Triple H Reign of Terror or Roman Reign's of Terror?

[The Rick Jericho]

Okay, I know the Triple H 2002-2005 era of him holding the belt was quite much. Especially the 2002-03 period before he dropped it to Goldberg.

Fast forward to 2020-2022 and we have the consecutively straight as of this post, 615+ days as Universal Champion.

Has the Roman Universal title reign surpassed the HHH title reign as THE reign of terror?

[Zombie Mod]

with HHH's reign of terror there was points it looked like he could lose the title, with Roman it's been pretty transparent that "Roman wins lol" is the outcome (especially the last 6 months or so.) of a lot of matches.

[chazraps]

Triple H's was worse for so many reasons. The matches were worse, the promos were longer, and there were less options of wrestling on TV, or hours of WWE programming in general, so you really had this plodding going nowhere vanity run with no real alternative outside Smackdown. It made a lot more careers hit lower ceilings than they otherwise should have.

Plus, Triple H going over as the heel in a racist angle is unjustifiable and nothing Roman's been involved with during his reign has hit that low of lows.

Also, factor in that half of Roman's reign has been in front of Thunderdome crowds, and still managed to make more emotive matches than Triple H with a still hot Ruthless Aggression crowd and one of the best rosters the company ever employed.

[06vwgti]

HHH for me. Those long promos of nothing to start Raw during the reign of terror were awful.

Though I think his reign is getting long in tooth, I never really cared one way or the other about Roman and he never really bothered me and at least I can at least enjoy the wrestling part. I don't think I ever enjoyed HHH's matches, they all just seem like long boring slogs.

[Nosnorb]

May 7, 2022 18:43:11 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

Has the Roman Universal title reign surpassed the HHH title reign as THE reign of terror?

F*** NO.

The reasons being -

3 - Triple H vs Scott Steiner, a horrendous feud in which Steiner was a babyface and also totally roided out and unable to do pretty much anything more in the ring than overhead belly to belly suplexes

2 - Katie Vick.

1 - HHH going KKK against Booker T.

No part of Romans Reign has been anywhere near as bad as those three nadirs. Not even close.

[Chiral]

Triple H had the absolute lower lows but god mode Roman is one of the most painful long running one note things I've ever seen WWE do. BOth are basically jerkass power fantasies so YMMV but at least HHH regularly looked like a goof and let people get even half of a one up on him sometimes and the losses were generally great. Roman's is just an absence of basic story chunks (a villain protagonist with no stakes, growth, challenges, meaningful antagonists and rivals, etc. is an abyss of storytelling) and it's gonna go on at least another 9 months minimum. They're so afraid to let Roman look even slightly weak for a moment that they've nuked the credibility of the rest of the roster.

[Fundertaker]

I'll throw you Jeff Jarrett's reign of terror!


... anyone? Anyone?

[asuka007]

At least Triple H would take the odd pin fall or submission loss. Or drop the belt for a bit before getting it back. And I think a few people came out of feuding with him looking better (not many, but a couple).

Cannot say any of that for Roman. Also Hunter would get flat out embarrassed from time to time in a way Roman is not.

[chazraps]

May 7, 2022 19:24:32 GMT -5 Nosnorb said:

3 - Triple H vs Scott Steiner, a horrendous feud in which Steiner was a babyface and also totally roided out and unable to do pretty much anything more in the ring than overhead belly to belly suplexes

Just a note on this, I wouldn't attribute this to Steiner being "roided out." I held that position for a long time, but then read a little bit more about how bad the treatment of in-house WWE medical professions were to talent I realized I was wrong and Steiner got bad advice for a really long time.

He had dropfoot, and initially WWE wanted to bring him in June so that month he was examined by their medical staff. They told him he didn't need surgery, just to wait it out six months and it would heal on its own and he'd be back to 100%.

Six months pass by and he debuts and the dropfoot is still an absolute mess. At that point, the promos and angles had already begun and they told him "don't get surgery, it'll heal on its own," and then it didn't and it was still having these mobility issues, made worse by being in plodding go-nowhere feuds.

Steiner continues to want to take time off for surgery but, again, the medical staff tells him no and it'll go away or that surgery won't really help.

A year and some change later, Steiner is released, get the surgery immediately, and then after he fully heals he returns in-ring and is immediately light years better than his entire WWE run, and maintains that level of performance.

[chazraps]

May 7, 2022 20:08:38 GMT -5 asuka007 said:

At least Triple H would take the odd pin fall or submission loss. Or drop the belt for a bit before getting it back. And I think a few people came out of feuding with him looking better (not many, but a couple).

Cannot say any of that for Roman. Also Hunter would get flat out embarrassed from time to time in a way Roman is not.

Who during Triple H's reign came out looking better than Jey Uso did after his Roman feud?

