Shining a Spotlight 4.17.08: HHH

Well, the big news of the week is that at long, long, long last, TNA has finally given Samoa Joe the world title. While it would have been better to do it last year of course, it’s still a great move and promises some long-term fun for TNA. I think it’s just the shot in the arm the company needs and having Joe as their champ can give them a bit more respect from most fans. It was great they were smart enough to let him win cleanly with no crazy run-ins or such and if they can use that same smartness with his reign, the company might be able to rise up to the levels it has the potential to.

My topic this week is a guy who’s a rather popular punching bag with the IWC, HHH. I talked about him a bit back in 2006 but felt the need to discuss him again given the passage of time and with his new DVD out. I admit to being somewhat disappointed with the new DVD. Don’t get me wrong, the match selection is good but I’m more a fan of the traditional long documentaries on the career and then the matches as extras. Having him basically “talk about the match, show the match” is a bit annoying. That said, it’s still a nice DVD that does give some good insight to Hunter and his great career.

First of all, I have to note the irony that the DVD cover is HHH in that goofball Conan outfit from Wrestlemania 22 as I remember the Cena DVD having HHH mention how he knew he was going to be laughed out of the building for wearing it. Nice to see the guy can make light of some of the stuff he had to do in the past.

If anything, the DVD does showcase something I’ve long believed about HHH: That despite what many will say, his success is not solely due to his relationship with Stephanie. You watch his early stuff and you can tell that this guy was always going to be a star. He just had something in him, even as a rookie that showed he had the drive, the potential and the desire to make it big in this business. Sure, he was aided by the relationship but this guy was going to make it, you can tell.

It still remains so ironic that one of the biggest stars WWE had was created out of Vince McMahon’s desire to get a public dig for a private dispute. Back in the early ‘90’s, Vince and wife Linda moved to an upscale neighborhood in Connecticut. While Vince fit in with his wealth and high-style living, some of the neighbors looked down on him because of his wrestling fame. So Vince, being Vince, decided to create a wrestler who would mock all those high-class snobs and the recently acquired Paul Levesque was his choice.

Now you look at HHH’s past and you can see how the groundwork for his attitude about the business was laid out. After entering the WWF as the snotty elitist, he found himself in a feud with farmer Henry O. Godwin that ended with a PPV match where Hunter was dumped into a hog pen by the ring. He then moved to a program with garbage man Duke “The Dumpster” Droese. He made his Wrestlemania debut in a two minute slaughter by the Ultimate Warrior who totally no-sold the Pedigree en route to crushing Hunter. He was set to win the 1996 King of the Ring but then the infamous MSG “Curtain Call” happened where Michaels, HHH, Hall and Nash hugged as a farewell to the latter two, a major break of kayfabe. Since Hall and Nash were leaving and Shawn was the champ, HHH had to take the fall and was shunted to the midcard while Steve Austin won the King of the Ring and became an instant star with the “Austin 3:16” speech. Look at all that and isn’t it a bit understandable the guy would want to keep onto the main event spot as much as he’d like?

That he was able to earn the Intercontinental title only a few months after the curtain call proved not only his talent but the faith Vince had in his potential. True, he still wasn’t hugely over but being the champ did help him out in the fans’ eyes as the IC belt meant a lot more back then. It was running into Joanie Lauer that would lead him to more success as he and Shawn both felt the strong woman would make a great on-screen bodyguard. It’s funny that the DVD notes that Vince hated the whole idea of a woman protecting Hunter and vetoed it but when the crowds responded, he let them go ahead. It’s the same with DX later as Hunter himself notes that when Vince sees something’s working, he’ll go with it and forget he was ever against it. With the 1997 King of the Ring, he was given the win but made it clear he didn’t want to wear the whole crown and robe, smashing them twice on Mick Foley to give Vince the message.

It was really DX that let Hunter rise up, not just with his new name HHH but also the tough attitude and irreverent actions that fans responded to. It’s been said by some that DX was a way for WWF writers to finally break free of the cartoonish 1980’s stuff and break the wall of kayfabe. HHH stepped up to it as European champion, making the most of a throwaway title belt. When Shawn got injured after losing the title, he was able to really step up to the plate as the leader of the new DX. He showed himself with the feud with the Rock over the IC title that elevated both men in the eyes of the fans and if not for the leg injury suffered at their ladder match at SummerSlam ’98, HHH might have gone further as DX leader.

As it was, he made the decision it was time to let go and go as a heel singles guy again which didn’t go well with the rest of the guys. A lot of folks paint it that no one bought HHH as “the Game” when he started out that way but the fact is he did have a lot of heat going for him after DX and all and was able to let his usual heel mannerisms come forth. True, his first title win over Mankind in August of ’99 didn’t seem as big a deal as it could have been but he still showed he had potential as a heel champion. But it took one more ingredient to make it all click.

