Proof that he is indeed the King Of Kings.
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00:00 Though very sadly Triple H recently told us that he was retiring from the world of wrestling.
00:05 Now of course eventually every single wrestler has to hang up their boots.
00:09 This was doubly sad, because of course he didn't want to do this, it came after his
00:13 heart medical issue.
00:15 That's why when it did all come out and he did that interview, well I had some water
00:18 in my eyes.
00:19 However what this does mean is that now we can turn our attentions to what he did do
00:23 throughout his wrestling run.
00:24 That's why I'm Simon from WhatCulture, thank you for joining me, please hit the subscribe
00:28 button and yes I've broken my hand, let's just ignore it.
00:31 And here are the 10 best Triple H wrestling matches ever.
00:38 10.
00:41 Daniel Bryan - WrestleMania 30
00:43 Now if you want to come into my house and say "Simon I think this should be higher on
00:46 the list" I wouldn't argue with you.
00:49 And really this came at a time when a lot of the internet wrestling community was pointing
00:53 at Triple H going "haha you can't do the wrestling anymore".
00:56 He went "oh yeah, watch this".
00:58 And in fact this was even more exciting at WrestleMania 30, because Daniel Bryan was
01:02 going to have to win this match in order to go on to the main event where he would finally
01:05 have a shot at the WWE title.
01:08 And again of course because everyone was looking at Hunter going "well you'll never lose to
01:11 him" there was this feeling in the air that we were all about to be trolled.
01:15 And it turned out though this wasn't the case, these two had an absolute banger of a contest
01:21 that you totally need to check out.
01:22 And of course it has interference from Stephanie McMahon, but that's just par for the course
01:27 in WWE.
01:28 The point is I liked it then and I probably love it now.
01:32 9.
01:33 Cactus Jack - No Way Out 2000
01:35 Now when most people talk about this match we focus on the fact that Mick Foley retired
01:39 here, until he decided to come back to professional wrestling and do lots and lots of matches.
01:43 But this was the culmination of an amazing feud between Mankind/Cactus Jack and Triple
01:48 H, because both those dudes brought the best out of each other.
01:51 It also happened in Hell in a Cell, and if we're being honest with ourselves, there are
01:55 three of these which most wrestling fans will talk about first.
01:59 You have the original one in 1997, you have the one between Undertaker and Mankind in
02:03 1998, and then you get to this one, because it was damn good.
02:08 This is an absolute bloodbath as well, with both guys just wanting to destroy each other,
02:12 and that's why there's weapons a bunch of the red stuff, and it ends with both of them
02:16 on top of the Hell in a Cell, where Triple H back-body dropped Cactus Jack through the
02:21 damn thing, and when he hit the ring canvas, it basically exploded.
02:25 And you get some negative nances out there who go like "oh man, well they clearly gimmicked
02:29 this to begin with".
02:30 Yes, do you not understand what professional wrestling is?
02:33 Did you want Mankind/Mick Foley/Cactus Jack to actually take that fall?
02:37 Of course you didn't.
02:38 That would be flab and stupid, but once again, this is great.
02:41 8.
02:42 Undertaker - WrestleMania 28
02:43 Never forget that The Undertaker and Triple H have actually fought three times at WrestleMania.
02:48 You have this one, you have the one at WrestleMania 29, and you have that one at WrestleMania
02:53 17, which nobody ever talks about, and if you believe the rumour mill, we only got that
02:59 because about a week beforehand Vince McMahon said "oh silly bean, I forgot to put him in
03:04 a match".
03:05 It's really the story here that makes it work so well, because of course in the two previous
03:08 WrestleManias Shawn Michaels had tried to defeat the Deadman and he couldn't, so now
03:12 his best friend was going to give it a go, but even the heartbreak kid was saying to
03:17 Triple H "I've weighed up the situation, pal, and I don't think you can do it".
03:21 This then gets even deeper when you get to the night itself, because the narrative is
03:25 that Triple H beat the holy hell out of The Undertaker, but he still couldn't defeat him,
03:31 even though the Game is able to walk away, whereas the Fiend armor is all wibbly wobbly.