[Fade]

I’ve thought of this a lot and I really think Romans is worse. Plus HHH tried to make a few guys, elevate some guys and Roman hasn’t done that. And the endgame ain’t someone like Batista who’s expected to lead the way, it’s fricken Rock lol

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

May 7, 2022 20:32:02 GMT -5 Fade said:

I’ve thought of this a lot and I really think Romans is worse. Plus HHH tried to make a few guys, elevate some guys and Roman hasn’t done that. And the endgame ain’t someone like Batista who’s expected to lead the way, it’s fricken Rock lol

The Rock isn't even the end game. There is no way the Rock is beating Roman. I mean he not taking that much time away from Hollywood and launching the XFL again to have a title run. Its only to sell tickets so to speaking thinking the title is needed to sell the match and that Roman can't lose one match between now and Mania of next year. They legit booked themselves in a corner where nobody is gaining anything from it. Who is going to beat Roman? They legit had him beat everyone.

[asuka007]

May 7, 2022 20:30:54 GMT -5 chazraps said:

May 7, 2022 20:08:38 GMT -5 asuka007 said:

At least Triple H would take the odd pin fall or submission loss. Or drop the belt for a bit before getting it back. And I think a few people came out of feuding with him looking better (not many, but a couple).

Cannot say any of that for Roman. Also Hunter would get flat out embarrassed from time to time in a way Roman is not.

Who during Triple H's reign came out looking better than Jey Uso did after his Roman feud?

And Jey has done nothing since. He’s just Roman’s obedient lackey now. Anything that was “built” has long since gone bye bye.

Benoit, Batista, and Shelton Benjamin all looked great working against Triple H.

[Fade]

May 7, 2022 20:43:46 GMT -5 Can you afford to pay me, Gah said:

May 7, 2022 20:32:02 GMT -5 Fade said:

I’ve thought of this a lot and I really think Romans is worse. Plus HHH tried to make a few guys, elevate some guys and Roman hasn’t done that. And the endgame ain’t someone like Batista who’s expected to lead the way, it’s fricken Rock lol

The Rock isn't even the end game. There is no way the Rock is beating Roman. I mean he not taking that much time away from Hollywood and launching the XFL again to have a title run. Its only to sell tickets so to speaking thinking the title is needed to sell the match and that Roman can't lose one match between now and Mania of next year. They legit booked themselves in a corner where nobody is gaining anything from it. Who is going to beat Roman? They legit had him beat everyone.

It’s irrelevant if Rock wins or loses but the endgame to Roman’s dominance is the program with Rock.

If after that he’s not so OP and makes guys…I’d sing a different tune.

[smokinvokoun86]

As bad as Triple H’s Reign of Terror was, at least he lost the title sometimes.
So his was the better Reign of Terror.

[King Boo]

For as much as Triple H's drove me crazy, I never stopped watching. The same cannot be said about Reigns.

[sportatorium]

The HHH one feels worse. The constant babyface getting their comeuppance against both is beyond annoying. Reigns doesn't kill every episode dead with a 20 minute promo at the beginning each week.

[Platypus Mod, with a new hat]

May 7, 2022 20:30:54 GMT -5 chazraps said:

May 7, 2022 20:08:38 GMT -5 asuka007 said:

At least Triple H would take the odd pin fall or submission loss. Or drop the belt for a bit before getting it back. And I think a few people came out of feuding with him looking better (not many, but a couple).

Cannot say any of that for Roman. Also Hunter would get flat out embarrassed from time to time in a way Roman is not.

Who during Triple H's reign came out looking better than Jey Uso did after his Roman feud?

... I mean



And you might have a point if the feud ended before Jey got all on board with Roman... but since then he's been Roman's bitch boy... and I'd argue he's actually worse now than when they started.

[chazraps]

May 7, 2022 22:50:30 GMT -5 Platypus Mod, with a new hat said:

May 7, 2022 20:30:54 GMT -5 chazraps said:

Who during Triple H's reign came out looking better than Jey Uso did after his Roman feud?

... I mean



And you might have a point if the feud ended before Jey got all on board with Roman... but since then he's been Roman's bitch boy... and I'd argue he's actually worse now than when they started.

The Batista feud never really felt like the Reign of Terror to me as it was so different from what we'd seen the past two years.

Reign of Terror I'd always seen as awarded the title in September 2002 through Benoit beating him in 2004. (and then Triple H still being the focal point of Raw with the Michaels and then the Eugene feuds while Benoit never did anything meaningful, but that's another thread for another time)

[Deleted]

Triple H tapped to Benoit, lost to Goldberg, and got beaten like a drum by Batista.

There is that weird-ass Booker T feud with THAT promo and the ending, though.

Still, Triple H was at least willing to look like an idiot and a coward, so Roman's is worse.