The biggest surprise of the DVD is HHH saying it was Chyna who suggested his “marriage” to Stephanie (boy, she must be kicking herself over that one today) as a way to add to his heat. It was Vince who had the idea of Steph turning on him to join with HHH as a power-mad couple, a role the two played with relish. As for their real-life relationship, I honestly don’t think Hunter had the intentions right off the bat to marry Stephanie. Sure, it may seem obvious to get with the boss’ daughter but consider the boss. I mean, can you honestly imagine having Vince McMahon as your father-in-law? Yeah, it works out, you’re in but if it fell apart and Hunter hurt Stephanie somehow, you can bet Vince would have done everything possible to make his life a living hell. The McMahon DVD has Hunter and Steph talking about how they tried to see other people for a while but kept getting back together. It also mentions how HHH basically stood up to Vince and let him know that he was going to be with Steph no matter what which earned him some respect.

It took beating down Mick Foley in two hard-fought bloody matches for fans to truly accept HHH late as the big star of the company and his work in 2000 still stands as a great example of his talent. Rock, Jericho, Angle, Austin, HHH kept turning in some great battles, trading the title around and getting into some nice angles with Stephanie and even Trish Stratus. The fan response to him was huge as he was truly a guy they loved to hate but you got the sense they’d cheer for him if he were to turn face. When Austin went heel in early ’01, their union was a great throwback to the old power-trip pairings of the past and looked to run roughshod over the company.

And then he suffered the knee injury and without him, WWF took a major hit. Now, I’m not saying HHH being there would have saved the Invasion as that was still a very poorly done angle. But he might have been able to elevate it a bit by his presence as he’d been the center of WWF for the last year or so. By the time he returned, the whole mess was done and he was lined up for a run as champion again. It is worth noting that the differences between him pre-injury and afterward are noticeable and I don’t mean his size either. Clearly, he was a bit slower, more into power moves but still able to turn out some great battles. He managed to get a good match out of Hogan when he lost the belt to him and he and Shawn worked wonders at Shawn’s comeback match at SummerSlam. While slower, he was still a huge star and it made sense to make him the standard bearer of RAW when the brand extension hit.

A quick note on the steroid talk. Yes, it is pretty obvious he has used some but keep in mind that part of that was to help recovery from the surgery on the knee. That he took a bit more isn’t too surprising since Vince has always had an affinity for the more muscled types and it helped his new power offense. Again, if it wasn’t for the fact he was turning in great matches still, it would have been more problematic but considering how many vices other wrestlers have gone to, a bit of a steroid push isn’t that affecting to the bearer of the company. Again, I think Hunter was intelligent enough not to go too far with it as he knew the horror stories of wrestlers losing temper with loved ones due to overuse of roids and knew full well what might happen should he lash out at Stephanie over it.

I do think they made a mistake by simply giving him the World title. If they’d done some sort of tournament for it, it would have meant a lot more but having Bischoff just hand the big gold belt over and declare Hunter the champion didn’t go over well and really began some of the backlash against him. That was contributed to how much he would dominate RAW over the next couple of years, leading to the accusations that he was calling all the shots and refused to job his position. However, you do have to look at some of the reasoning behind all that as to why it all happened.

First off, it’s been long established that HHH was friends with both Flair and Michaels, two of the biggest showboating politicians around. Is it really a wonder he turned into a guy who loved being in the main event? It’s clear Flair was one of Hunter’s idols and he modeled his reign on the ones Flair long had where, no matter how bad he was beaten down, Flair would always retain the belt. Hunter probably figured he could do the same, the reasoning being that fans hated him as champ so much, they’d pay for the chance to see him lose. True, WWE had a different dynamic in the faces being dominant a lot more as champs but Hunter still did his best to carry the brand.

I know some will complain over all the guys who could have had the belt but Hunter wouldn’t job but let’s look at some of those. Kane wasn’t quite champion material and the whole “Katie Vick” thing was Vince’s idea. Kevin Nash as a champion in 2003 WWE? Forget it. For Booker T, I always thought there was a bit of a bias against him for being a WCW guy so long and it took the whole “King Booker” thing in 2006 to make him a main-event player again. Jericho’s turn as champion in early 2002 hadn’t been that memorable and rather than see it as bad booking, Vince took it to mean Jericho himself was the problem and thus not worthy of another shot. As for Rob Van Dam, I point out how he managed to screw up his eventual turn as champion in 2006 in less than a month as proof this was not a guy reliable enough to hold the main event slot. Yes, they made a bad mistake not having Goldberg beat HHH for the belt in his first chance but again, I blame Vince for hating to put a former WCW guy over his top WWE guy.

