Your opinion of each Triple H Mania match?

[Deleted]

I dunno, curious. Here's the list for anyone who needs a point of reference.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}
vs. Ultimate Warrior
vs. Goldust
vs. Owen Hart
vs. Kane
vs. The Rock vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 17)
vs. Chris Jericho
vs. Booker T
vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels
vs. Batista
vs. John Cena
vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton
vs. Randy Orton
vs. Sheamus
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 27)
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 28)
vs. Brock Lesnar
vs. Daniel Bryan
vs. Sting
vs. Roman Reigns
vs. Seth Rollins
& Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey

For me...

12: What is there to even say about it? It's just a quick, pointless squash that's only actually memorable because of the fact Triple H still amounted to something afterward.

13: This certainly happened. Yeah, I remember absolutely nothing about this match offhand.

14: Only have a slightly better memory of this one.

15: Basically just useless filler leading into Triple H's heel turn later in the show... and for some reason it's nearly the longest match on the show. Man, 1999 PPVs were awful.

16: Pretty good, although I feel like it drags on too long, particularly for the ending it has. Kind of runs into the issue that they basically just treated it like a B-show main event then gave the Mania-caliber one to Backlash, but that paid off huge for them so can't exactly fault them for it.

17: Match makes absolutely no sense but I find it a lot of fun. Just a good brawl with some memorable moments.

18: I'm remembering like nothing of this offhand to be honest.

19: Ugh. Match itself would probably be fairly watchable in isolation if not for King's horrifically racist commentary throughout, though.

20: Great match that I've seen plenty of times, although it's been years at this point. Admittedly I kind of got tired of it for awhile there with how WWE kind of started giving it that, "This is one of the best matches ever!" push where they kept replaying it on highlight shows and talking it up, but it is really damn good.

21: Pretty good. Not a classic or anything but it does everything a good Mania main-event should - good flow, hot crowd, some memorable moments, gives you the decisive ending you're wanting out of it. No room to complain.

22: I've really never liked it. It's not a bad match but it's not great and even today I feel like more probably would've been gained from Triple H winning.

24: Never understood what they were even going for with it. Besides Triple H being there for basically no other reason than to be the Charlotte to a much hotter angle going on without him, it got barely any time and served no real purpose since Triple H got the belt right afterward anyway.

25: Just a total booking misfire. They really should've had it be an insane run-in fest on both sides with the DQ stipulation resulting in Triple H losing the title via beating Orton to death but Orton holding the belt up victorious on a stretcher a la Rock at Mania 14. Feels like WWE realized the angle was hot but had no idea that it was entirely because of Orton.

26: Kind of expected better but it's fine, just kind of a there match.

27: Love it but not seen it since the Streak ended, could see that hurting its watchability now. Still I think the story they're telling with it works super well.

28: Pretty much the same as Mania 27, love it but dunno how it holds up, especially given I still have no clue what era even actually ended given it wasn't even the last time the three guys were involved in a match together.

29: Terrible. Just a dull, boring slog that accomplishes nothing because Lesnar lost but Triple H gained no real revenge from it since he had to basically turn it into a handicap match to win. Though at least it's better than the godawful cage match they had the PPV after.

30: Fantastic match, probably the best one on an all around fantastic show.

31: I've only seen it the one time. Thought it was fun live in spite of the ending - which I'd argue really only hurt Sting with the stupid handshake since Triple H thoroughly got his ass kicked and needed a man advantage AND a lucky shot to win - but I could see it being nowhere near as much in the way of dumb fun on a repeat viewing.

32: Probably my pick for the worst Mania main event ever up until 34 happened. Just a miserable slog of a match basically built on an active hatred of the viewing audience.

33: I had to Google it to even know who Triple H faced at this Mania and I was actually in the building for it.

34: Bit too long, could cut the middle section of it entirely and just get a better match for it, but still a lot of fun. Everyone gets something to do and it's just a fun, dumb ride with some memorable spots.

[WoodStoner1]

20: Great match that I've seen plenty of times, although it's been years at this point. Admittedly I kind of got tired of it for awhile there with how WWE kind of started giving it that, "This is one of the best matches ever!" push where they kept replaying it on highlight shows and talking it up, but it is really damn good.

Well you certainly don't have to worry about them doing that anymore.

