic Foley - hits it with his legs and flips over it. There's obviously tacks and barbed wire. There's a bit where, in a callback to his match at the Royal Rumble a year earlier, Foley gets his hands cuffed behind his back, gets in some impressive no-handed offense, gets brutally beaten down, gets a chair broken over his back and nearly gets his head caved in. Jack, on his knees, is begging for Triple H to hit him in the head with a chair.

Like a special move from Streets of Rage, The Rock materialises from backstage and makes sure it's Triple H gets laid out with a chair. Considering how he nearly killed Mankind with handcuffs and a steel chair the year before, it's really the least The Rock could do. A police officer, who may or may not be aligned with The Rock, emerges and frees Foley from the cuffs. If that'd been Booker T in cuffs, the cop'd have helped Triple H beat him up.

Jack goes for a piledriver on the non-destroyed announce table - and gets it. Again, the table doesn't give way, which just makes it look worse.

What better time to introduce the thumbtacks, the thumbtacks, the thumbtacks!? Stephanie McMahon re-emerges, begging for mercy. No need, Steph: Triple H suddenly remembers how to counter the piledriver, flipping Cactus onto the thumbtacks, Cactus basically ending up doing snow angels in them. Tack angels. Cactus gets up. Pedigree. Cactus kicks out. Pedigree, face first, into the thumbtacks. Cactus gets pinned. Triple H retains.

Cactus Jack is covered head to toe in tacks. Literally - they are in his face, in his abdomen, in his legs and in his boots. Triple H has them in his knees, is coated in dried blood and is stretchered out. Well, nearly.

Cactus gets up.

Cactus chases after the stretcher, wheels him back to the ring, tosses him into the apron and, yep, decks him with the barbed wire.

Cue Cactus Jack's theme music - which is apparently also used in pornos, which is appropriate because JR describes Triple H as a quivering mess. I need a cigarette.

"The damndest WWF title match that any of us have ever witnessed." - Jim Ross

The Royal Rumble itself begins about five minutes after this match. The first two participants are D'Lo Brown and Grandmaster Sexay - because any more excitement at that point would make the viewers' hearts explode.

It might not have been the match that made Triple H but it was definitely the match that cemented his place in history.

 

[A11oftheLights]

But...but...but...Triple H is shit he only had that position because he slept with the bosses daughter and whatever other bullshit the idiots think.

I'm glad you went to the effort Sam to point all this out. There is no way that even the biggest hater could read this and still believe that Triple H is shit

 

[Dave]

It's coincidental, you're writing about an Era of wrestling of which I first started watching. And the first PPV that I ever had the pleasure of watching. I don't know if you remember (but you likely will) Sunday Night Heat that was broadcast on Channel 4? The first time I ever watched that, Triple H was the Champion. He was talking to the Headbangerz about the Royal Rumble and I was completely engrossed from there on it. The Royal Rumble in 2000, I believe, was the first WWE PPV to be broadcast on British terrestrial TV and was, incidentally, the first PPV that ever watched. And what can you really say about the main event? If Triple H wasn't my favourite before then, he damn sure was by the end of the match.

And, until recently, I didn't understand why I didn't get so into Mick Foley as other people. And the truth was that he pushed Triple H to the limit back when I was a malleable little boy. The two matches at the Royal Rumble and No Way Out in 2000 are two of the best matches I have ever seen in being a WWE fan. I'm sure you will go onto cover the Hell in a Cell match and I can't wait. But like I said, it made me resent Mick Foley because he was the most dangerous threat to the reign of Triple H. It's not until recently, with the addition of the WWE Network in the UK, that I have turned that school of thought around and absolutely adored what Mick Foley did. For Triple H and four everyone else who came into contact with him.

An excellent match though that really legitimised Triple H as a fighting Champion. Triple H needed a match like this and a feud with someone like Cactus Jack. And the fans were treated to a spectacular series of matches as a result.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Thumping read old chap!

I clearly remember that steel step spot when Foley flips over it hitting it knee first, good lawd a'mighty!

Triple H has, during the millennium, some of the most enthralling moments to his name. Lets not forget that Jericho Raw win, he made people forget what a sniveling backstabber Earl Hebner was in Montreal and got him legit pops (loved those mini shove matches in between matches).

All this leads to that Austin Vs H at NWO 2002 I hope. That shit was great.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I think one issue is that people will always view Triple H through a weird filter: he married the boss' daughter, dominated the flagship show during a period where the show's quality was worse than it is now (as people seem to forget) and the ratings took a nosedive. That's not to say it's right to view it that way, it's just the way a large swathe of the fan base will always look at it because they refuse to be convinced any other way (I will point out these are the same people who have the combined IQ of a small rodent and believe that a TV rating is directly responsible for the quality of a show).

