The Triple H Show (contains spoilers)

A month ago I was roundly mocked on the v2 Wrestling Podcast for suggesting that WWE wasn't fully getting behind Daniel Bryan, as popular a wrestler as they've ever had (at least with live audiences).

One month later, having beaten the top star of his generation, cleanly, for the WWE title, and in the absence of that top star, and despite still being as popular a wrestler as they've ever had, Bryan is simply the setup guy, the stooge, for someone who is barely even a wrestler any more. In fact, he's the setup guy for an awful storyline about The Big Show crying a lot.

The only way the Big Show storyline makes sense is if he's turning heel, two months after he last turned face. He's just too pathetic, too weak, too teary, to be viewed as a hero by the fans.

And his iron-clad contract sounds suspiciously like a normal contract to me. In fact, a contract that stipulates you can be fired if you don't do what you are instructed to do by your employer is pretty much the polar opposite of iron-clad.

Meanwhile, the rest of the WWE roster - men who are supposedly fighters by trade - are too scared to stop the nasty boss from abusing his popular employee.

How much of an alpha male does that make Triple H?!

Wrestling fans want their heroes to have a sense of right and wrong. To be tough and brave. To be the kind of people who tell their boss to stick it if they don't like his methods.

Imagine Austin, or Bruno, or Brody, or The Rock, or The Undertaker, or Terry Funk, or Randy Savage, or Kerry von Erich, or Hulk Hogan, or Dusty Rhodes, or Ric Flair, or even The Ultimate Warrior for Christ's sake, standing around with their tail between their legs because the power-hungry boss threatened to fire them.

Indeed, imagine Triple H standing around with his tail between his legs because the power-hungry boss threatened to fire him.

In fact, corporate Triple H is such an alpha male that he's not even content emasculating every supposed hero on the show. No, he has to emasculate the most evil person on the show as well.

Every time I think about that segment where he told Paul Heyman that he hoped CM Punk kicked his backside, I begin to wonder whether I imagined it. It scares the life out of me that the man who is likely to rule the entire industry one day could commit to such a head-achingly clueless piece of dialogue.

Oh yeah, CM Punk. Last week he was too badly injured to come to Bryan's aid. He was deliberately written out of the episode so that it made sense for him not to come to Bryan's rescue at the end of raw. Because Punk would clearly have done so had he been able to stand. He's courageous to a fault, has no regard for authority, and has been presented in the past as an ally of Bryan.

So where was he this week when Bryan was being abused so heinously?

I guess he didn't have an issue with it, seeing as Triple H is such a big fan of his.

Hard to say I disagree with most of this, HHH whether by intention or not, is quickly beginning to run rough shod over most of the roster...again.

I think you have to hold on to the hope though, that their will be a resolution to this story, and one where the faces come out looking stronger.

The Punk situation is strange, it would be suicide for Bryan's push to involve Punk right now, and given that he's involved in a life or death struggle with Heyman and Axel, you don't have to work to hard to ignore his absence from the Bryan/HHH struggle, so why bring it up? Why highlight Punk as an ally of Bryan's not to move forward with it.

I guess he's waiting for Bryan to reform the Main Event Mafia.

Of course we will have a big payoff....the WWE get it wrong a lot and have on a number of occasions just completely sacked off an angle and dismissed it like it was nothing....but nope not this time! They will see this through to the conclusion and we will get a HUGE PAYOFF! We will see a resolution and the face will come out looking stronger.....

Because my friends we all know that this is being set up and then dragged out perfectly to fall in line with a Cena return and our hero coming to save the day!!

Pessimist - Yes I Am - Will I be proved right....Without a shadow of a doubt!

Cena coming back is a better resolution than no resolution in my book, and I agree, when this all comes to a head, probably at Mania he will probably be the figurehead.

Still it could be worse, for the next 4-6 months at least, Cena is gone, and WWE have to feature someone, and that is Bryan.

I'm delighted for Bryan and my only hopes are that a) he gains a modicum of revenge for what's been done to him and b) he isn't buried to badly, anything else is a bonus.

Id argue against some of these points. I think HHH is being built up so he can be knocked down and it be a big deal. I also dont see why this is unacceptable but has been used as a tool in wrestling forever. The boss who abuses his power and threatens much of the roster with that behaviour, well thats a tool that WWE have used very successfully before. 

Big Show is actually used logically in this. He has history, he is easily over due to his longevity yet easily dispensable to belittle as it wont derail him. The backstory was actually quite good, although they needed to do more to explain why the iron clad contract, that they did reference, was now so weak. I didnt enjoy his crying, although I thought the bit about giants dying younger was quite chilling in a way, worked really well to get people around to his side instead of being bored by another version of Big Show's crying game. 