[Deleted]

12: I was 4 at the time and I loved Ultimate Warrior, so I liked it.

13: Was this the one where Chyna debuted? If so, that's the only thing I remember about it. She scared me at first.

14: Owen should've gone over.

15: Don't remember the match itself, just HHH turning on X-Pac later in the night.

16: Good match, obviously Backlash the following month was legendary but don't blame the fans throwing garbage in the ring. They wanted The Rock badly.

17: My favorite HHH/Undertaker WM match.

18: Didn't help that it had to follow Hogan/Rock, but the only memorable thing about it is HHH giving Steph a Pedigree.

19: Complete bullshit.

20: I read the results and marked when I saw that Benoit won, but didn't actually see the match until about a year ago on the Network. As great as everyone says it was.

21: Don't think I've seen it in full, I know he did a good job putting Batista over though. He did a nice blade job too.

22: Decent enough I guess.

24: Haven't seen.

25: Boring as hell.

26: Haven't seen.

27: I liked it, I just find it to be pretty overrated. If I had to assign a rating I'd say **** instead of the ***** I've seen others give it, but hey, we all have different tastes.

28: Absolutely loved it at the time. Have a feeling it doesn't hold up as well now, especially since I don't remember them even using the Cell much.

29: I thought it was better than their SummerSlam match (not saying much I know), but still nothing to write home about.

30: Best match of the entire show. Great stuff there.

31: Fun for what it was, I guess. Sting shaking HHH's hand after the match was really dumb, but then again, in kayfabe Sting is really dumb.

32: f***ing trash, still wish this had been HHH vs. Ambrose instead.

33: Pretty good match, but the story behind it says it should've been an all out brawl instead of what we got.

34: A little too long, but a lot more fun than I thought it'd be. I thought Steph and Ronda were the best parts of it.

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

12: Nothing match. Triple H was basically still a nobody at this point, it's amazing he was even on the show.

13: I barely remember any of it. It happened. That's how you can describe everything that wasn't Bret vs Austin.

14: Don't remember much of this one either. Imagine if Owen lived and got a proper main event push going into 2000 when Hunter was at his peak though.

15: Pointless. To be honest, DX Leader Triple H is probably the least interested in him I've ever been.

16: Why did he win this match? A feel good goodbye for Foley would've been beautiful. Even Rock standing victorious would've been cool. At least Big Show didn't win, I guess. Match was okay.

17: It's fun nonsense, every Mania needs some fun nonsense.

18: Shouldn't have been the main event, deflated crowd deflated the match. Why wasn't Stephanie cheating on Hunter with Jericho? He probably veto'd it because he'd 'look stupid' or something. Hunter's gonna Hunter.

19: The biggest Hunter's gonna Hunter ever. Hope he regrets this one, and I say that even with him being one of my all time favorites.

20: Really good match. Hard to look back in hindsight because of Benoit, but a really good match.

21: Hunter doing the right thing at WrestleMania streak starts here. Pretty good too, set Dave up real nicely as a star.

22: Okay match, build made Cena look like an even bigger dork, is what it is. Hunter did the right thing in the end, I guess.

24: Nothing match at a nothing Mania. Like 13, the only thing that ended up being worth remembering was Michaels vs Flair.

25: Hunter doing the right thing streak ends here. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Everything from the build to the match itself sucked.

26: Nothing. This is where the Triple H and Sheamus workout buddies thing started, right? If Hunter liked the guy so much, why did he beat him? Nothing match.

27: Awesome match. Cool finish with Taker not being able to walk away.

28: Awesome match. Even if I think the End of an Era thing after the match is super cheesy and goes against The Undertaker character.

29: I was there, I was cold. I don't remember anything about the match and I haven't watched it. Some day I will.

30: Daniel Bryan vs Triple H is an all time great for me. Two of my top five favorites (Bryan being number 1 and Triple H being number 3) putting on a hell of a match. Didn't Hunter pull out a Tiger Suplex?

31: Why the f*** did Hunter win this match? Why the f*** didn't they do Sting vs Undertaker? Stupid.

32: It was fine. I even liked this title reign for Hunter. Boy did he make Roman look like a bitch though. Probably would've been kinder to just beat the guy and see if that built him some sympathy. First Mania my girlfriend watched, so that was neat.

33: Wish the match was better. I love Master vs Student stories. It was okay.

