Jericho comes to Triple H's defense

[Stopspot]

WWE Superstar Chris Jericho called in on his own to Busted Open with Dave Lagreca and Mike Riker to discuss Bret Hart's comments on Triple H. You can hear Busted Open every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on Sirius 92, XM 208 and online on Sports Zone.

Jericho on Bret Hart's comments on HHH: "It was funny because when I saw that comment that Bret had said, I was kind of surprised because I think that Triple H has had a lot of great matches, dozens of great matches. I could think of two or three that I was in with him myself, so, maybe, I don't know why Bret would say that, maybe it's still a little bit personal or some bad vibes or taste in his mouth from what happened years ago. But I'll tell you face to face that Triple H has had many great matches and I always enjoyed watching him work, even up to the match he had with Lesnar. I don't know if that was a great match, it was definitely a very good one, so I would definitely never ever bury Triple H's wrestling talent for sure I think he's one of the best we've ever seen."

What benefit does it have for Bret Hart to make those comments? "He's saying it just because, old, old, old wounds die hard, or whatever the cliché is. You know, I'm sure Bret has made his peace with Shawn over the Montreal Screw Job; maybe he still has some lingering issues with Triple H as part of that. I don't know, cuz I think Bret is very much one of my favorites of all time, one of my top two or three as a matter of fact, but maybe there's a little bit of bias in this or something like that for him to say that Triple H has had no great matches. Cuz I don't think anybody could ever say that he's had no great matches. You might say "well this guy's a jerk" or "I don't like him personally" or "backstage I don't like him" or "politically I don't like him", but there's one thing you can never doubt with Triple H and that's his wrestling ability, especially as a main event performer, like you said earlier, in the early 2000's as the top heel in the company, I think you could throw any baby face's name out there and you could probably match up a quote unquote great match that he had with that person, for sure.

"Triple H may be a little bit underrated as far as the amount of flak that he takes over the years, but, as a performer, I'll tell you straight up he was definitely one of the best, from that era and even up until last year. The match he had with Undertaker, the match he had with Undertaker the year before, both Wrestlemania matches, were both amazing matches. Maybe not the same levels as the ones Shawn had with him but definitely in the exact same ballpark. Triple H is just one of those guys, he's got it, he always has had it, he's a great ring general, he's very smart in the psychology of putting together his matches, believable when he works, so definitely definitely definitely. Like I said, I could give you 3 matches that I had with him, personally that I thought were great. The Last Man Standing that we had in Dallas, the title match we had at State College where I won the title, and then the tag match with me and Benoit versus Triple H and Austin. All of them were what I would consider to be some of my best performances, some of my best matches that I ever had for sure."

Outside your matches with him, what do you think was his best match ever? Y2J – It's hard to say cuz there's just so many eras, like you said, I would have thought of the Three Stages of Hell with Austin, was a great one. I think he had a 60 minute Iron Man Match that's forgotten against The Rock where Shawn was the referee, that was great. I think the 3-way with Benoit and Shawn at Wrestlemania, whatever it was, was amazing. And I think the ones he had with Undertaker, both of those were great. But that's the thing, when you get a guy who's had as many great matches as he has, it's hard to just say here's one or here's two, you know. There's just so many. There's this one there's that one there's this one and that one, I mean the Batista Wrestlemania match was great as well. That's what makes a great worker, not just a short burst, but longevity of a career, 10-15 years of having great matches with a whole variety of different opponents and whole variety of styles. You know, that's what makes a great worker to me."

On his Royal Rumble appearance: "Y2J – Well it's funny because, 2 things about that was, one, I was so happy that it didn't leak. Like I thought for sure, sooner or later it's going to leak on a website or dirt sheet or somebody would hear something and it would get out. But nobody knew that I was there until the moment that music played. And I think that was such a cool vibe, that we could still surprise people, still surprise guys like you who have your finger on the pulse and have spies or contacts or sources. And that's what wrestling is all about. It's all about the surprise element that takes you back to when you were a kid. When I was a kid, we had no internet or no dirt sheets. All we knew, all I knew, was what was coming by promotions. And that's how we'd have a surprise. I think of when Dave Hebners evil twin brother Earl Hebner and they screwed Hulk out of winning the title. If you would have heard earlier today that Earl Hebners brother Dave was in the building and they're identical twins, it would have killed some of that magic. And that was cool for us to be able to do that at Royal Rumble and have a complete surprise, legitimate surprise. And then number two was, I didn't even think about it until afterwards, that I was in there for so long, like 48 minutes, or whatever it was. And Vince even asked me after "how did you stay in such good shape? I was like. I don't know, I'm not sure."