What has to be remembered was that there weren’t a lot of top heels on RAW at that time that could be believable facing a face champion. Also, WWE was really trying to keep to the separate brands and thus a lot of good talent was over at Smackdown. As I said, HHH was trying to model himself after Flair and thus, like Flair was prone to, would fail to see how dropping the belt now and then might be beneficial to the company. But the fact was, he was still turning in great matches and still had a ton of heat. In short he sold tickets and earned his main event spot. They did try to have him cede in 2004 with the belt going to Benoit and then Orton and it’s not HHH’s fault that Vince made the stupid idea to try Orton as a face. When that flopped, giving the belt back to HHH seemed the best solution.

So everyone rips into Hunter so much over what he did in that time period but the man has changed from that a bit in the last couple of years. He says on the DVD that Evolution was created to make new stars of Orton and Batista. While you can argue whether that’s true or not (and you can make a case it was just HHH doing more of his Flair love with his own Four Horsemen), the fact was it worked with Batista getting over huge to the point that they made him the champ at Mania. Again, on the DVD HHH notes how most everyone figured he’d get the belt back soon and putting over Batista twice more, the last in a Hell in the Cell match, was a big move that basically made the guy for most fans. After taking time off, HHH came back, not in the main event slot but a feud with Flair where Flair’s IC belt wasn’t even on the line. He doesn’t win the Rumble as expected and then at Mania he shocks everyone by putting Cena over as big as he could, tapping out to him cleanly in the center of the ring.

True, the DX reunion was basically him and Shawn enjoying the good old days again but the fans did seem to enjoy it while Cena and Edge did their program for the title. The plan was for HHH to face Cena again at Mania but he injured his leg yet again to put him out. It’s true that one thing they did not long after him coming back was beating Orton at No Mercy for the WWE title. But that was a good thing as his losing it to Orton later made Orton’s reign as champion more effective. More than anyone, HHH would know the problem in simply being handed a title belt in the eyes of the fans and how much that would hurt a champion’s standing. But by having Orton go through two tough matches to win the belt, it made him a more believable champ and the fact Orton still holds the title six months later shows it worked well. HHH has continued to do good work, including putting over Jeff Hardy and it’s not his fault Jeff blew that chance himself.

So yes, HHH can be accused of being a big spotlight hog on RAW in 2002-05 but as I pointed out, he was still doing great matches and the list of folks who could carry as well isn’t as big as some would say. But it does seem that he’s lightened up that attitude a bit today. Sure, he’s still got big stuff on RAW but he doesn’t seem to have the need to be the titleholder and in fact, has actually done a good job putting other people over. It might be fatherhood taking some of his time or the realization that after so many injuries, his in-ring time may be shorter and he wants to make it last as long as he can. Also, it does seem that Hunter is being groomed to someday help take over the WWE when Vince eventually steps down (of course, I don’t see Vince giving up control of his baby until he’s six months into the grave) and is hoping to leave his legacy as good as it can be.

The thing about HHH is, he’s always been a fan of wrestling and it’s clear he’s been influenced by his idol, Flair, and best friend, HBK. So it’s natural that their worse traits of politics and spotlight-hogging rubbed off on him. As I said, he was always going to be a big star before he and Stephanie got involved so his success is not pure nepotism. Even at the height of that power on RAW, HHH was still doing great matches against opponents both good and bad and when it’s a big-time matchup, he always brings his A game. I know I mentioned it in my column on Flair a while ago but it bugs me that so many people trash HHH for doing pretty much the same stuff Flair used to do.

The fact is, the man is still a star and has earned his place in WWE. I do believe years from now, he might be better regarded, perhaps not on the scale of Flair, but still appreciated for his great matches and his heat. Face it, the guy has always been able to get crowds going, either face or heel, and that’s also helped his success big time. I think it might be time for folks to let go of his past domination and respect how the man’s been putting people over the last couple of years. He’s probably going to be around for a bit, maybe not too long due to injuries but you can still respect the man for his accomplishments even if you accuse his character a bit. The man plays the Game very well and that he’s been a winner so long may aggravate some but it’s hard to argue with his work ethic. And like any good Game, the fun is seeing how it all ends.

Also around 411mania:

Worth Your Wealth judges Lockdown.

Julian counts down the Top 10 Most Disappointing Matches

Evolution Schematic continues its look at WWE video games.

Whacky Wrestling Theory asks if refs are obsolete.

The Fink books Jeff Hardy’s return.

Brooklyn Brawlin reimagines Randy Orton’s 2004 championship run.

Hubbard talks about David vs Goliath in wrestling.

Mike Chin talks the importance of finishing moves.

The Doctor tries to fix WWE tag teams.

Julian Bond asks us not to hate Kevin Nash in TNA.

The Shimmy looks at the WWE draft.

Don’t forget Ask 411, Fact or Fiction, 3 R’s, Triple Threat, Column of Honor and all the rest.

Next week I look at the most interesting celebrity involvement in wrestling ever. For now, the spotlight is off.