34: Big dumb nonsense match. It was okay.

[Pushed to the Moon]

Out of the ones I remember off the top of my head.

Warrior- hilarious

2000- I was a huge HHH fan at the time so was happy he won although looking back now and learning he was the first ever heel to win the main event is pretty funny taking into account all his ego trips since.

Booker T - A joke result that everyone knows he shouldn't have won

Taker in the cell - enjoyable enough but too long and the end of an era stuff was weird

Beating Lesnar was a joke when you consider how Brock has been brooked as unstoppable ever since and ended the streak and wrecked Cena the following year. Pure ego trip.

D Bry - good match

Sting - enjoyable nonsense but he never should have won

Reigns- overly long bad match not helped by the crowd hating it

Rousey - loved it. My favourite match at WM last year

[Deleted]

Realized I somehow got a wire crossed and commented on Cena / Michaels in there. I think skipping Mania 23 and how many title matches in a row there were there had me kind of slip into thinking Mania main events instead of Triple H matches for a minute.

[Deleted]

vs. Ultimate Warrior
A glorified Squash match. But a memorable one, no less.

vs. The Rock vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show
A decent match that was overshadowed by the stupid “McMahon in every corner” stipulation. HHH vs Rock would have been more than enough. The Vince turn was predictable, even for a 7 year old me.

vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 17)
A great match that gets sadly forgotten about. I had to laugh at them making it look like they’ve never faced at Mania before during the WM27 build.

vs. Chris Jericho
HATED this storyline. And this was the worst HIAC match for a long time... until they dedicated an entire PPV to the match and have basically been half assing it since (with a few exceptions). The reason I hated this feud is simple... it was HHH vs Stephanie. Jericho was a third wheel and he was the goddamn champion. They put more focus on HHH’s dog than Jericho.

vs. Booker T
This is an unpopular one. But hear me out... I thought the feud was great. I get why people hated it, I do. But it MADE you want to see Booker kick his ass. And HHH was at his peak shithousery here. It sucks Booker didn’t win in the end but not everyone can be world champion. Just because HHH was a dick to him shouldn’t mean that Booker should definitely win. The world doesn’t work like that. There has to be unpredictability in wrestling and HHH winning shocked me. Not a great match by any stretch though.

vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels
Best Triple Threat of all time. Hands down.

vs. Batista
Arguably the best feud of the 00’s. It was PERFECT. The match itself probably isn’t their best one... I liked the HIAC match better. But everything about this storyline was spectacular. And he made Batista a star that night.

vs. John Cena
I hated this storyline aswell. Cena was at his most hated here. And the “You Can’t Wrestle” chants were in full effect. So what does WWE do? They acknowledge them. You had HHH poking fun at Cena’s lack of ability but here’s where it doesn’t make sense... Cena was the goddamn WWE Champion. He’s tapped out guys like Angle, Jericho and JBL at this point. So how can he “not wrestle”? I hate angles like this and I thought the match sucked if I’m being honest. They had a much better match on Raw in 2008 which HHH won. I can’t find the date but I recommend checking it out.

vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton
I was there live for this match and Orton winning was a shock for sure. The match itself was nothing special though.

vs. Randy Orton
I was live for this one too and my god, this match was a letdown. Holy shit. The feud itself was red hot, but whatever possessed Vince to make a stipulation where if HHH “gets disqualified, Orton wins the title”, I’ll never know. This should have been a No Holds Barred match. I mean HHH trashed Orton’s house, Orton assaults his wife and father in law and then they go out and... wrestle. Like actually wrestle...with holds and shit... WHAT???

vs. Sheamus
I enjoyed this match and it was a nice change at the time for HHH to be facing somebody like Sheamus and not headlining the show for a change.

vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 27)
Okay, I just watched this match a few days ago and my god, it’s underrated. One of the best Mania matches of all time.

vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 28)
See above. THIS is THE match Taker should have hung it up with. It was perfect. Everything about it. It is better than the WM27 match for me and it might be HHH’s best Mania match.

vs. Brock Lesnar
Meh. It was alright I guess. I remember being hyped for HHH vs Lesnar at the time. None of their matches particularly satisfied me. Like I said, it was just “alright”

vs. Daniel Bryan
It was a good wrestling match. Seeing HHH break out dragon suplexes was interesting for sure. I like what this match served. Without this match, the ending of WM30 wouldn’t have been half as sweet.

