Striking While the Iron Is Hot

 

The title of this blog is something I hold dear, especially when it comes to professional wrestling. God knows there have been many times in wrestling history that doing this was completely ignored. I’m going to discuss a few examples of what I believe were missed opportunities to strike whole the iron is hot. This idea came to me on a recent blog I wrote about The Miz in 2016 just after the Talking Smack incident with Daniel Bryan. I felt that he was at his best during this time and unlike the two times he won the WWE Title, this would have been a much better time to do it. 

Successful Examples

Though my blog is about failing to strike while the iron is hot, I thought about some of the best examples of it working. Vince McMahon realized that Verne Gagne refusing to push Hulk Hogan as the number one guy was his gain, this Hulkamania in the WWF was born and the rest is history. The same could be said a few years later when Macho Man Randy Savage got a big push that remained for another decade. In WCW, two of these call out to me. One was Diamond Dallas Page and the other was the streak of Goldberg. For as good as those turned out, I’m about to look at missed opportunities:

The Lex Express 

I wrote a blog a few years ago about why the Lex Express ultimately failed. I pointed out that it was more because of bad booking than it being the fault of Lex as a performer. While yes he wasn’t what the fans wanted in the end as they preferred Bret Hart, the WWF dropped the ball here. They started off well with the aftermath of him slamming Yokozuna and embarked upon the bus tour known as the Lex Express. We were on the right track so far but they didn’t go all the way. It might not have worked out but they should have at least tried. It all came crashing down at SummerSlam 1993 when Lex won by count out and thus did not become Champion.

 I wholeheartedly think that he should have won but what’s worse is what happened after the match. They had him celebrate in the ring as if he won the Title, making him look ridiculous. What did he have to celebrate? He may as well have lost. At least a loss or somehow getting screwed out of the title I can respect. After that, his stock went way down. While I quite enjoyed the double Royal Rumble win with Lex and Bret and the booking up until WrestleMania, as I thought there was still a chance, the booking once again killed his momentum, what little he still had. This time he got screwed when special referee Mr. Perfect disqualified him. The only thing I liked about this was it was at least some continuity, because it looked like revenge for the previous WrestleMania when after defeating Perfect, Lex knocked him out.

Rumors say that between the Rumble and WrestleMania, Lex drunkenly told people the plans for him to be Champion. I honestly doubt this happened. As much as I dislike quick Title changes, I would have even settled for Lex defeating Yokozuna for the Title and dropping it to Bret Hart by the night’s end. However, we need to admit that the reason they did the double Rumble win was to justify Bret wrestling twice in the same night and continuing the amazing feud between Bret and his brother Owen.

Owen Hart

Interestingly, the previous topic actually leads directly into what was a highlight of the New Generation era, the bitter and emotional feud between Bret Hart and Owen Hart. Owen was on a roll in 1994. He defeated Bret in the opener of WrestleMania 10 and went on to win the King of the Ring, after which he proclaimed himself to be known from then on as the King of Harts. Between defeating Bret at WrestleMania and winning the King of the Ring, these accomplishments earned him a shot at Bret’s WWF Title at SummerSlam. 

This match took place in a Steel Cage and was yet another classic match between the brothers. Bret won but this was far from over. Directly after the match, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, who helped Owen win King of the Ring, blindsided the returning British Bulldog and his wife Diana Hart, Bret and Owen’s sister. Owen and Jim then locked themselves in the cage with Bret, as the rest of the Hart brothers tried and failed to rescue Bret. When the Bulldog finally came to, he climbed into the cage for the rescue, as Owen and Jim fled. 

Later that year, Owen acted an Oscar worthy performance, costing Bret his Championship to Bob Backlund. As successful as that storyline was, I can’t help but think they should have went all the way with Owen, giving him a brief run with the WWF Title. While it may not have made him a main event star for good like it did Bret, it was certainly worth a try, as Owen as so white hot at the moment. Owen could have just as easily transitioned the Title to Diesel in a few months. This was his time to shine. While some argue that he should have been given the ball a few years later after the Montreal Screwjob, that was during the rise meteoric rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Owen had all the momentum in 1994, which is why this became an example of not striking while the iron is hot.