They then exhibited that power with the 'sacking' of Cody Rhodes. This will of course do him good on return, hes now another new face with a focal role. What it does do is build tension to the drawn in fans as to when the faces fight back. At the moment they are being physically, and in a sense mentally, beaten down by this regime. 

Bryan, of course, is the hero in all this. Raging against the machine, fighting valiantly but being trodden down by oppressive overlords. Whereas you think Bryan is the setup guy for HHH, I think Orton and HHH are the setup guys for Daniel Bryan. No face for a long time has had the show built around him so evidently. Even Cena hasnt been focused on like this for about two years.

And the Heyman bit? Well, that makes sense. They had problems, and Heyman is also a weasel. It also shows he is above that, but I think will see Heyman slowly side with HHH. There was clearly more to the words than just words, there was implications of how Heyman will survive. 

And Punk. Well, I think WWE is trying to suggest he is too focused on Heyman and too driven by that hatred to deal with anyone elses problems right now. That one takes a little stretch, but I think its smarter to do so, thus I can give it credit to be ok. 

Moreover, awfully lacking in patience Crips!

I wonder if he gave up with Star Wars at the end of Empire Strikes Back thinking feck it the baddies won.

Here's my thoughts on the new corporation storyline. Was going to post in a new thread but it seems on topic.

In the last few years of my wrestling fandom, I’ve found myself looking at what was going on as more of a “student of the game,” some might call me a smark but I prefer student. But since Summerslam I, like many have found myself more invested in the WWE. At Summersalm, we all saw Triple H turn heel again and no one does it better. In one swift move the WWE shocked the smarks, the fan boys and silenced those of us who called for a new attitude era.

The reason, the corporation story line. It worked in the 90’s and it’s working now. Why? Because at one point or another we’ve all felt repressed by the man. We’re buying into Trips being a dick, we’re buying in to the under dog tag on Bryan’s neck. The fans and the internet are lighting up in support of Bryan.

If this story line works so well, why haven’t the WWE retried it before? They have done. I tried to redo it with the reformation of DX in 2005/6 and it didn’t work so well. Don’t get me wrong, it was great and fun to watch but it wasn’t a real corporation storyline. It was McMahon’s apposing DX, there was no big group supporting it, Trips and Shawn weren’t in the title picture, not really. Plus I don’t think Big Vinnie’s heart was totally in it.

What different this time? Trips. Like I said earlier, no one does heel better. Hunter can make you hate him, look at 2002 when he turned on Shawn. The WWE built Trips up, in the run up to Summerslam as Bryan’s biggest supporter only to bring the hammer down on him. This turned the crowd against him and put all other pieces in check.

Smarks and followers on Orton on Twitter have known for ages that he’s been pushing to go heel. Dirt sheets predicted he was going heel at Wrestlemania, nothing came of it. This leads me to believe that the WWE have been planning for him to turn at Summerslam with Trips all along. You add the shield to the combination of Trips and Orton, you’ve got yourselves possibly the most hated group in WWE history, even more so than Vince’s Corporation.

Going forward I see a few things. I see Bryan’s chase for the gold running until Royal Rumble, with title matches at Night of Champions, Hell in a Cell or rather Battle Grounds, TLC and the Rumble. But not at Survivor Series, I think we’ll see a Team Orton Vs Team Bryan. Team Orton will probably contain Orton, the Shield and another big heel, only one big enough I think is Ryback. Team Bryan will consist of the guys Trips has bullied, The Miz and Ziggler. The other two guys I’m not sure on, Punk or Ryder might make an appearance due to last years little, “We made it thing.” Depending on what they have planned for Kane and the Family, Kane might be in it. I’m just not sure.

Notice I didn’t mention Big Show? Well, there’s a reason for that and unless WWE are going to keep tormenting him for another 2 and half months, I don’t think he’ll be in the Survivor Series match. I think that maybe they have other plans for him. After reading some dirt sheets and reading that, they tried to get Stone Cold Steve Austin back for next years Wrestlemania for a match with Trips and plans for Vince to bring in a conquering hero. Plans changed, dunno why, I suspect Austin said no but, hey I’m talking about Show here. I think we may see Show snap, KO Trips and get fired. This means that Vince can bring him back for Mania.

