Triple H main event push 99

[4real]

Watching all the Raw's and Smackdown's from 99 and have just got to HHH's big push after the Austin v McMahon feud to becoming WWE Champion the night after Summerslam.

What was everyone's view of HHH at the time? He was just starting The Game gimic and was still putting together the pieces of the character. Were you happy he was getting the main event push or did you not view him as ready? Were you just happy for a change from the Austin v McMahon feud?

To me he didn't feel like a massive star at this point but he was very hateable as a character so thought he was a very good heel.

[The Thread Barbi]

I felt he was ready.

He'd put in the mileage with the drab snob Hunter Hearst Helmsley character, developed himself organically by leading DX and trading the IC title. The world title picture was the next step.

[Renslayer]

It felt so forced at the time. Seeing him continually get the upper hand on Austin was infuriating and he felt second tier compared to Undertaker and Rocky. Having Chyna really helped make him legit and he wound up really getting comfortable in the main event by the end of the year.

[spagett]

It felt incredibly forced and unorganic.

They basically spent the last half of 1999 having him continually beat and get the uper hand on Foley, Rock and Austin just to try and get the fans to see him as a top guy and I don't think it was working. Reforming DX as his heel goon backup was another attempt too.

Wasn't until the Cactus Jack feud in early 2000 that I think the fans accepted him as a genuine main eventer.

[chronocross]

I didn't mind too much, they didn't really have a top heel as Taker was on a break (or resting from injury, can't remember) and McMahon was a face at the time.

[auph10imitated]

At first I wasnt buying it really, but as soon as he was paired with Stephanie it began to click, and yes the Cactus Jack feud definatley helped him

[The Barber]

Coming from the biggest Triple HGH hater on here, I liked it. I was still a fan of his until the stupid McMahon-Helmsley Era, which turned me off from him for good.

[cabbageboy]

He was so not over at the time. A lot of it was the booking though. I have never thought that Russo ever considered HHH a true main event guy. Look at how his heel run in 1999 went down. He spent most of the spring and summer feuding with The Rock, but to me it never had the oomph that the 1998 feud had with the roles reversed. It's a great irony of HHH's career that he always wanted to be this Flair type heel but he was actually better as a face, since as a face he can sell for a heel (which he's good at) instead of dominating with his boring offense.

Personally I felt like the PPV before Summerslam that year should have been SS. Fully Loaded had the "End of an Era" First Blood deal with Austin/Taker which banished Vince, and it had HHH/Rock, and the rights to DX match. It felt like they blew off this massive Austin/Vince angle and then moved on to....HHH? Further, HHH at one point lost the #1 contender spot to Chyna, which was a horrible idea. Then he didn't even win the match at SS once it became a 3 way, but instead beat Foley the next night on Raw. Then of course he notoriously jobbed to Vince on an early Smackdown, another terrible idea. But then he finally got the title back at the 6 pack challenge match, then finally went over Austin (right before Austin was out for a long while). But then he lost to the Big Show, who was decidedly not over as a face at that point.

I think Russo leaving and Kreski coming in was the best thing for HHH. He wound up doing the Steph marriage angle, began the Foley feud in early 2000, and from there actually started getting over.

[Deleted]

I had already become a Hunter mark by this stage, but his rise in 99 was what sold me completely on him and started a fandom that has only grown since.

[schma]

My memory of how I felt about him in that period isn't super clear. I enjoyed DX with him as the leader, then he went corporate and the corpse of DX just kinda flopped around for a long time. That said I remember my best friend somewhere in this time period or possibly a bit later describing HHH as a great heel (I think maybe later) and at the time I was inclined to agree. That said he was getting go away heat from me during the McMahon Helmsley era. Dominant heel factions that run roughshod over everything like the NWO and M-H faction only work for so long before you're left just saying 'enough already!'