vs. Sting
Nah, this match annoyed me. For so many different reasons. WWE had Sting and Undertaker RIGHT THERE on the same show and they said to themselves “You know what... we’ll do Sting/HHH and Taker vs... Bray Wyatt”... Imagine my disbelief. HHH vs Sting could have been fun if they got the obvious Taker match out of the way first. But let’s move onto the actual match... so the story is, Sting is coming to take out The Authority. The entire match somehow becomes DX vs NWO... a group Sting was never a part of in the first place! WTF? To top this off... HHH has no right to be winning the match. But the worst part of it all is... Sting SHAKES his hand at the end of it all. I was just done at this point.

vs. Roman Reigns
Nobody asked for this match. It was just boring, predictable rubbish. PASS.

vs. Seth Rollins
A good match, not a GREAT match and fair enough, he made Rollins a star.

& Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey
Loved this match. It wasn’t 5 stars or anything but it was fun. I think it exceeded everyone’s expectations. Especially Ronda.

[chronocross]

12-Saw nothing wrong with the result
13-Don't remember a thing from this other than Chyna manhandling Marlena/Terri
14-Good match, thought Owen should have gotten the title back here
15-Only memorable for the post-match stuff with Chyna appearing to go back to DX when it was a swerve and HHH turned heel later
16-Was really pissed and very surprised that Rock or Foley did not win the title that night
17-Good match
18-Only watched it once, wasn't terrible but it was difficult following Rock/Hogan
19-Stupid storyline and the match is worse, commentary from Lawler does not help matters
20-Great match though I liked the rematch at Backlash 2004
21-Good match, Batista was hot at the time and the right guy went over
22-It was okay, I really wanted the title off Cena in the worst way
24-Not memmorable at all
25-Dumb stipulation, should have been a No-DQ match
26-Can't remember this match at all
27-Great match with Taker
28-Even better match than the previous year, thought the Superkick/Pedigree combo would put Taker down for sure
29-Can't remember this one
30-Great match with Bryan, probably match of the night, IMO
31-I guess it was okay, Sting should have won
32-Can't remember too much from it, as I was watching Walking Dead that night and trying to figure out who Negan was going to kill
33-That was vs. Seth, right? I thought it would have had more anger in it, felt like a regular match to me.
34-Great match, MOTN to me.

[Cela]

Honestly, when it comes to HHH and mania. It's passable for me, even when he loses. Once he became the HHH we know and tolerate, all the Mania matches ended up as some attempted overwrought psychological match, which honestly is always 30% too long. The fact that he wins matches he should by all means lose, Booker, Sting... just makes him a nice excuse to end the show early if hes main eventing.

[Paco S. Loco]

12- waste of time at the time. Now fun because of how much it pisses HHH off.
13- decent. probably a little underrated
14- good but wrong winner
15- decent but mostly because of how bad that WM was
16- good. Didn't mind a heel winning to get rid of the predictability of "faces always win the main event of WM"
17- the best of the three matches with UT. Sloppy and with some bad camera work but fun.
18- Mediocre end to a badly booked feud.
19- Bad match with a worse ending.
20- Great match. Should've been a 1-on-1 with Benoit though
21- The most boring of the three matches with Batista
22- Another boring match
24- Surprisingly good.
25- Bad.
26- Boring and wrong winner. If you're going to put the guy over, do it at WM, not at the next PPV and only after being ambushed and hit with a finisher 20 times
27- Good but overrated because of how bad the rest of the show is.
28- Overrated because of how bad the hour preceding it was. A good match but a lousy HIAC match.
29- Meh match. Served no purpose other than ego-feeding.
30- Great match.
31- Mediocre match. Wrong winner. More ego-feeding.
32- Even more ego-feeding so he can claim that their biggest crowd was because of him. Horrible match.
33- Disappointing match but still decent.
34- Overrated because of low expectations. A decent but over-choreographed match.
35- A safe bet to be boring and at least twice as long as it needed to be.

HHH has had plenty of legit great matches but they usually don't happen at Wrestlemania

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

12 vs. Ultimate Warrior
it was funny then, it's still funny now.

13 vs. Goldust
I miss this Goldust.