Zack Ryder

One thing I want to make perfectly clear is that in no way do I mean every wrestler on this list needs a World Title. Those examples were merely a jumping off point for the topic. Not striking while the iron is hot can take many forms. One such form is Zack Ryder and how, after being barely used, he managed to get himself over. Call it a conspiracy theory if you want, but I truly believe that Vince McMahon refused to fully push anyone he didn’t help get over himself, or with help from creative. 

Ryder put together a YouTube show that was entertaining, funny, and included several insider wrestling terms that fans knew about. Instead of complaining to management, he took action and did it himself. It worked slightly, as it was enough to garner him fan support in order for them to justify him winning the US Title from Dolph Ziggler at the end of 2011. Unfortunately, that was quickly nixed, as he lost my the belt merely weeks later, and made to look quite frankly like a cuckold to his potential love interest Eve Torres and her attraction to John Cena. However, that wasn’t quite enough, as he was often manhandled by Kane, most notoriously by having Kane push a neck brace wearing, wheelchair bound Ryder off the stage.

With that being said, I, not anyone else were necessarily asking for him to be hotshot toward a main event spot or World Championship. We were realistic! It’s just that a lot more effort could been given by sources beyond Ryder’s control. 

Bret Hart 

Before you get your parties in a bunch, please know that I’m referring to Bret Hart in WCW. Fresh off the Montreal Screwjob and swift exit from the WWF, this should have been a no-brainer. Now, I know there was a full month before he could be used, be he was so white hot that it didn’t matter. When he finally did arrive, things didn’t seem right. They kept nonsensically teasing him as the newest member of the nWo, something that did eventually happen unfortunately. Thanks to various reasons, notably referee Nick Patrick not doing a fast count as intended during the Starrcade 1997 WCW World Title match between Hulk Hogan and Sting, special enforcer Bret Hart restarted the match because of so called shenanigans pulled out Hogan. Because it was a regular count, it made Hart come off looking dumb. His WCW tenure itself was a disaster but I’m just concentrating on his immediate use which should have capitalized on the tans’ support due to the incident in Montreal fresh on fans’ minds. 

Matt Hardy

I know what you’re thinking!  Broken Matt Hardy! Nope! Im referring to his brief firing and due to the real-life tension between him and Edge and Lita. That was all real. That was a hot feud. My problem is that while it made Edge the legend he is today, they only focused on Edge. The feud should have made both men. Matt could have been a huge superstar too. Obviously, he’s a legend in the business but at that point he should have gone to the moon. There are many more but I think I’ve made my point

What If Kane’s Big Night Led To His Biggest Night?

 I couldn’t think of a title for this blog without it being too obvious or too long so I left it ambiguous. Some fans may be able to see what I’m getting at anyway based on this title. What I’m referring to his Kane’s impressive Royal Rumble performance in which he eliminated 11 men in 2001. This record would remain for 13 years until Roman Reigns eliminated 12 men, although many joke it’s 11 and a half because one of those men was El Torito. Back to Kane, that was probably his most dominant performance since his debut. 

My point is, what if Kane had actually won that year’s Royal Rumble? He came as close as can be, being the very last man eliminated, by winner Stone Cold Steve Austin. It completely rewrites the WrestleMania 17 main event of The Rock vs. Stone Cold, which was damn near perfection. I can’t imagine that match not being the main event so this is a very challenging “what if.” What would the main event be? As of this PPV, no one knew what the main event got WrestleMania would be yet because the WWF Champion at the time was Kurt Angle, although many speculated that by the time the show of shows came around, The Rock would be champion. 

Kurt Angle vs. Kane

To start, what if Angle remained champion until WrestleMania and was to face Kane for the Title in the main event? I wouldn’t be against it! Interestingly, that particular match, albeit without a title on the line, ended up happening at the next WrestleMania. In this scenario it could go either way but I would put money on Kane taking the Championship.

The Rock vs. Kane

The next potential opponent I’d like to bring up is The Rock. The month after the Royal Rumble at No Way Out, The Rock had defeated Kurt Angle for the WWF Title, setting up the 2nd of three WrestleMania matches between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Kane’s had matches against The Rock in the past but for some reason I don’t see the chemistry working for a main event between them at WrestleMania. Similar to the previous match, I could see this resulting in either. This just doesn’t do it for me for some reason.

