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Is WWE wrestler/executive Triple H a draw? Do non-wrestling fans even know who he is?

Seijuro

Seijuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,858
With the return of CM Punk and renewed interest in him I often see the old resentment against WWE former fulltime-wrestler/then part-time wrestler/now mostly executive of NXT programs Triple H.
Long story short:
Triple H came up on the brink of the arguably most popular era of wrestling in the mid to late 90ies in the WWE, fraternized with the right people, dated and married the company owner's daughter, and soon collected championships in WWE, always working with top talent from Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Kurt Angle, to Dave Bautista, Daniel Bryan, the Undertaker, John Cena, Brock Lesnar and CM Punk.
To clarify: Obviously HHH can work, is a good wrestler and also put over many other wrestlers. There was and still is however rapid criticism of how he was booked as a mega star because of marrying into the McMahon family. Long title runs and often victories over popular up-and-coming talent. During the infamous Summer of Punk angle he gave Punk his first major defeat at the height of his popularity.
Adding to this, it seems he is always the guy working with the top talent, being booked (or rather booking himself) in major feuds with top stars, while never transcending the wrestling business itself. The guy that works with the guy that draws the money.

Although he himself and probably WWE too consider him a top star like other Attitude Era stars like The Rock and Steve Austin, I'm curious if people consider HHH a draw, and if non-wrestling fans even know who he is.
 
Superpupperbabysassy

Superpupperbabysassy

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,715
I think so. His run on top in 2000/01 was really good. It's also kind of hard to make a case drawing because the entire promotion was hot.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,742
He used to own a Gold's Gym in the town where I was born. He and Chyna would be around semi-regularly. Shit was weird.

I guess he's ALSO from the same town as me, so that makes sense, but still.
 
DMczaf

DMczaf

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,274
Las Vegas, NV
He was never a draw. He was an above average worker who desperately wanted to be in the conversation with Rock and Austin, but never got an invite.
 
Stat

Stat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,169
He was never The Rock / Austin. I think thats partly what made him bitter and sort of made him wanted to always go over years later.
 
EzekelRAGE

EzekelRAGE

Member
Nov 3, 2017
16,143
You mean the co star of blade trinity?
tumblr_pzf6fmgnp91ssl5cvo2_500.gifv


He is one of the biggest draws in wrestling today.
 
HardTimesFamilyPride

HardTimesFamilyPride

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,055
Appalachia
I didn't keep up with wrestling growing up, my mom didn't let me watch it because violence and etc., but the names I did know through my friends/other media were:

The Rock
Stone Cold
Hulk Hogan
Macho Man
Undertaker
Kane
Sting
Mankind
Owen Hart
Triple H
Chyna
Scotty 2 Hotty lmao because of the worm

But I can't say if I'd tune in to see him now. If WWE were still ok with stuff like his more brutal matches against Mick Foley, then maybe.
 
Boy

Boy

Member
Apr 24, 2018
4,565
I never saw him on the level as Rock,Austin,Taker. He was big, but not top tier, imo.
 
Serpens007

Serpens007

Well, Tosca isn't for everyone
Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
8,129
Chile
He was booked as a star before even being with Steph

Yes, he was a draw, and I don't know if he would still be, but I have no doubts that he was for a long time an important draw. Just not as the level of Rock, Austin, etc.
 
SigSig

SigSig

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,777
As a non-wrestling-fan who generally knows the big wrestling names (I mean, I'm on the internet, it's hard not to with you lot always going on about the latest in the saudi-bought, racist, sexist, abusive show) and I only have a vague idea. I know the name, I know the face, I can guess at his asshole persona and I'm about 0% interested in the dude.
 
thepenguin55

thepenguin55

Member
Oct 28, 2017
11,815
I think that depends on what you define as a draw or big name star as. Honestly, if not for much bigger draws like Steve Austin, Foley, The Rock or Taker putting him over as much as they did I doubt he would've ever amounted to much. Basically had he come up in pretty much any other time in the business than he did I don't think he would've amounted to much more than a "solid hand". At best he'd get that Billy Gunn-like nostalgia pop nowadays if he didn't come up in the era that he came up in or didn't get put over by Austin, Rock, Foley and Taker. He certainly wouldn't be married to Steph. You think she'd marry a midcarder?!
 
Davidion

Davidion

Charitable King
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,086
I think he had the charisma to become popular, similar to Dave Bautista, but it just never went that way.