14 vs. Owen Hart
I don't rememebr this at all.

15 vs. Kane
Or this one either.

16 vs. The Rock vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show
The match itself was fine, minus the McMahons.
A heel winning was a nice touch.

17 vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 17)
Fantastic match. In my top 3 of HHH's WM matches.

18 vs. Chris Jericho
Blah. Jericho deserved better than this shit.

19 vs. Booker T
f*** this match. Booker DEFINITELY deserved better than this shit.

20 vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels
Also in the top 3 of HHH's WM Matches.

21 vs. Batista
I always like the matches with Bats, and the fact that Batista was put over HUGE that spring.

22 vs. John Cena
At least Cena's proper coronation stuck.

24 vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton
Blah. Cena made wrestling so boring.

25 vs. Randy Orton
I was there live for this, and yeah, what more can be said that the two participants themselves haven't already said?

26 vs. Sheamus
Eh.

27 vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 27)
Eh.

28 vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 28)
I actually kinda like this match, it's not a great match but there was a LOT of drama added by having Shawn in there.

29 vs. Brock Lesnar
this was stupid, unnecessary, and as much as I dig HHH, yeah, this was all ego.

30 vs. Daniel Bryan
Amazing match, also in top 3 of HHH's WM Matches.

31 vs. Sting
f*** this match.

32 vs. Roman Reigns
The first Roman coronation? The 12th? I forget. Felt the same way the crowd did.

33 vs. Seth Rollins
Didn't like this one, it was a fine match, but it needed to be a no DQ type thing.

34 & Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey
Well thought out and planned, probably MOTN and a great debut for Ronda.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

vs. Ultimate Warrior - hate almost all squashes including this one.
vs. Goldust - haven't seen it
vs. Owen Hart - haven't seen it
vs. Kane - don't remember it at all so probably not great
vs. The Rock vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show - Decent match but never as good as I remember it being.
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 17) - grossly overrated and boring until the last few spots.
vs. Chris Jericho - dead crowd, okay match.
vs. Booker T - isn't even worth addressing as a match because of the racist booking.
vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels - very good match, might have to watch it when I can stomach Benoit.
vs. Batista - great, great match. Earned its huge number.
vs. John Cena - Cena wasn't yet having matches I liked very much.
vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton - didn't Orton win this? I remember being hyped for it and finding it a bit short and uneventful.
vs. Randy Orton - one of the worst Mania main events of all time.
vs. Sheamus - fine, but not worth a second watch
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 27) - very good
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 28) - very good but a shade worse than 27
vs. Brock Lesnar - decent but they had poor chemistry.
vs. Daniel Bryan - one of my all time top ten favourite matches. A f***ing masterpiece.
vs. Sting - a different kind of favourite. Perfectly balanced equal parts of stupid and great. I was totally on board until the handshake.
vs. Roman Reigns - shit
vs. Seth Rollins - boring
& Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey - excellent

[MWC]

12: Good for a laugh.
13: Nothing really of note stands out outside of Chyna making an appearance. Wasn't bad, but wasn't great.
14: Decent. Much like 13 though where it doesn't stand out.
15: Don't remember the match but remember the turn.
16: Enjoyed the match but as a kid hated the outcome. Wish it would have just been him vs. Rock, but was a feel-good story to have Foley involved.
17: The weakest of the Taker/HHH matches.
18: Just dead. Tough to watch after Rock/Hogan.
19: Wrong guy won. Most memorable in my mind for JR freaking out about the Indian Death Lock.
20: Nearly perfect.
21: Thought HHH pulled off a great effort in making Batista a monster.
22: Much like the year prior, another good match that really established Cena as "the guy."
24: Decent match. Could have been more.
25: The first time in 8 Wrestlemania's that I've attended where I wanted to leave during the match because I was bored.
26: Decent match, but not on the same building of another star like 21/22.
27: Loved it. People dog on it but I thought this was a great story.
28: Loved it again and even more than 27. Perfect storytelling.
29: Just didn't click. Wasn't bad...wasn't good.
30: The range of emotion seeing this match live was like HBK/Taker at Mania 25. One of my favorites.
31: The NWO/DX pop made the match. Otherwise just was kind of there.
32: The second time in 8 Wrestlemania's that I've attended where I wanted to leave during the match because I was bored.
33: Expected a lot and it didn't deliver.
34: Great overall.