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Kane

This is another that’s tough to call but looks better on paper than the previous match. In the Rumble as it played out, Austin won by last eliminating Kane. If Kane had won, would Austin be the last one eliminated? If so, and Austin ended up going into WrestleMania as Champion, there would be a story here.  There’s also history there, as Kane defeated Austin for the WWE at the 1998 King of the Ring, ending Austin’s first run with the Title. Unfortunately, Austin won it back the next night on Raw and Kane never won that Title again. WrestleMania 17 was in Austin’s home state of Texas and of course, won the Title by turning heel and aligning with of all people, his mortal enemy Vince McMahon himself. Would that same thing play out here? While I could see that play out the same or Austin retaining as a baby face, I have to go with Kane as the winner here.

Undertaker vs. Kane

By the end of WrestleMania 17, the Undertaker was now 9-0 with his WrestleMania streak, which actually wasn’t even acknowledged yet. Here we would have a rematch between the Brothers of Destruction. In their previous bout three years earlier, the Undertaker prevailed, but it took three Tombstones to get the job done. Even though they weren’t acknowledging the streak yet, I just can’t see it being over here. Unfortunately, Kane wouldn’t walk away the Champion. On the other hand, it would definitely be a quality WrestleMania main event.

Triple H vs. Kane

This would be another WrestleMania rematch, as these two battled two years earlier with The Game getting the win. By this point in time, Triple H is now a bona fide main event wrestler, especially compared to his place on the roster two years earlier. What’s fun is that this is yet another match whose winner could be either competitor. Within just a month of WrestleMania 17, Triple H and Steve Austin were battling Kane and the Undertaker for the Tag Team Titles. At this particular WrestleMania, Hunter lost to the Undertaker and in this scenario, I’d have to give the edge to Kane walking out as WWF Champion in a quality main event for the granddaddy of them all. 

Kane vs. (insert another wrestler)

I’ve run through pretty much all the main event wrestlers during this time to defend the WWF Title against Kane in the main event of WrestleMania. Now it’s time to think outside the box to find an opponent good enough to go toe to toe with the Big Red Machine and have it be worthy of WrestleMania’s main event. There are only two I can think of that could possibly work and one that’s a long shot but does have history behind it. 

First, there’s the Big Show, a man that matches Kane in size. These two actually did compete against one another at this WrestleMania, but it was a Triple Threat Match against Raven for his Hardcore Title. It has potential but I don’t think it works for this particular moment in time. I’m any event, I see Kane taking the Title here. Another opponent could be Chris Jericho. Kane and Jericho had a number of matches the previous year. At this WrestleMania, Jericho defeated William Regal. Much like against the Big Sbow, I see Kane as the winner. The last is the long shot, and that man is X-Pac. The only thing going for this match is the history between the two. For a time in 1999, these two became friends and Tag Team Champions. X-Pac betrayed Kane by getting together with Kane’s love interest, Tori. I just don’t see this as WrestleMania main event worthy.

Out of of all these possible opponents I’ve run through, there’s one that I think works above all the rest. A close 2nd would be Triple H but my number one guy is Stone Cold Steve Austin. I’m curious to know fan’s thoughts on this matter. Ultimately, I’m trying to go with momentum, as Kane’s dominance in the match made him look incredible and could have been his chance to have a good reign with a World Title and to main event a WrestleMania.

At His Most Awesome

 

     There was a time when I absolutely despised The Miz. I, like many others, was first introduced to Mike Mizanin on “The Real World.” He was very young at the time and came off as a complete jerk, was not socially aware, and somewhat ignorant about important aspects of life. While I did very much appreciate his fandom of wrestling, being a fan myself, he also came off a little goofy and immature, clearly wanting to be like The Rock, which is the inspiration for the name “The Miz.” He even carried his replica championship around the house, annoying the other roommates and the audience. This was not a good look. I am also a lifelong fan and while o do possess a few replica belts, I would never run around like an idiot with them, embarrassing myself. To his credit, though, it’s part of his journey as a person and as a wrestler. It helped shape who he is.