03:34 So there's a bunch of drama, there's a bunch of desperation, and I often see people poo-pooing
03:39 over this, well you won't do it up here in my house, this is a good good match.
03:44 7.
03:45 Backlash 2000 vs The Rock
03:46 Now really this should have been the match at WrestleMania, but for some reason we had
03:50 to do Triple H vs The Rock vs The Big Show vs Mankind Cactus Jack McFoley, whatever the
03:55 hell you want to call him, and to this day I don't really know why.
03:59 You also get a ton of stuff happening here, because Mr McMahon had turned his back on
04:03 The Rock in order to team up with Triple H and D-Generation X, so the odds were stacked
04:08 against a great one, and we as fans were all panicking because we wanted The Rock to win,
04:13 but it didn't look like he was going to.
04:14 This also ties in directly into the match because it's shenanigans central, but I'm
04:18 all good with that because do you know what happens at the end?
04:21 Stone Cold Steve Austin returns, he gets the biggest pop, it'll make you feel a warmer
04:26 fuzz in your tum tum, he attacks Triple H, that allows The Rock to become the champion,
04:31 and it's just fun, and it's just good times, and dare I say it, it's sports entertainment
04:36 done right.
04:37 Triple H vs The Undertaker at WrestleMania 28
04:40 Which ties into what we have just been talking about, and I tell you, I said it back then
04:44 and I will say it now, this one's an absolute classic.
04:47 I mean I only do get the whole end of an era stuff, which wasn't end of an era at all
04:51 because all these guys would continue on fighting as and when made sense, they do it in the
04:55 hell and the cell, and it has that spot when Shawn Michaels is the special guest referee,
05:00 he hits The Undertaker with sweet chip music, Triple H then follows up with a pedigree,
05:04 and until Brock Lesnar would actually defeat this at WrestleMania 30, it was the closest
05:09 we ever came to ending Taker's streak.
05:12 They also absolutely brutalise each other, and if you haven't seen this, make sure you
05:16 watch it and then Google their backs or how their backs look after the fact, it is pretty
05:22 damn disgusting.
05:23 Really though, what I think this achieves is that at the end of it all, you look at
05:26 all of those three guys and you think, you know what, you are some of the best to ever
05:30 do it, and I stand by that fact.
05:32 Round 5 vs Stone Cold Steve Austin at No Way Out 2001.
05:36 So yes, this match came about after Rikishi did it for The Rock, but then actually Rikishi
05:40 had done it for Triple H, it's all very confusing, and it got us to Stone Cold vs Triple H in
05:46 the three stages of hell match.
05:47 And if you're wondering why we haven't had that many other three stages of hell match,
05:51 it's because, at least I think, this one was so well done, nobody could come up with any
05:56 ideas to top it.
05:57 It also meant you got to see a straight wrestling match, a no holds barred match and a cage
06:00 match, and WWE just played and circumvented all your expectations here, and while the
06:06 finish is a little bit loopy goofy, I don't really like it.
06:09 Because essentially both guys have kicked each other's ass so bad, they fall onto the
06:14 floor, but luckily for Triple H he just so happened to fall on top of Austin, and he
06:19 scores the 1-2-3, but this shouldn't have really counted, I mean there was no force
06:24 behind it at all.
06:26 It worked perfectly though, because coming out the other side, Stone Cold Steve Austin
06:29 felt like a bigger star and so did Triple H, and never forget when you achieve that,
06:33 you have done the magic of wrestling.
06:35 Number 4 vs Cactus Jack at the Raw Rumble 2000
06:37 And of course this all ties into that amazing feud that these two guys had, and once again
06:43 if you want to come up here in my house and say "Simon this should have been number one",
06:46 well it was damn close.
06:47 And there are so many accolades you can throw at this as well.
06:50 Is it one of the best singles matches we've ever seen at the Raw Rumble pay-per-view?
06:53 Probably.
06:54 Is it one of the best hardcore matches we've ever seen in WWE?
06:57 Probably.
06:58 Did it take Triple H and take him to the next level?
07:01 There's no probably there, it absolutely did.
07:03 And this is what Mick Foley intended to do as well, he has said it in so many interviews,
07:08 so you just have to give them a round of applause as best you can, because they went in with
07:12 an idea and flub me did they execute it.