HardTimesFamilyPride said:
Scotty 2 Hotty lmao because of the worm
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I watched wrestling here and there. One of the only things that I CANNOT get over about the entire industry is the fact that there somehow existed a person that went by the name Scotty 2 Hotty
 
Ballou

Ballou

Member
Apr 2, 2020
618
For non-wrestling folks in the late 90s, he'd probably be more known as one of the "Suck it!" guys.
 
Sho_Nuff82

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Nov 14, 2017
18,439
HHH takes a lot of shit, but when had the belt in the early 2000s he spent a lot of time making other guys look good, including Foley, Angle, Jericho, Eddie G, Rakishi, and He Who Shall Not be Named. Yeah he won most of the time, but compared to dudes like Brock? I'd take a prime HHH any day.

His biggest issue, like most of the stars of the 90s, was overstaying his welcome/not passing the torch properly. It just seems to be endemic of the industry. Trying to deflate Punk at his apex was just moronic.
 
Kyoufu

Kyoufu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,582
While he was carrying Shawn Michaels's bags he used to throw his weight around and push people and tell people what to do.
 
ascii42

ascii42

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,798
I remember him from those Miller Lite Man Law commercials from 15 years ago.
"What's next, I can't do this?" *rips shirt*
 
SageShinigami

SageShinigami

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,474
I can tell you that before I got into wrestling, I recognized The Rock and Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan and Sting, and that was it. The Undertaker too.

I wanna say CM Punk and John Cena, but that's too close to the time where I started watching wrestling (2014) so I'm not sure whether my connection to them is from when I was a fan or not.
 
Host Samurai

Host Samurai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,169
I'd say he was definitely over from 98 - 02, but after that, it became too much. He was never on the level of Hogan, Rock, Taker, Austin, Foley, Warrior, Savage, Flair, Bret, HBK, Goldberg, Brock, Sting, Road Warriors, Chyna, Sable, etc. I always viewed him as a star for sure, but a tier below the iconic household names.

HHH owes much of his career to Foley. If Foley didn't put him over as he did, he'd never even be considered.
 
Dead Man Typing

Dead Man Typing

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,844
Excellent worker who was very over thanks to his body of work and in particular his Rumble 2000 match against Cactus Jack.

So close to being a household name but never quite crossing over due to being completely unlikeable as a good guy. Austin, Rock, Foley, Undertaker, Hogan, Flair, Piper, Savage basically anyone who was a true household name was able to be super popular as a good guy and super hated as a bad guy. Triple H is hated as a bad guy but any run as a good guy was weak and he had to coast on the popularity of others.

Doesn't matter now since WWE has forced away even its most dedicated fans. I honestly don't know who wants to watch that show these days. I'm 3 years clean and feeling good about it.
 
Plinkerton

Plinkerton

Member
Nov 4, 2017
6,061
To be fair to him, he was maybe the fourth or fifth biggest star of attitude era before he even started dating Steph (behind Austin, Rock and Taker, probably a couple of others). So you can't completely say it was nepotism that got him where he was.

His heel run in 2000 was great, Wrestlemania win aside, and that was all while he was only on-screen married in.
 
YolkFolk

YolkFolk

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,212
The North, England
In early 2002 they brought him back as this big baby face and clearly thought he was gonna be the next Austin or Rock in terms of overness.

To be fair he got an amazing reaction on the night he returned but the reactions got lesser and lesser until the summer when they just turned him heel again to feud with HBK.

They actually pushed him over Austin as a baby face in that 2002 period thinking he was going to be a bigger deal on that front. It's probably one of the reasons Austin ultimately got pissed and told them to get lost.

His personality just never worked as a baby face unless it was attached to the DX gimmick. Individually he just wasn't that likeable over a longer period of time.
 
Chumunga64

Chumunga64

Member
Jun 22, 2018
14,276
he's a solid B minus player who always tried to work with stars to make people think he was important
 
pbayne

pbayne

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,377
1999-2002 yeah he was. Not the top but close to it. After that he was "big for wrestling" and still at least semi-known outside of the wrestling bubble but not a household name by any means.
 
BearPawB

BearPawB

I'm a fan of the erotic thriller genre
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,998
I don't and really never have watched that much wrestling. But I know that one time he dressed like Shao Khan and thats silly and fun
 
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