     For years, I unfairly criticized him for his ring work, his sometimes cringey mic work at first, and really anything. I wasn’t the only one and beyond dealing with wrestling fans unfairly hating on the guy, which I doubt he cared about anyway, he got it worse from the locker room. I say locker room as a general term for the wrestlers in the company as a group, but he was often kicked out of the literal locker room. While I still disliked his character, over the years I grew to respect him because he put in the work, realized his dream, and went through things he shouldn’t have had to. Even so, it still took me well over a decade to become a full fledged fan.

      I say all this for context because it leads to the topic of this blog. After his time on Tough Enough, which really got him in the door, he started on the roster. At first, he was just a hype guy while wrestling was not really the main focus. While this was definitely a rough patch for him, I’m sure he would change nothing, as participating in things like the Diva Search helped him meet his future wife Maryse. 

      He started to come into his own when he was drafted to the WWE’s ECW brand and was teamed with John Morrison. Their act really got over and they eventually became Tag Team Champions. Fast forward a couple of years and he won his first singles Championship, the US Title. In a bizarre, yet in hindsight brilliant move, The Miz was paired with perennial Indy Wrestler Bryan Danielson as the latter’s “pro” on NXT, when it was still a game show of sorts. Like many others, I found it ridiculous that The Miz was the pro for an accomplished wrestler, but this was clearly WWE trolling their audience and it worked. Danielson, now christened Daniel Bryan, would become a long-term on and off for for The Miz for years on end after this. 

     Not long after his initial feud with Bryan, The Miz found himself winning the 2010 Money In the Bank contract, allowing him to cash in at any time on the World Champion of his choosing for up to a year. At the time, I wrote this off and figured he’d just be the first MITB winner to fail his cash-in. Even though he had proven himself by this point as a very solid mid-carder with exceptional mic skills, I still feel like this main event push wasn’t warranted. I say this now as a fan of the guy and not as a hater. It just wasn’t the right time. In November of 2010, he cashed in on Randy Orton to become the WWE Champion. Ten years later when he did the same thing, this time on Drew McIntyre, it again just didn’t feel right. The first time he just wasn’t ready yet and the second time didn’t work because at that particular point, his booking didn’t make him look like a main event guy. Here’s where I get to the meat of the story!

Quick pretext before the point of this blog

     In 2016, Daniel Bryan had to unfortunately retire due to injury. At the time we thought it was for good so I’ll skip the fact that he eventually returned. He and Renee Young were the hosts of the after Smackdown review and interview show Talking Smack. One particular episode, Intercontinental Champion at the time The Miz, and his now wife Maryse were guests. Bryan criticized The Miz’ work ethic. It escalated soon and The Miz let out of of the best promos of his career, likely because it struck a cord on a personal level and became somewhat of a shoot. He tore into Bryan and it got so heated that Bryan left the set and even Maryse was taken aback by her husband’s passion. It made for quality TV! I watched this in amazement, as I agreed with a lot of things The Miz had to say. I also thought to myself, “where was this intensity hiding this whole time?” I was truly floored. It was at this moment that I threw away my preconceived notions and became a fan of The Miz. It also made me realize that promos that have realness in them and especially ones that come from the heart are much better than scripted ones. Look no further than how the promo skills of Roman Reigns changed for the better.

      I’m a firm believer, especially in wrestling, that you need to strike when the iron is hot. At this point in time, because of the Talking Smack segment and a few other similar hate hitting promos on the likes of Enzo Amore and Barkk okay Corbin, The Miz was the hottest act in the company. Unfortunately, I ultimately don’t think they fully capitalized on this and by the time he won the WWE Title for the second time, the momentum was lost and his booking hadn’t been what it used to. That’s why I wanted to do some fantasy booking and correct this situation. 