The fact is though, as has been pointed out here, Trips was always that damn good. The company's hottest year is, without question, 2000 and he was the wrestler of the year then. He took the ball that was available courtesy of Steve Austin's neck surgery and he ran with it harder and faster than most. That's likely why his quad got torn in fact. He had not one, but two all-time classic feuds (albeit based on detailed prior history) back-to-back with Foley and Rock. He wrestled classic match after classic match whether it be against a Hardcore Legend in Mick Foley, his main event contemporary in The Rock or up-and comers like Angle and Jericho.

His facial expressions were gold and his selling was magic. He got his point across on the mic and he was (and still to this day is) one of the most natural and easy to hate heels of all time. Fact of the matter is, Triple H is a bona-fide legend and that gets lost on a lot of people who are too busy complaining about his apparent politicking, but it's so painfully obvious that the guy was always going to be a legend. Even before the main event he was tearing the house down with Foley and Rock and when he got to that main event stage he did all over again in an even more prominent role.

 

[Uncle Sam]

I did consider skipping over Foley and Triple H's Hell in a Cell match. The focus in these matches isn't really Triple H, who is the subject of this thread, but Mick Foley, which makes writing about them a bit problematic. I already went into incredible detail about just how much I love Mick Foley in my previous post and, if I'm going to be totally honest, the rematch at No Way Out isn't quite as good as their Royal Rumble match.

That said, I have literally described the Royal Rumble match as the greatest WWE Championship match of all-time, so falling narrowly short of that isn't really anything to be ashamed of. Additionally, WWE was kind enough to tell a different story with the No Way Out match to the Royal Rumble match:

"You may say that this is no dream - this is a nightmare. Maybe, but this is my nightmare - and I decide when I wake up!" - Mick Foley

The opening video package - again, my favourite part of professional wrestling - is just as strong as the Royal Rumble's, if much more concise. It's everything or nothing for Cactus Jack: either he becomes the world champion and main events WrestleMania, fulfilling a career-long goal, or he retires from professional wrestling for good. And everybody knows that, just like when superheroes die, wrestlers stay retired forever. Or at least for longer than a month. Right?

The backstory to this one isn't complex, though it needn't be. Triple H, the cerebral assassin, The Game, the man who's always thinking twelve steps ahead says Cactus Jack can have his rematch and can have the stipulation of his choice - if Cactus puts his career on the line. Cactus accepts and chooses Hell in a Cell. Triple H goes apeshit. Presumably he was expecting a lumberjack match or something.

Triple H has a dream: a dream of a World Wrestling Federation without Cactus Jack. Cactus Jack has a dream: main eventing WrestleMania. Eat your heart out, Doctor King.

Thanks to a number one contender's match earlier in the night, we know that the winner of the match will be facing none other than The Big Show at WrestleMania. This was a marginally more exciting prospect in 2000 than it is in 2015.

Triple H versus Cactus Jack, Hell in a Cell, No Way Out 2000:
Godspeed, Mick Foley​

People say that Foley's Cell match with The Undertaker "isn't a match" - but it is. It's a match built around a handful of gruesome, jaw-dropping spots with very little wrestling in between but it's a match. It's a match that set certain expectations for any time anybody set foot inside the Cell again, and definitely set very specific expectations for any time Mick Foley set foot inside the Cell again.

The best wrestling, I think, is when expectations get defied. When John Cena goes for the five knuckle shuffle and gets kicked in the face, when Seth Rollins goes for a curb stomp and gets an RKO, when Kevin Owens comes out to hug Sami Zayn and ends up powerbombing him. Your mind goes one way and the events unfolding in front of you go another and, if just for a few moments, your disbelief is as suspended as that of any five-year-old.

This isn't quite that. This is, in fact, almost the opposite of that. What do you expect from Foley in a Hell in a Cell? Probably a thirteen foot drop at one point or another. Moments into the match, Foley goes to escape from the Cell only to discover that somebody's put half a dozen padlocks over the door. Triple H obviously paid a visit to Home Depot before the match, the prick.

When your expectations are thrown out in a good way - e.g. an RKO out of nowhere - your reaction is probably to stand up and start flipping furniture or something. Seeing as this is the opposite, the crowd is surprisingly muted. The crowd is waiting for them to get out of the Cell. There's some great action inside - including Triple H literally throwing steel steps into Cactus' head, a double-arm DDT from Cactus onto Triple H onto a chair, and much more - but we're just waiting for them to go outside. We know the match isn't going to end without somebody falling off of something very high and everything before that is just foreplay. Really rather titillating foreplay but foreplay nonetheless. As hard as these two work each other over, and they get really beaten and bloody and it would ironically be more impactful if there weren't a big climbing frame there just asking to be climbed, we know that this isn't the money shot.