[Deleted]

vs. Ultimate Warrior

Remembered far more than ithe warrants. Ultimately (get it?) pointless squash.

vs. Goldust

Fun. Nothing special.

vs. Owen Hart

Decent, should have been bigger and better.

vs. Kane

Something feels flat here but it's alright.

vs. The Rock vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show

Should have been 1 on 1 but I do love this.

vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 17)

Great fun.
vs. Chris Jericho

Getting onto my Hunter superfandom here. Best match on this show.

vs. Booker T

The angle means Booker should have won. Remove that awfulness and it's alright.

vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels

Loved it at the time. Now stricken from everything.

vs. Batista

Brilliant, love this. Booked to perfection.

vs. John Cena

Two of my all time favourites. Loved it.
vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton

Two of my all time favourites and another I'm a big fan of, love it.

vs. Randy Orton

Best match of the night. Yes I believe that. Didn't like the Shawn/Taker match much.

vs. Sheamus

Fun, but forgettable. Rather like a lot of Fella.

vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 27)

One of my top 20 matches.

vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 28)

One of my top 10 matches, a lot of that credit goes to Shawn.

vs. Brock Lesnar

I liked it but Brock/Hunter never had good chemistry.

vs. Daniel Bryan

Brilliant match. Bryan's best in WWE.

vs. Sting

Wacky fun. Not a lick of sense in its layout but wildly entertaining. Result was down to Sting so no issue with it.

vs. Roman Reigns

Great main event.

vs. Seth Rollins

Hugely underrated match. Best of the night.

& Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey.

Match of the night despite Kurt being modern day Kurt.

[Gus Richlen: Ruffian]

12: Stupid, also Ultimate Warrior sucked really bad then
13: Meh
14: Good
15: Meh
2000: Meh
17: Damn good brawl and one of Undertaker's best matches as the American Bad Ass
18: Meh, especially given Rock vs. Hogan was before it
19: Meh and tainted by the storyline
20: Good but HBK felt so unnecessary
21: Good
22: Oy vey
24: Oy vey again
25: Botched booking
26: Sheamus should have won
27: Bad like almost every match that WM
28: Much better
29: Meh
30: Did even more wonders for Bryan than it needed to in the first place
31: Meh but if losing was Sting's idea then I'm not going to complain about that
32: As a Reigns fan I will not hate this match (though the Women's Triple Threat was better)
33: OK but the build was shit
34: Meh

[Deleted]

Oh, we're going be here all night digging into his 19 and 25 matches, that's for damn sure.

[Deleted]