     I’d start giving The Miz big wins on TV and PPV’s. Because I have him eventually become the WWE Champion, he’s gotta lose the Intercontinental Title, a belt which he really revived the prestige of by this point. Despite the loss, I’d continue to book The Miz strong. Now we come to January of 2017 and specifically, the Royal Rumble. One thing I’d keep the same, specifically due to the rise of The Miz, is John Cena defeating AJ Styles for the WWE Title. It’ll become more clear soon. Later that night, instead of Randy Orton winning the Royal Rumble, I’d have The Miz win it, really going with his momentum. 

     Some things going forward stay the same but in different timeframes. For instance, one particular WrestleMania match that was being built up at the time was a mixed tag team match of The Miz and Maryse vs. John Cena and Nikki Bella, which lead to the real life proposal of John to Nikki. While we know that didn’t exactly work out, that’s neither here nor there. The Miz and Maryse were at their best on the Road to WrestleMania, with hilarious parodies of their opponents. The funniest was Maryse’s uncanny portrayal of Nikki, specifically focusing on Nikki’s annoying speech inflections. It was comedy gold and it brought heat to the feud. However, with Cena going into WrestleMania as WWE Champion and Royal Rumble winner The Miz challenging, I’d put the mixed tag earlier at the PPV before WrestleMania. That way, the result of that match can stay and same, along with the Cena proposal, but still keeping momentum going for The Miz.

      Now the WrestleMania main event of John Cena and The Miz for the WWE Title is much more credible than that exact match that happened six years earlier. Much like their WrestleMania 27 encounter, at WrestleMania 33 The Miz walks away as the WWE Champion. I’d then give him a solid run with the belt. This prevents things like Jinder Mahal becoming WWE Champion, something I and many fans wish never happened. Eventually, he’d lose the Title to AJ Styles later that year, who was the one that defeated Jinder for the Title anyway. Hopefully, from this point on The Miz would continue to cut amazing promos and become pushed strongly from time to time, again revisiting his feud with Daniel Bryan upon Bryan coming out retirement. This situation that I spoke about here would have been the perfect time for The Miz to be WWE Champion and look good doing it, unlike the times when it did happen. Like the title of this post, I truly believe this was when The Miz was at his most…AWESOME!!!

A WrestleMania Main Event Fit For a King

 

     Looking back, it’s kind of a shame that the legendary Jerry “The King” Lawler, while in the WWE, never got a championship or even a WrestleMania moment, or at least one that wasn’t an embarrassment to him and wrestling in general. More on that later! WrestleMania 27 for the most part was just awful. No disrespect, but when your main event is The Miz walking into WrestleMania as WWE Champion against John Cena, that just doesn’t cut it. While yes, at the time The Miz was my least favorite wrestler ever and I have since grown to respect and admire the guy, at the time he just wasn’t a credible main eventer, especially at the grandest stage of them all. Even though The Rock interfered, it still didn’t matter. That’s not to say that I feel The Miz should never have been the WWE Champion, but the two times he was, neither was the right time and unfortunately WWE didn’t capitalize on him at his hottest in 2016 after his latest reign as Intercontinental Champion and his infamous blow up at Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack. But that’s another blog for another day! Back to the lecture at hand!

   There were a few other things that made this WrestleMania stand out for the wrong reasons, such as Snooki of all people actually wrestling, but the worst offense was what happened with Jerry Lawler. Leading up to the show of shows, Lawler had been feuding with commentary partner Michael Cole. At the time, Cole was portraying a heel, partly because he often read the anonymous Raw General Manager’s emails to the audience. The less said about that the better. For me, it wasn’t heel heat. It was change the channel inducing. Cole also had Jack Swagger by his side, wasting Swagger’s talents as well. The two actually had a match at WrestleMania, the first and only one Lawler would have in his 18 years with the company, sadly. It was a completely unnecessary match and moment. Lawler did win but the decision was reversed, completely crapping on the whole thing. The King deserved so much better. Well, I’m going to do a little hindsight booking and give him a WrestleMania moment. 

   For context, we’re going to have to go back a few months, to the late Summer and early Fall of 2010. At the time, at least until SummerSlam when the angle went to crap, (thanks Cena lol), the Nexus was the hottest thing in wrestling. My booking would have had leader Wade Barrett be that year’s Money In the Bank winner and would have cashed in to become the WWE Champion. However, since I’m changing things for a different person, the sad reality needs to stay. Therefore, what I envisioned for Barrett will be what actually happened and who it happened to, The Miz. 