07:15 You also need to brace yourself if you are about to watch this for the first time, because
07:19 when we get to all that barbed wire and all that thumbtacks and the blood starts flowing,
07:23 well it will make you a little bit uncomfortable.
07:26 The crowd are losing their minds from start to finish too, and this is yet another one
07:30 that may have happened 20 years ago, but it still holds up today.
07:34 3.
07:35 Chris Jericho at Fully Loaded 2000
07:36 It shouldn't be too big of a surprise that a lot of these matches do come in the year
07:40 2000, because really if you go back and survey the evidence, during that 12 month period
07:46 Triple H was probably the best wrestler in the world.
07:48 Here he was taking on Chris Jericho too who had fallen into his massive trap, because
07:52 not only was the Game beating him up, but so was D-Generation X and Stephanie McMahon.
07:56 Eventually we added a stipulation to this as well because it was Last Man Standing,
08:01 and given that these two guys would face in the main event at WrestleMania 18, why the
08:05 hell didn't we just repeat this?
08:07 Because it rocks.
08:08 And admittedly for large portions of this, Hunter is beating up Chris Jericho, but before
08:12 long they're throwing each other into tables, and you do see the Game tap out to the walls
08:17 of Jericho, but again this is the Last Man Standing match so it doesn't count.
08:21 Stephanie soon gets involved as well, as does Triple H's trusty sledgehammer that goes
08:25 into both guys' heads.
08:27 And Triple H only gets up here at the last second, so once again we had done our best
08:31 to try and make Chris Jericho more of a star.
08:34 I deliberately watched this before I did this list, and it is an unforgotten gem.
08:39 No wait, a forgotten gem, excuse my brain.
08:41 2.
08:42 Chris Benoit & Shawn Michaels At WrestleMania 20
08:44 I managed to make this hard to talk about today for obvious reasons.
08:47 If you just look at this for the wrestling, or the pomp and circumstance surrounding it,
08:51 this is a damn good Triple Threat match.
08:53 And really what happened here is that Triple H and Shawn Michaels said, you know what,
08:56 it is time to make Chris Benoit the World Heavyweight Champion, and we are going to
09:00 do everything in order to make him feel like he deserves that accolade.
09:03 And obviously Chris Benoit was a good wrestler himself, so when you all threw these things
09:07 in a pot, the end result was magic.
09:09 I personally can't sit down with this anymore for all the reasons we've already mentioned,
09:13 but when you do get to the end of it and Triple H taps out to the crossface, well, they all
09:18 did their job.
09:19 1.
09:20 Shawn Michaels At SummerSlam 2002
09:23 They say a good wrestling story has to tap a little bit into reality, and my word did
09:27 we do that here and then.
09:29 Because not only was it Shawn Michaels returning to the wrestling ring after four or five years
09:33 away, but he was going to do it against his former buddy Triple H, who had turned on him
09:39 and essentially tried to kill him in a parking lot.
09:41 All of this did mean though, when we got to SummerSlam, everybody was like, "Oh, Flubb,
09:45 what is Shawn Michaels going to do?
09:47 I'm sure he's not going to take any risks."
09:49 And instead he was climbing up ladders, he was going through tables, he was wrestling
09:53 like he thought he was never going to wrestle again, which at the time was the idea.
09:58 Because they are buddies though, you just have to imagine it made it even better still,
10:01 and by the time Triple H was going for the pedigree, but Shawn Michaels reversed it and
10:05 was devastating with it all at Sports Entertainment, the surprise roll-up/the backwards, everybody
10:11 was losing their minds and going, "That Heartbreak Kid, he knows what he's doing."
10:16 Really though, when you break it right down, who else should have been in this position
10:19 other than Triple H, because he was the one guy that everybody knew would take Michaels
10:24 to the levels that we all expected.
10:27 So it's another round of applause, but I can't do it, but long live Triple H.
10:31 Know of any other great Triple H wrestling matches that should have been in this list?
10:34 Make sure you let us know in the comments below.
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10:47 Go and watch another video, probably about Triple H.
10:50 My name is Simon from WhatCulture, thank you for joining me as always, make sure you have
10:54 a lovely day and I'll talk to you soon.