vs. Ultimate Warrior
-Just exists as a way to look back and see how far he came from that point.
vs. Goldust
-Not a memorable match.
vs. Owen Hart
-I hated it as a kid because Owen was one of, if not my favorite guy in the company. Nothing frustrated me more back then than Chyna interference. They really blew all of Owen’s heat post-Screw Job. But at the end of the day Shawn was leaving, and they needed to put Hunter over before he took over DX.
vs. Kane
-Not bad but ultimately forgettable considering how he would take off later in the year.
vs. The Rock vs. Mick Foley vs. Big Show
-I think it’s a very good match, and having a heel win was probably the right decision, even though at the time I f***ing hated it. Really solidified Triple H as a top level heel.
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 17)
-Really fun brawl with a weird build. This was far from the best Taker, but it was probably the best Triple H.
vs. Chris Jericho
-The match itself was fine and it worked as a coronation for Triple H after his big return, but the rest of the storyline was quite bad. Suffers from going on after the real main event, but in a vacuum, it’s an enjoyable match.
vs. Booker T
-Another decent standalone match, but god damn the result kills all the goodness. Wrong guy definitely won this one, but that’s well-documented at this point.
vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels
-Awesome match that I’d probably still check out regularly if it weren’t for what Benoit would eventually do. H almost made up for the Booker debacle by making Benoit look phenomenal.
vs. Batista
-They established a star here. It’s not a technical classic, but it’s memorable for accomplishing its goal and being just a fun match.
vs. John Cena
-I mean this is three Manias in a row where he did the favor and try to help build a main event star. Cena had already run through the roster, but this really said “he’s here to stay.” It was a fine match, even though at the time, Cena hatred (I include myself there) was at a fever pitch.
vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton
-Definitely the most forgettable WWE/World Title Match he’s had at a Mania. It wasn’t bad, but I can’t even remember what the story here was. 24 was really all about HBK/Flair and, to a lesser degree, Taker/Edge.
vs. Randy Orton
-The worst. The build for this match was fantastic, but then they got out there and it felt like Randy got his ass kicked in slow motion for two hours, and then the wrong guy won. Just a complete massive disappointment.
vs. Sheamus
-Fine match, but even if we’re telling Sheamus’ story, it doesn’t feel that memorable or important. Didn’t really move the needle at all.
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 27)
-A solid match for sure and a return to form for Triple H, but it obviously gets upstaged by the next year’s match.
vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania 28)
-I loved it honestly. After all of the Brothers of Destruction/DX stuff last year, we’ve all had our fill of this angle, but at the time it was pretty great. Well the build wasn’t the best considering it was basically treated like Taker had lost the previous year and had something to prove, but the story told in the match was fantastic.
vs. Brock Lesnar
-A dud. The Brock/HHH feud was just never felt like it amounted to anything. Brock was still fresh and there were a lot of guys we wanted to see him in the ring with, but not Triple H in particular. This match was kind of a bore, and the only good thing I remember from the entire angle was Brock destroying Triple H’s Office. And only that was memorable for me because it aired at a Raw I went to.
vs. Daniel Bryan
-Great match where he completely put Bryan over and did a great job of sitting up Bryan’s big moment later in the night. He did the right thing here.
vs. Sting
-And he did the wrong thing here. I thought the match was fun (Sting’s my all-time favorite guy, so it was surreal seeing him at WrestleMania) and I enjoyed the DX/NWO stuff. But the wrong guy won. There’s no f***ing way in the world Sting should have lost that match.
vs. Roman Reigns
-Memorable for all the wrong reasons. Nobody wanted this match, and it was shit all over. It didn’t feel like a Mania main event in the slightest, and it failed to do anything positive for Roman.
vs. Seth Rollins
-Most people thought this was boring, but it was somewhere between decent and good in my eyes. It was the right move to put Seth over, but I just feel like Seth hurting his knee again in the lead up really put a damper on the whole thing.
& Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey
-I’ve thrown the word “fun” around a couple of times, but I remember smiling ear-to-ear during parts of this match. I had such incredibly low expectations heading into it, and almost everyone expected it to be a disaster. But holy shit did they deliver. Triple H went in there and made Ronda look like she belonged right from the start. He wasn’t afraid to look bad, and Ronda came out of it looking better than anyone ever could have imagined in their wildest dreams. I f***ing loved that match.


In the end, you can see the two sides of Triple H. There are quite a few years when he put over talent and made them look like stars (Bryan, Rollins, Benoit, Cena, Batista), and then a few years where it felt obvious the wrong guy won (Sting, Booker, Orton). I think I would have been more okay with him beating Booker if the angle wasn’t built so that Booker HAD to win.

And I would have probably been in favor of him beating Taker at X-Seven.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Best one would be wm 20, worst one is the one against Jericho. It was basically Trips against Stephanie with Jericho being the guest star, the match against Orton was infuriating.

[TGM]

His first with the Undertaker and the triple threat with Benoit and HBK are classics and must see.

The Daniel Bryan match I remember enjoying at the time but going back and rewatching it, it's about ten minutes too long.

The Batista match is remembered for an incredible build but is a slow and plodding affair that they didn't get right until their Hell in a Cell bout.

The Rollins match I actually thought was fun despite not caring for either in the slightest at the time.

The Fatal Four-way gets a bad rep for a few reasons but it's essentially a Rock vs HHH one on one match for the most part and Mick Foley is actually quite good in it.

Owen Hart match is slow but typical of the WWF style at the time and nowhere near as bad as some of the other matches on that card. It gave us that famous image of Owen getting low blowed by Chyna from the DX intro.

Duds are the second Undertaker match (finished-kickout-rest-repeat), Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and of course, the infamous Booker T match. Not just for the result, the match just sucked.

I can't really remember any of the others off the top of my head.

[Germansuplex]

If you look back on these matches, it's surprising how often Hunter was willing to put someone else over on the big stage. Which makes the matches against Booker and Orton even more infuriating.