If Show isn’t the conquering hero, who else could they bring back? Well, there’s a few options. Let’s start with the most unlikely first, Shawn Michaels. Trips and Shawn have had some amazing battles and to see them go at it one more time at Mania, well yeah. But, it won’t happen, Michaels is happily retired and not coming back for any story line, get over it.

Seeing as they’ve just “fired,” Cody Rhodes, we could see him return to take down the new Corporation. Up until recently he’s been a top middle carder. A match with Trips at Mania could sky rocket him to the main event level. It could equal ruin the match though, is Cody worthy enough of the Game? Someday yes, right now no.

They could bring back The Rock. He and Trips had some great matches in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. I think, The Rock working next Maina comes down to whether or not Vince has forgiven him or not for taking his ball and going home, after this years Mania. The Rock was meant to work the Raw after but, left without saying a word until the show had started or very late in the day, I’m not sure which. If he does he’ll probably be working the original plans with Brock.

I believe who ever they bring in, would have to be either a returning legend or someone current but still returning. They’d also have to realistically stand a chance of beating Trips. For that reason alone, I think we’ll either see Trips Vs Big Show or more likely, Trips Vs Cena. Remember, he’s out right now, he’s a big name and he’s beaten Trips in the past.

Your points are all perfectly made Chris, but when HHH is concerned I think it's once bitten twice shy, and a lot of us have been bitten more than once.

If WWE pull it off it has the potential to be one of the greatest storylines in years, but you get the feeling with HHH, he enjoys being the top dog and I just hope there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I dont buy it, House, I dont think hes as bad as people make out and I dont think hes so dumb to do it in this storyline in particular. Even if Daniel Bryan isnt the ultimate winner, someone will be. The villain must always be slain.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I dont buy it, House, I dont think hes as bad as people make out and I dont think hes so dumb to do it in this storyline in particular. Even if Daniel Bryan isnt the ultimate winner, someone will be. The villain must always be slain.

I do think someone will beat Orton to end the storyline, probably Cena, but whether WWE make the most of the storyline, I have my doubts, I have hopes for this storyline, I really do, but my valiant defence of Punk's run in '11 has left me reluctant to do so again.

WWE is like a good comic book, the bad guy always loses in the end.

This is why TNA is superior in every way!

Sting can go better than the undertaker - FACT!

Btw, I thought this weeks raw was better than usual.

And why are they booking sandow like an unflushable turd at the moment? It worked really well with Ziegler - lets do that again!

It's standard MITB booking for the blue case for some reason.

A power crazed authoritative group beating down the champ in an effort to ram home their dominance and spread FEAR across the company

Do WWE writers read 6CW for ideas

I think all concerns raised are valid concerns given history favours the OPs views however I don't buy it although admittedly im an eternal optimist when it comes to the WWE, I think HHH has to play such a domineering role, he has to emphasis his power and his natural ego will be to dominate people whether thats with brute strength or whether its psychologically.

I think people are being blinded here, for me this isn't about HHH or even Randy Orton, this is about capitalising on the insane popularity of Daniel Bryan, the end game here in my opinion is putting Bryan over, he beat the best guy the company has cleanly, now he has to beat the system

You don't sound like kayfabe at all! Are you the same person ie gaffer and WF?

You don't sound like Davieswasourking  

Maybe we're both imposters.

You're both a pair of c**ts. That I do know ;-)

I’m with Chris on this one though. They have to build the empire so when Bryan defeats the system it seems like a monumental feat. The line of ‘knowing what is good for business’ has been used a lot recently and I have faith that this fued with culminate with Triple H doing what is genuinely right for business which is Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Title. It will happen.

It’s the best storyline the WWE have mustered up all year, yet you can always rely on crips to get his critique head on!

To be fair he shat all over the Punk storyline when Nash got involved and while we we were optimistic about the outcome he nailed it

Hey I have my doubts about it too, read this...

https://www.606v2.com/t47369-the-mr-h-v2-journal-22nd-august-2013-triple-h-cm-punk

I’ve since decided though that Bryan will get the big pay off from this.

The Punk 2011 booking was a mess. I think they knew Triple H would face Taker again in the End of an Era match at Wrestlemania and didn’t want him going into that as a heel. So the heel turn against Punk never happened and the angle flopped. I’m not defending it in any way, it was awful booking and Punk should have gone over HHH at NOC but ultimately that didn’t do him any harm as he won the WWE Title at SS and the rest is history. I genuinely think they didn’t know what they were doing with Punk from the get-go and booked themselves into knots from day 1.