Canada doesn't know what to feel right now I hope Bret doesn't throw out some comment on Jericho for this. Jericho would destroy him verbally.

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[Senhor Perfect]

Jericho responded while still giving Hart respect. I don't expect any rebuttal.

 

[Crayo]

TLDR version?

 

[Stopspot]

TLDR version?

Hart said Triple H hasn't had any "great" or memorable matches. Jericho comes to HHH's defense. Saying that Triple H is underrated in the ring and that he himself has had a couple of "great" matches in the ring. He also says that Bret might be harboring some issues with Hunter from the screwjob days or something.

 

[Crayo]

Weird, considering many reports that state that HHH has always been jealous of Jericho and that their relationship has always been strained. Dirtsheets ftw.

 

[Lockard 23]

Bret won't say anything bad about Jericho and even if his bitterness caused him to (it won't), Jericho respects Bret too much to make a deal out of it.

The thing is, a lot of people have pointed out that most all of Triple H's 'great' matches have been gimmick matches of some sort. Just look at some of the ones Jericho named - 3 stages of hell with Austin, two hardcore matches he had with Taker, the last man standing match he had with him, etc. Throw in the HIAC match he had with Mick Foley as well. Not saying he's not a good/great talent but how many straight up wrestling classics has he had compared to how many were just gimmick matches? He isn't bad but is he on the same level of ability of a Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit or probably even Chris Jericho himself? Not really.

I could see Bret still harboring issues with HHH from the screwjob days. After all, it was him who came up with the specific idea on how to screw Bret at Survivor Series '97.

 

[Stopspot]

Bret won't say anything bad about Jericho and even if his bitterness caused him to (it won't), Jericho respects Bret too much to make a deal out of it.

The thing is, a lot of people have pointed out that most all of Triple H's 'great' matches have been gimmick matches of some sort. Just look at some of the ones Jericho named - 3 stages of hell with Austin, two hardcore matches he had with Taker, the last man standing match he had with him, etc. Throw in the HIAC match he had with Mick Foley as well. Not saying he's not a good/great talent but how many straight up wrestling classics has he had compared to how many were just gimmick matches? He isn't bad but is he on the same level of ability of a Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit or probably even Chris Jericho himself? Not really.

I could see Bret still harboring issues with HHH from the screwjob days. After all, it was him who came up with the specific idea on how to screw Bret at Survivor Series '97.

True HHH seemingly works best when in a "situational" or gimmick match. But what is to say that a gimmick match is or isn't better than a technical match? It's all subjective. Some people enjoy gimmick matches more than technical wrestling after all.

 

[Senhor Perfect]

True HHH seemingly works best when in a "situational" or gimmick match. But what is to say that a gimmick match is or isn't better than a technical match? It's all subjective. Some people enjoy gimmick matches more than technical wrestling after all.

SIT DOWN MARKS! UNK:

 

[Stopspot]

SIT DOWN MARKS! UNK:

Let me explain something to you. I AM a lot of things. I am everything that I say I am. But the one thing that I definitely am not, is a good guy. So if you feel like playin' the Game, then jack I'm standing right here. :bury:

 

[Senhor Perfect]

Let me explain something to you. I AM a lot of things. I am everything that I say I am. But the one thing that I definitely am not, is a good guy. So if you feel like playin' the Game, then jack I'm standing right here. :bury:

:

 

[Leo C]

Good, Jericho is telling the truth. You can say many things about HHH but saying he's never had a great match is just... biased.

 

[Super Saiyan Goku]

Y2J the man in the middle!