Cactus decides to get a bit of revenge for getting the steps chucked at him earlier and looks to do the same thing to Triple H - he tosses the steps, The Game darts out of the way, and the steps burst through the fence. The crowd lose their collective mind. Oh, baby! Jack backs up and throws himself through the fence. Right there! Jack goes back in, grabs Triple H and throws him to the outside. Don't stop!

Once outside, we almost immediately get a piledriver from Cactus on Triple H onto the announce table, which is about the most pedestrian part of everything after they exit the Cell.

First and foremost, Cactus Jack gets out the old favourite - a two-by-four covered in barbed wire. Triple H gets it in the face and Jim Ross, weirdly, calls Cactus Jack "Captain Bang Bang." The Game, as quite a convincing excuse for climbing up the cage, runs away from Cactus vertically. Cactus gives chase but ends up getting kicked off the side and plummets through the announce table in what is, really, a poor man's recreation of his most infamous stunt.

Cactus Jack, as we've established, inevitably gets back up. He tries to throw a chair to the top of the cage but doesn't have the strength. As I learned from Foley's second book, he genuinely didn't have the strength. That's a shoot right there, brother. Jack, undeterred, heads up to the cage to fight Triple H anyway. In the ensuing brawl, Triple H takes a series of hard back bumps on the roof as if to say, "Someone could go through this thing at a moment's notice." Triple H's arm, then leg goes through a corner that's given way. This is a precarious situation, basically.

It only gets more precarious as Jack sets the fucking barbed wire two-by-four on fire and smacks Triple H in the face with it. "The dream is coming true," says Jim Ross. This is basically Cinderella. Cactus goes for the piledriver, the shot widens, Triple H reverses and Cactus goes arse over tit as he flips through the roof and through the ring underneath. Unlike the Undertaker match, you don't fear for Mick Foley's life after he hits the ring, which actually makes this match a bit more enjoyable for me.

What follows is possibly my favourite moment in wrestling history, and has made me glad I wrote about this match after all:

Triple H gingerly climbs down into the ring. He stands over Foley like Jamie Lee Curtis would stand over Michael Myers. He shimmies forward. No, the monster's never killed off right away. He walks around. He surveys the crowd. He nervously approaches Cactus' body. He kicks at his arm. Cactus begins to move. The crowd goes mental. Triple H goes mental. He starts yelling at the referee and I still, to this day, don't really understand why.​

Triple H hits a couple of right hands on a Cactus Jack who won't stay down but can't get up. In what could almost be describe as an act of mercy, Triple H hooks Cactus' arms and hits the pedigree. As he makes the pin, we get perhaps some of the most heartbreaking commentary there's ever been, courtesy of Jim Ross:

"Kick out! Kick out, Cactus! Damn it!"

Triple H is going to WrestleMania and Cactus Jack is going home.

Mick Foley gets a fitting send-off and Triple H looks nothing less than entirely legitimate for what he did in that match.

Triple H struts off, albeit covered in blood, triumphant, with his beautiful wife and the shiney, shiney gold. Mick Foley refuses to be put on a stretcher - he's going to walk out of this arena, of this business on his own two feet. There's more absolutely astoundingly good commentary from Jim Ross:

"If you're at home right now, if you're not standing up in front of your television and giving this man a standing ovation, then where's your heart? Where's your love of the game?"

Despite having said that this is a thread about Triple H, it has to be said that this is absolutely heartbreaking. Mick Foley, covered in blood, tears in his eyes, looks out at the crowd for one last time. What an amazing send-off. What a way to say goodbye. What an incredible last match.

Next time: Mick Foley's Last Match

 

[Stone Cold Tea]

I love Triple H especially the during 2000 he was off the chain and one of the most over heels in history.

When are you continuing with this I have enjoyed reading it

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I am loving this thread. Great reviews and I agree wholeheartedly that Triple H was (and still is) one of the VERY best to ever step foot in the ring.

The period from 1998-2002 was phenomenal for The Game. He was insanely over as a face in DX and ended up becoming one of the most evil and sadistic heels of all time, before his triumphant return from the torn quad in January 2002 to one of the biggest sustained pops I have ever seen.

Trips can work a great match with almost anybody, his stuff is believable and he's always been a phenomenal seller. Add that to the body carved out of granite, the great mic work and you have an absolute on. In my opinion, right up there with the best of all time.