With Bryan it’s different. He’s been massively over for ages now but they didnt rush him. He was getting the best crowd reactions even as tag champion and they probably knew from then that he’d eventually be in the main event. His push has been a slow burner and handled carefully unlike Punk who was a case of ‘bam, amazing promo, no1 guy, done’. I don’t think they’d have Bryan pin Cena clean if they didn’t have big plans for him. Bryan’s popularity has sustained with the casual audience and he’s definitely been booked into better position to get the pay off than Punk was in 2011.

I'm not doubting that a great amount of thought is going into this. The problem is, Triple H finds it extremely difficult to book himself to show any kind of weakness. And I think he and the McMahons also find it extremely difficult, when they are in a storyline, to put equal focus on the other players in the angle.

Tell me this. If Triple H was the babyface in this scenario, would WWE be putting this much heat on the heels?

In September 2011 I predicted that CM Punk would not get a meaningful victory over Kevin Nash. Look it up. It's on this very forum. So here's another prediction for you.

WWE will keep pulling the storyline rug out from Daniel Bryan. There may be occasional glimpses of hope, maybe even another brief run with the WWE title. But there won't be a definitive crowning moment for him. Despite him being as popular as any wrestler in the company ever.

And eventually the storyline will run out of fuel, because the fans don't want to see Daniel Bryan get beaten up time after time after time.

And then they'll move on to something else.

Daniel Bryan may end up a little higher on the card than he started out. He may even get the occasional foray into main events. But he'll just be another cog in the wheel, rather than the game-changing breakout babyface that he should have been.

And WWE will think it was because he's too small and the fans don't take him seriously.

HBK will turn up at some point in the Bryan storyline, he has been pushed as the guy who trained Daniel Bryan in commentary (it was mentioned at Summerslam when he was on the panel) and he is also the perfect guy to show up and question Hunter for selling out.

Obviously he wont wrestle but i dont think its too far-fetched to consider him a possible authority figure to challenge the Mcmahons, if he is willing to do some TV time for a while.

I think Edge is on Raw next week too. Probably stand up to someone and force Christian to get involved for the night

Edit: Just seen that Christian has got concussion so might not compete at all. Darn wimps with their soft heads

crips wrote:
In September 2011 I predicted that CM Punk would not get a meaningful victory over Kevin Nash. Look it up. It's on this very forum. So here's another prediction for you.

Alright smartarse I've already said you shat all over that and you were proven to be spot on while I believed he'd not only beat Nash but also topple Haitch at WrestleMania, thats exactly why I can't fault or argue with your logic however the optimist in me disagrees with you

crips wrote:
WWE will keep pulling the storyline rug out from Daniel Bryan. There may be occasional glimpses of hope, maybe even another brief run with the WWE title. But there won't be a definitive crowning moment for him. Despite him being as popular as any wrestler in the company ever.

I agree with that to an extent, I think he'll get the Jeff Hardy treatment and get small glimmers of hope and a few reigns, I dont think the WWE will be looking to position him up there with Cena, I doubt anyone truly does however when this is all said and done Daniel Bryan might not be the last man standing but what they will have in my very optimistic opinion is a new main event face who they'll be able to trust to have a run with one of the World belts at any given time

I just feel so bad for Brad Maddox, (kay fabe) he has heen corrupted while trying to just please his nutjob bosses, happens to the best

crippledtart wrote:In September 2011 I predicted that CM Punk would not get a meaningful victory over Kevin Nash. Look it up. It's on this very forum. So here's another prediction for you.

Ooooooooooh smartarse!

I'm just saying. All this 'you're so negative, you just hate Triple H' nonsense ignores my proven track record of being a genius when it comes to these matters.

And also Triple H's proven track record of putting himself front and centre of everything he's ever involved in, often at the expense of others who are more popular with the audience.

I wasnt suggesting this was all down to your HHH hatred sire, I do understand your points. Its just this feels different to me. There are a few different circumstances. 

For what its worth, I think HHH's on screen presence enhances the product.

kingraf wrote:I just feel so bad for Brad Maddox, (kay fabe) he has heen corrupted while trying to just please his nutjob bosses, happens to the best

I feel for him both kay fabe and as a character, he is being marginalised and it is an injustice. I think the new Corporation should put him on the commentary team to keep their "business" message spread. Make it out that as GM he can see the action and deal with the matches better from there too. Id possibly use King as a fall guy. Get him "sacked" for speaking out against HHH. Whilst the older, smarkier fans dont care for him as much, he is a strong face to belittle and it would make an impact.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

For what its worth, I think HHH's on screen presence enhances the product.

This.