[Perfect Timing]

He had a better look around this time and with Chyna it seemed they were both main event acts. The leather trunks he started wearing helped his gimmick a lot.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

he deserves all the praise for running with the ball when it was handed to him. can't think of a heel I despised more at a time when most heels got over by being funny or cool, his buddies down south included. one of my all time favorite heels, even if his later Reign of Terror run sucked ass.

[Deleted]

Definitely felt forced in 1999 but really took off after the angle with Vince and Stephanie. To his credit he stepped his game up a lot in 2000 and luckily for him got to work mainly with Rock in his prime for the first part of that year.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

May 21, 2018 7:56:26 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

He was so not over at the time. A lot of it was the booking though. I have never thought that Russo ever considered HHH a true main event guy. Look at how his heel run in 1999 went down. He spent most of the spring and summer feuding with The Rock, but to me it never had the oomph that the 1998 feud had with the roles reversed. It's a great irony of HHH's career that he always wanted to be this Flair type heel but he was actually better as a face, since as a face he can sell for a heel (which he's good at) instead of dominating with his boring offense.

Personally I felt like the PPV before Summerslam that year should have been SS. Fully Loaded had the "End of an Era" First Blood deal with Austin/Taker which banished Vince, and it had HHH/Rock, and the rights to DX match. It felt like they blew off this massive Austin/Vince angle and then moved on to....HHH? Further, HHH at one point lost the #1 contender spot to Chyna, which was a horrible idea. Then he didn't even win the match at SS once it became a 3 way, but instead beat Foley the next night on Raw. Then of course he notoriously jobbed to Vince on an early Smackdown, another terrible idea. But then he finally got the title back at the 6 pack challenge match, then finally went over Austin (right before Austin was out for a long while). But then he lost to the Big Show, who was decidedly not over as a face at that point.

I think Russo leaving and Kreski coming in was the best thing for HHH. He wound up doing the Steph marriage angle, began the Foley feud in early 2000, and from there actually started getting over.

I wouldn't be surprised if Vince Russo did hhave it oin for Trips at the time. they yanked his chain a lot before they finally just committed to him as a top heel. I dunno, maybe Vinny Ru was mad hat Triple H got the spot he wanted to give Jeff Jarrett instead.

[Deleted]

It was weird. He was the first midcard guy going to the main event that I didn't see coming. I saw it with Rock but not him.

He was a damn great heel though. He made me so pissed that I was still mad the next day in school.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

It took HHH a while to really feel like a big deal. In 1999 it felt like his presence in main events was something of an experiment, but after he beat Cactus Jack twice and became the first heel to triumph at WrestleMania, he sure as hell came off like a superstar.

[héad.casé]

I felt he was ready. As big a fan as I was/am of Mick Foley, Triple H was the one I wanted to win the Summerslam triple threat. I felt he was good enough, he’d worked hard enough, and it was time. The fall of ‘99 though when Trips had been a regular main eventer for a few months, I’ll agree then it started to feel forced.

But at the time I was all for it. It was something fresh, something he’d earned.

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Triple H as a Heel was excellent from 1999 until his quad tear. Made it irredeemable to me though for him ever to be a face. That said, outside of the Bryan, Batista and HBK storylines, he hasn't been an effective Heel since he's dragged the act on way too long.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

May 21, 2018 10:08:47 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

It took HHH a while to really feel like a big deal. In 1999 it felt like his presence in main events was something of an experiment, but after he beat Cactus Jack twice and became the first heel to triumph at WrestleMania, he sure as hell came off like a superstar.

Attacking The Rock with the sledgehammer, with The Rock locked in the metal casket, is another memory of his rise to the main event that stands out.

The Cactus Jack matches sealed the deal though for sure.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

It felt a little forced at first, but around the time he reformed DX I felt he was really starting to click as a main event heel. His first 2 title runs weren’t exactly setting the world on fire, and I feel he was trying to hard to drop his old DX persona and be super serious. Once he found that right mix of sadistic heel and DX era HHH is when he really started to work for me as a character.

I do feel that by the time he got his main event push, and first title win the pairing with Chyna had run its course. Glad they dropped that