When I was a young kid growing up watching wrestling, I only cared if my favorites won. As long as Hulk Hogan was still the champ, I was ok. As long as the JYD came out on top, I didn’t care about what else happened during the match, even the infamous match where he had to bow to the King Harley Race at Wrestlemania III. Even though he lost, he still beat up Race after the match and yes, got his heat back.
But as I got older and the internet became the best place to research anything and everything related to wrestling, I started to understand the business better. I understood how the promoters (Vince McMahon) put the right people in spots that would make people want to watch the shows. For instance, Stone Cold Steve Austin is the most important wrestler of the last 10 years and it’s because Vince put him into a spot where his character would spawn into someone regular people could identify with, and the then WWF blew up into the multi-million dollar business that it is today, although back then, the arenas were full and the TV ratings were through the roof.
When I think back as to why I love wrestling, it has to do with the new characters that are created. You have guys like Ric Flair and Mick Foley who put over other wrestlers like Sting and Triple H in order to help turn them into new stars. In 2000, Mick Foley aka Mankind was at the end of his rope. He wasn’t physically ready to keep going, but was given the chance at one last run with Triple H. HHH was champ and he was a fresh character, but he needed Mick Foley to put him over in order to become what the WWF needed him to be as champ. They had two great bouts and Foley did some great interviews along the way, comparing his battles with Triple H to the great and brutal Muhammed Ali vs. Joe Frazier bouts. At Royal Rumble 2000, they had an epic “street fight” where chairs, thumb tacks, and tables came into play. If you ask people across the land, they’d choose that match as the defining match in HHH’s career. And Foley gladly put him over at the end. Foley figured that in order to make the most amount of money that he could make (meaning putting more butts in the seats and making more people watch the product), he had to make people want to see not only him, but also his opponent. Foley and HHH both put their bodies on the line in the end of that match and HHH pinned Foley and remained champ. But it really didn’t matter to Foley that he didn’t win, because he knew HHH was the guy that needed to be the man for the company and he needed to be respected as the man. Remember when Ric Flair used to end his interviews with, “To be the man, whoooo, you have to beat the man.” And in many people’s eyes, Foley was the man in the WWF at the time, and HHH beat him to become the man.
Fast forward three years later. HHH has been the man for three years. He’s the guy who Vince McMahon has given the ball to run with. HHH is the face of the company. However, things have changed in three years. The WWF, now WWE, is no longer the in thing for teenagers. Their ratings are down by a ton and this is after their competition is no more. The overall wrestling audience is down by a lot (my guess would be like 70%) since WCW was bought out by WWE. One would think that maybe the reason that WWE isn’t so cool anymore is because there’s not really any new stars to latch on to. Maybe people are sick of Triple H and the Undertaker. An educated wrestling fan would think that maybe Triple H didn’t need to be the main event guy for every show. Someone who put a vested interest in watching the product would think that maybe Triple H needed to do a Mick Foley for someone, and make them a star, so he would have someone to wrestle that the public would want to see so he could make huge money. But I guess the wrestling fans who pay the money to watch these guys don’t really have a say in it.
Everything I just wrote brings me to today, or at least last night. On last night’s RAW show, it was decided that the match between Triple H and HBK Shawn Michaels would be a 2 out of 3 falls match with a gimmick match tied to each fall. The first fall would be a rematch of their non-sanctioned street fight from SummerSlam where HBK was put over by his good friend Triple H. (There’s a difference in putting over a guy who is old and no threat to your top spot than putting over someone who’s a budding star, thus creating claustrophobia at the top, but then again, giving yourself a new “star” to face.) The second fall would be sort of a rematch to their match at Survivor Series where HBK won again in the Elimination Chamber match. Because that chamber match was a six man match, here we get his older cousin, the vaunted steel cage match. And in the third fall, HBK’s bread and butter, the ladder match. As a fan, I’m rooting for HBK, but it’s kind of like the lesser of two evils. HBK is a sort of fresh character because he’s been out of action since 1998 and he still has some of his “Show Stoppa” characterstics. But would I rather see an RVD, Booker T, or Chris Jericho with that same push in HBK’s spot? Yep. The match will probably be awesome. Maybe even a match of the year candidate. All the fans who will want to see HBK put on a show, will get a show. Triple H will probably bump like a mad man for his good buddy. And when Triple H comes out on top, beating HBK in the third fall, at his own bread and butter match to once again show that he’s the best in the world, what will happen next? What’s the next evolutionary step? Who should be the next guy to try and knock Triple H off the mantle? RVD? Nope, been there, and destroyed that. Chris Jericho? Nope, been there, and no sold for that. Booker T? Ha! Been there and blew him off for that. Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner? Probably. Another guy who was a big star in people’s minds, but at this point in his career is at the end of his run. And after watching HHH beat also run after also run, will he finally have to put someone over? Maybe not. If Vince keeps bringing in old so-called stars (Stone Cold Steve Austin is probably coming back soon), then Triple H is gold. He won’t have to create new stars. He can be the one man show of a sagging WWE and people like me can hate the direction that wrestling is going to.
The Mick Foley’s, Ric Flair’s, Rock’s, Kurt Angle’s and Chris Benoit’s are one in a million. Triple H? He’s a dime a dozen.
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