Grilling JR - Triple H's 1997 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

This week on Grilling JR with the voice of wrestling…we’re discussing Triple H’s 1997.

This is really the year Hunter stepped out of the doghouse and into his own wouldn’t you agree?

Triple H, or Hunter Hearst Helmsley as he was still known, is Intercontinental Champion as we kick off his WWF year in 1997.

I don’t recall if we’ve ever asked before but what did you think of that name “Hunter Hearst Helmsley”?

HHH is wrestling against Marc Mero mostly on the house show loop, but does get a couple of big victories, including pinning Bret Hart a few times, and defeating Bret and Steve Austin in a triple threat match by pinning Austin.

Is it known by early 97 that the company is gonna revert back to the big push for HHH such as winning the King of the Ring this year, after it was pulled from him in 1996 because of the whole Curtain Call deal at MSG…we’ve talked about that ad nauseum…but do you think when 1997 starts that Hunter was ready for the push?

Royal Rumble 97 and HHH defeated Goldust to keep the IC title, this is where he appears with Curtis Hughes for the first time.

They were only together a few weeks, were there any long term plans for this pairing, and was Hughes’ health just not up to it at the time?

On the last Live on location Shotgun Saturday Night from Penn Station on February 8, HHH defeated the Undertaker by DQ in a memorable match where Taker tombstoned HHH at the top of the escalator. You probably weren’t at this show Jim as Vince and Sunny were on the call, but it’s a very memorable visual. When you got someone like Hunter working with Bret and Taker…there’s some confidence that he is a top guy and ready to move up is that correct?

We did a watchalong of this earlier in the year, but 5 days later Rocky Marcia defeated HHH at Thursday Raw Thursday to win the IC title.

Rocky also successfully defended it 3 days later at In Your House: Final Four.

At this show however is where we see the debut of Chyna after HHH was distracted by Goldust to lose the match to Rocky. Chyna then puts Marlena in a choke, presented as an “unknown fan” in her first appearance.

Was the sudden appearance of Chyna just a quick idea after Hughes was gone from his bodyguard role? Or had HHH been pushing to bring Chyna in for a while?

The HHH/Chyna vs Goldust/Marlena feud continues into WrestleMania 13 which we covered in March and the HHH/Chyna pairing is proving to be a perfect pairing on WWF TV. How much impact did Chyna have on increasing Triple H’s profile?

Without Chyna do you think Hunter moves up the card like he does?

While he had been IC Champ previously, do you agree he needed to get away from the posh blue blood character to have a chance of making it in the big time?

In the first qualifying round on Raw for the 1997 King of the Ring, Ahmed Johnson actually defeated HHH via disqualification and thus seemingly, HHH is out of the tournament.

But then the next week, HHH is put back in the tournament, replacing a legitimately injured Vader, and then defeating Crush.

The storyline is HHH was allowed another spot in the tournament because he was not properly instructed prior to his match with Ahmed Johnson the previous week that he could be eliminated via disqualification and thus threatened the WWF with legal action.

A bit of a lame excuse to put him back in the tournament isn’t it?

At the King of the Ring PPV itself from Providence, HHH would go on to defeat Ahmed and then Mankind in the finals, setting up a great summer long feud between the two.

They have a great match at the Canadian Stampede PPV from Calgary where they brawl all over and outside the Saddledome.

Why does it feel like Mick has been there every step of the way to get Hunter more over? Did they just click that well or was Mick that person who was able to take the big losses without an impact on his standing in the company?

Then at SummerSlam in East Rutherford, NJ is the famous cage match between the two, where Mick jumped off the top of the cage in his Jimmy Snuka tribute before climbing out of the cage to win. Mick gets the payoff victory - but Hunter’s ability to hang with Foley really helps make him does it not?

Pretty soon after this we see the formation of the soon to be named Degeneration X with HHH, Chyna, Shawn Michaels and Rick Rude. The change in creative, attitude, all of that…it was perfect timing for Hunter right?

The name Hunter Hearst Helmsley is pretty much getting phased out at this point to just Triple H. It was the right time was it not?

How underrated looking back is Rick Rude as part of this equation?

The Cerebral Assassin is years away from this point…but you could see the beginnings here could you not?

Were Shawn and Hunter much of a pain for you to deal with during this time as they seemed to be for everyone else? Or are they more of a pain for Vince?

Was Hunter already started to get involved in production meetings and advice? Have you ever seen someone that young get involved?

He was always a student of the game … and you never hear that agents had issues with him … you take away the Curtain Call … was he really a model employee at this point?

Shawn seems to get more of a featured role as the wrestler of the group as HHH doesn’t wrestle on the next 3 PPVs. Is this when HHH is sitting in more of the booking meetings at TVs etc as has been reported over the years?

Are you surprised HHH wouldn’t push to wrestle on these PPVs as theoretically he would get paid less for not wrestling on these shows?

How much of the silly comedy stuff DX did were scripted or them just goofing around doing what they wanted on TV, and getting away with it?

What did you think of all that? Shawn bouncing up and down with his pants off…Hunter and Shawn with the dick jokes…were these things you were comfortable with or it was what it was with the creative change?

One of the biggest moments in Hunter’s career is Cactus Jack appearing at MSG for the Street Fight on Raw and Cactus getting the win…Hunter came out of that looking stronger by going toe to toe with Cactus on that show did he not?

The DX name was given to the group in October…and you could really see the rub from Shawn as a top heel gave to Hunter. Did anyone object to his elevation at this point?

We will discuss the Montreal Screwjob in great detail later on this year…but how involved was Hunter do you think in it?

There’s a memorable clip in the Wrestling with Shadows documentary where Bret’s wife Julie is seen berating HHH, basically saying he’ll get what’s coming to him…. “What goes around, comes around” and he was in on everything that was happening - which he denies to her…do you think that ever got settled?

Did you ever discuss or talk with Hunter when Rick Rude decided to leave for WCW after the screwjob?

Do you think Hunter ever regretted being a part of it?

HHH defeats Commissioner Sgt Slaughter in a Boot Camp match at the In Your House: D'Generation X PPV from Springfield, Mass. Was the goal to have Hunter get a win over an over babyface veteran to really make him look like an asshole heel?

The match comes across a bit flat and is too long at nearly 18 minutes. Should it had been shorter?

In a silly segment on the Christmas 1997 Raw from Lowell, MA, Slaughter had forced Michaels to defend the European title vs HHH.

It’s basically a precursor to the Fingerpoke of Doom in WCW a year later, as Shawn essentially lays down so HHH can pin him for the title.

Why did they treat the European title as a joke so early on? Shawn had just had it as an extra prop for months here. Just another case of not wanting to drop a title the traditional way?

Or was it a creative way in your mind of getting a title off Shawn to Hunter?

Owen Hart transitioned his feud to Hunter by the end of 1997 instead of Shawn - why do you think that was? Did Shawn not want to work with Owen? Did Owen look forward to working with Hunter?

Looking back - was this the year you saw Hunter take the steps to become a top guy?

Did Hunter come to you for advice…to anyone…or was he just hanging out with Shawn and staying in that lane?

When 97 ends…how big was the ceiling for Hunter in your mind?

You talked last week about how Triple H emulated Harley Race when he started to move up the card…with Hunter being a student of the game how important is it to continue to learn as a worker in your mind?