I was going back and forth about whether to review this for the blog. I had watched it as part of a long binge and it seemed like a nice little bit of writing to do as I geared up for a bigger project plus it timed itself nicely with the whole 25th anniversary thing that Triple H celebrated in the most cringeworthy way possible on Smackdown last night.
But then David Starr tweeted the best piece of content to come out of this whole 25th anniversary and I thought I might as well just leave it be.
I thought that summed things up pretty nicely.
But then the president of the United States tweeted.
So I guess let’s talk about Triple H. The thing with Triple H is that he was definitely good once. In that 2000-2001 range, he was easily one of the best WWE in-ring performers and he get multiple chances in that time to show that off. Through the rest of the 2000s, he was definitely much more hit and miss. His hits ended up feeling more like a matter of averages: with all the opportunity afforded him to work with the best in the company, he was inevitably going to churn out a banger or two.
In the 2010s, Triple H made the gradual shift to becoming a part-time performer. As he completed the shift, the quality of his ringwork degraded to the point that now in 2020, there is no longer anymore doubt: the Triple H we have now is a bad wrestler. He’s riding the last bits of good will that comes from being a part of wrestling’s most successful era as well as from orchestrating a successful rebranding campaign to transform himself into the King of the Smarks by running NXT: a varnishing that’s wearing off quicker with each passing day.
At this point in 2014, Triple H still had some good left in him in the ring. Even later in the year after this, he gets to surround himself with five other workers to sneak his way into having some trios bangers in the Shield vs. Evolution feud. But after this match at WrestleMania XXX, Triple H’s stock as a singles performer drops off drastically.
This is the last truly great singles match that Triple H has at WrestleMania. Ever the cunning politician that he is, Triple H inserts himself into a program with the greatest wrestler of all time. On top of being the best in-ring talent in history, Daniel Bryan comes into this match as the hottest WWE babyface of the decade. His charm and undeniable ability ended up inspiring a groundswell of overwhelming support that actively disrupted all the company’s plans to waste the rest of his career in the midcard.
On the surface, this match looks like a truly great Triple H performance that benefits from having the greatest of all time as a dance partner. His offense is more focused and crisp than its been in years. He attacks Bryan’s arm with the vicious calculation that you want of a bully that names himself “The Cerebral Assassin.” He switches up his arsenal of moves to really take it to our intrepid hero, adding such nice touches as a hammerlock slam on the apron and even a Tiger Suplex. If you’re not paying attention, this feels like a final hurrah from an Attitude Era legend before slinking away into the WWE corporate office.
Don’t let Triple H’s antics fool you.
Daniel Bryan’s fingerprints are all over this match. It is nearly impossible for me to believe that Triple H could have wrestled this match with anyone else. Apron bumps and Tiger Suplexes are the kind of Japanese influenced moments that tie much closer to someone like Bryan than they do Triple H. Don’t know if it’s just me but I can’t really picture bulky Triple H ordering All Japan tapes or even knowing how what a Misawa is.
There’s other things in there too. Triple H slaps on a Chickenwing Crossface in here which does feel somewhat on brand with the 80s obsession that Triple H has but am I not supposed to think of the fact that Bryan used that move to win the ROH World Championship? At one point, Bryan leaps off the top rope for his diving headbutt only for Triple H to get a knee up. This spot is definitively a Bryan spot–he’s been incorporating it into matches since the 2000s.
There’s the fact that it ends after Bryan hits his highly protected Running Knee–many of Bryan’s big WWE matches protect the finish of the winner with the loser falling as soon as its hit. The format and the offense all scream Daniel Bryan. We’ll never truly know who thought of what but this reeks of yet another Daniel Bryan miracle work carryjob. I can’t prove it but I think it makes sense especially when you look at what other Triple H epics look like down the line.
All in all, this match does a lot to exemplify all of Triple H’s strengths as a pro wrestler–placing himself in the right place at the right time. He is a worker in the same way that Chris Jericho is: far more focused on fabricating an image of himself than to actually contributing to anything in the ring. Limited as he personally is, he’s always had a good eye for recognizing talent. It’s that ability to spot talent that’s helped him siphon the independent scene over the last few year. It’s that ability that’s allowed him to hitch himself to the hottest acts in the promotion in an attempt to leech off their heat to fuel himself. Triple H is a succubus of talent–feeding upon it to keep up the illusion of his own worth.