   After an actual Championship defense in early February 2011 that ended in controversy, another match was to take place at the upcoming Elimination Chamber ppv, pitting The Miz against Jerry “The King” Lawler for the WWE Championship. Even though we all knew The Miz would inevitably win and walk into WrestleMania as Champion, many fans, including myself, had a glimmer of hope, or at least a dream. Here’s where I change things for point of this blog!

  In this scenario, Jerry Lawler defeats The Miz at Elimination Chamber to become the WWE Champion. Lawler is no stranger to World Titles, as he was the AWA World Heavyweight Champion at one point, along with God knows how many reigns atop the USWA, him running the Memphis promotion notwithstanding. However, let’s be honest! The WWE is on another level. Anyway, this really could be a feel good moment. By this time, The Rock was to make his return to the company from Hollywood after 7 years to host WrestleMania. In that respect, I’d possibly have his interference come at this show during this match, trying to equalize interference of Miz’s protege at the time, Alex Riley. This could then set up a WrestleMania match for The Rock, before setting his sights on John Cena the next night on Raw to set up their match a year later at the next WrestleMania. 

  Now that Lawler is the Champion and will headline WrestleMania, we need an opponent. In that case, it would go to the man that did challenge for the Title that year, John Cena. Cena was the man at the time, a main event player, and had headlined past WrestleManias, as well as ones after this particular one. A legend like Lawler against the current main guy for the WWE Title in the main event of WrestleMania just screams money to me. That kills two birds with one stone, giving Jerry Lawler both a long awaited Championship in the company, and a WrestleMania match and moment. 

    Now, I’m realistic enough to know that there would be no way Lawler would or should walk away from this match as the winner and Champion, and so is Lawler himself. This wouldn’t necessarily be called a passing of the torch, as Cena had been carrying that torch for years at this point, but I’m sure Lawler would be honored to drop the Title to John Cena, whereas Cena is humble enough to be honored by this match in general with a legend and becoming Champion because of it. It’s a feel-good moment and I believe fans would revel at the sight of these two showing respect to one another after the match. I think it’s a quality main event and would certainly be better than what we got. More importantly, it would show Jerry Lawler the respect he deserved at this point in his career. John Cena, in and out of the ring, is a gracious man who would be more than happy to pay respects to someone that paved the way for him. Everybody wins! What do you think?

The Reign if Terror: Was it really that bad?

 

Most wrestling fans recognize the term “reign of terror” as Triple He’s supposed stranglehold of the Big Gold Belt for the better part of three years from 2002-2005. The reason I didn’t say World Heavyweight Championship is because in my opinion, it makes no sense to have more than one World title in the same company: there in, the WWE Championship, with the lineage dating back to the beginning, is the one that matters most. Then again, had this belt been branded as a continuation of the now defunct WCW World Heavyweight Championship, I wouldn’t have had as much of a problem. However, that’s neither here nor there. Back to the topic at hand!

To tell this story properly, I need to add some context. In April, 2002, due to the on-going feud between co-owners of the company, Vince McMahon and Ric Flair, Linda McMahon announced the brand extension, which was the splitting of the roster. It was decided that Vince McMahon would run Monday Night Raw’s roster and Ric Flair would run Smackdown’s roster. Born out of this grand extension was a draft, in which each co-owner would choose a wrestler for their brand. While the other championships would be split evenly among the shows, it was initially decided that the WWE Champion, whomever that may be going forward, would between brands, thus resembling the way the territory system under the NWA was done.

After McMahon won back full share of the entire company from Flair, he appointed General Managers to run the brands. He chose his daughter Stephanie McMahon to run Smackdown, while in a twist no one saw coming, he appointed fierce Monday Night War rival and former head of WCW Eric Bischoff as the GM of Raw. In September, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar signed exclusively with Stephanie’s Smackdown, leaving Raw without a World Champion. Not to be outdone, Bischoff reintroduced the former WCW’s World Championship belt and presented it to Triple H, with Raw now having its own World Champion. 

