Greetings one and all, and welcome to the first installment of No Chance where I, Joel, your host for the column, take a look at those events in wrestling that I feel need an in depth look at.
The WWE has featured the return of many wrestlers over the past several weeks from The Rock, to Undertaker, to Stone Cold being announced for next week. But the return that I wanted to take some time to focus on for my first column is that of HHH (or Triple H if you prefer that spelling).
Last year we all knew that HHH was going to be out for a bit to make his little movie, but that was ok because according to rumors he would be back for SummerSlam. Well SummerSlam came and went without HHH and the rumors shifted to a return sometime in October. Then when October came without his return we were told that he might be back by the end of the year. When 2010 ended without any sign of HHH, we all assumed that he would return at the Royal Rumble. In fact many people, myself included, were so sure of this that HHH appeared in their predictions of Royal Rumble winners.
After HHH once again failed to show up at the Royal Rumble, I stared to give up on waiting for him. In fact with the Rock back and all the hype for 2-21-11 and the return of the Undertaker, I had somewhat forgotten about HHH. So it was a nice surprise to see him return to interrupt Taker. It caught me off guard in a way that wrestling rarely does these days so kudos to the WWE.
Say what you will, I ended up really digging the “no words†promo from the 2/21/11 edition of Raw. Both wrestlers are at a point where they don’t really need to talk to be able to convey their desires in ring. And both have gestures (that were used) that are so well known that they speak volumes about what each wrester is thinking more effectively than other words could.
That being said, this is not the kind of thing where lighting strikes twice and HHH needed to cut a good promo this week to build any momentum for the match. And cut one he did. Pointing out that he and Undertaker are the only two left from an earlier generation of wrestlers plants the idea that HHH is really the only person on the roster who has even a chance of ending The Streak. And that’s really all this match is going to be about is The Streak. The Streak has become one of the most legendary things in the WWE and they have thirty-two days to convince us that HHH has a legitimate chance of ending that.
As for a successful buildup I direct your attention to last years HBK/Taker match. Even though it seemed clear from an objective standpoint that HBK would be retiring and this was his final match, part of me couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe he would still be able to beat the Undertaker. Right now I can’t even start to believe that HHH is going to achieve this. With Undertaker so close to 20-0 it seems silly to have him loose at this point so the next few weeks are crucial for there to be any real emotional investment in the match. So far the right steps have been taken but as they say, it’s a long road to Wrestlemania.
Unfortunately, like most storylines that we watch, the buildup to the HHH/Taker match isn’t perfect and the biggest flaw that I can’t get behind is already starting to show through.
As far as storyline goes, neither HHH, or Taker were simply taking a break. They were both put out of commission for extended periods by other wrestlers, Shamus and Kane (with the help of Nexus) respectively. Its far too much to expect that these wrestlers will be able to go unpunished for there deeds, but in order to have enough time to buildup the heels need to be taken care of quickly. We have already seen the beginning of this when Shamus got a beat down from HHH at the start of last week’s Raw. But is that all that HHH is going to do? This time last year Shamus was worthy of a Wrestlemania match for HHH and now he only gets a single drop through the announcer’s table? I wouldn’t be surprised if Taker has something similar this Friday to give a quick minor punishment to those who wronged him the past year. Way to undermine any character building to these guys by watching them get punished so easily.
That’s it from me this week. What do you think about HHH and his chances against Undertaker? Feel free to leave comments about it (or anything else in the wrestling world) below. See you next week.