Despite an early setback for The Game, in which he would lose it to comeback sensation Shawn Michaels, the belt would be back around Hunter’s waist within a month. From December, 2002 until March, 2004, with the exception of a short three month reign of Goldberg in 2003, Triple H ruled Raw as World Champion with an iron fist. Challenger after challenger stepped up and failed, some legitimately and some due to some dirty tactics of Triple H and his Evolution cohorts. Nonetheless, Triple H remained on top. 

I’m going to skip ahead to the end of this “Reign of Terror” briefly before I get into the premise of this blog. At WrestleMania XX, Chris Benoit defeated Hunter in a match with also included Shawn Michaels to become the new World Champion. After five months with the title, Benoit lost it to Randy Orton, Triple H’s Evolution stablemate and protege in August, 2004 at SummerSlam. The next night on Raw, Triple H, Ric Flair, and Batista kicked Orton out of Evolution. By September, Triple H was back in the saddle as Champion. Although the title was briefly held up in the following months, it inevitably found its way back to Triple H. Finally, this “Reign of Terror” came to an end at WrestleMania 21 in April, 2005. Similar to the way things went down with Orton the year prior, Batista left the group and defeated Hunter to become the new World Champion. Now that I’ve established the timeline, it’s time to dissect this “Reign of Terror” to see if it was really as bad as many fans believe.

The beginning was great, as Triple H would have a great match with Ric Flair on Raw for the Title not long after being presented with the belt. When Shawn Michaels won the belt from Hunter at the Survivor Seroes, they were joined by Kane, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, and Booker T where the match was contested within the confines of the very first Elimination Chamber.  Not only that, but it was Shawn’s first World Championship in over four years since his first retirement due to a severe injury, as well as taking place in the Mecca of wrestling venues, Madison Square Garden. The “Reign of Terror” was off to a great start, with much prestige attached to it. 

After Triple H won it back at the end of 2002, he went on to defend his Title at the 2003 Royal Rumble and February’s No Way Out against Scott Steiner. Right away, I can easily defend the decision to stick with Triple H as the guy. He carried Steiner during these matches and although the matches weren’t great, none of that is on Hunter, as Scott hadn’t wrestled since WCW closed its doors nearly two years before these matches. It wasn’t until WrestleMania 19 that fans started questioning things. Here’s where I would agree with the consensus. Next up to the plate was Booker T and him winning a World Championship for the sixth time would have been a great moment. To this day, I, as well as many others, believe Booker should have won the gold, especially after the somewhat questionable and controversial storytelling, implying it was about race. A feel good moment after that would have redeemed this kind of story being told but alas, it was not to be. 

Throughout most of 2003, Triple H had a mixed bag of opponents. He had programs with Rob Van Dam, Kevin Nash, and Goldberg. RVD was a quality opponent. Triple H had two programs with Kane, one of which involved the awful “Katie Vick” storyline and eventually Kane’s unmasking. The less said on that the better. He carried Nash and Goldberg to passable matches. In September, Goldberg won the Title but by December’s Armageddon, Triple H was Champion once again.  Not only that, but Evolution had all tbe gold by the end of the night, as 23-year-old Randy Orton won the Intercontinental Championship and Ric Flair teamed with Batista to win Tag Team gold. There aren’t many moments as epic as all of Evolution posing with all the gold together. 2003 was a mixed bag, with both questionable angles and classic moments alike. All in all, I think it was the right decision to keep the World Title on Triple H for most of the year.

Triple H then re-entered a feud with Shawn Michaels, leading to some incredible matches in the first two months of 2004. I already discussed Chris Benoit’s win and Orton winning the Title only to get kicked out of Evolution. Though Orton‘a reign was short and underwhelming, he was very young at the time and not quite ready for the main event. The angle leading to Batista’s departure from Evolution and finally dethroning Triple H for the Title was a masterclass. In fact, Triple H and Batista continued their rivalry after WrestleMania with a couple of epic matches. All in all, if you look back at this supposed “Reign of Terror” of Triple H holding the gold for a majority of three years, it was actually pretty good. Fans may have been annoyed at the time but looking back it doesn’t seem as bad as some made it out to be. What do you think?