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CHARACTER MATTERS: Why The Game Doesn't Play with Me - The Flaws of Triple H's On-Air Persona
Jul 3, 2009 - 1:17:28 PM
By Jon Cudo, PWTorch Specialist
This is the debut of a new Specialist column, titled "Character Matters," which will delve into the on-air portrayal of various personalities in wrestling. Specialist Jon Cudo plans to submit a Character Matters column about twice a month.
Wrestling fans come in all varieties; many watch for the athleticism, other for simplified morality plays, and some (gasp) watch for the competition. I watch the characters and I always have. While I have a great appreciation for workrate, my list of favorite performers over the years reveals that it's not the critical element in what I enjoy watching. Shawn Michaels, Macho Man Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Stone Cold, Hawk, Bret Hart, Scott Hall, The Rock, Mad Dog Vachon, and Jerry Lawler have something in common and it's not workrate. It's character development. A commitment to a character is what matters to me. Acting, reacting, speaking, and fighting in character is what makes or breaks a performer in my eyes.
Triple H [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]
Mad Dog Vachon had a simple move set that made total sense for his character. The Rock's cool persona was paired with moves that were simple, effective, and stylish. Macho Man could work himself into a frenzy on the mic the same way he attacked opponents. The actions matched the performer and made the entire package a believable character within the unreal world of wrestling. Hearing Razor Ramon bully fruit vendors in a vingette painted his character's picture, but playfull slapping the 1-2-3 Kid's head while he had him pinned down like a schoolyard bully brought that picture to life.
This leads to the first reason why Triple H isn't working for me. His wrestling style doesn't fit his character generally, and in the WrestleMania 25 match it didn't fit with the emotion he was showing in character. Generally Triple H is presented as a prickish smartass babyface (we can sort that contradiction out another time). But his playful DX persona or his sometime audience-pandering mic work doesn't connect to his bad-ass in-ring persona. He never shows a playful side in the ring and rarely plays for audience reaction like he does while giving promos. This doesn't preclude him from being over with the audience, but at one level it's hard for fans to reconcile these two dissimilar actions. As a character I believe he is presenting two versions that keep fans from fully connecting with either.
The second reason I believe The Game isn't playing with crowds as well as it could is because he has no vulnerability. Listen to Jim Ross and hear that Triple H is the best wrestler, most resilient, and the toughest. We've been told for years he is the smartest; he is the Cerebral Assassin and is always one step ahead of everyone. He is also the most politically connected Superstar. Now more than ever since his marriage to Stephanie was revealed to add heat to his program with Randy Orton. On top of all of that, he boasts a sledge hammer as an on-going weapon. No other Raw wrestler has a weapon, unless you count Matt Hardy's new cast or Hacksaw Duggan's lumber.
Just a quick note on the hammer. I have never understood why a babyface uses a sledge hammer, nor why a tough bad ass needs one. I also always feel like he's totally ineffective with it. I think if most hulking men walked into a fight armed with a sledge hammer their opponent would be left lying for dead, but Triple H never seems to gain much more than a minimal advantage by lamely nudging the buttend covered by his hand into the mid-section of his opponent. Somehow Jeff Jarrett's guitar is much more dangerous and conversely Jarrett looks like a dominating monster when he destroys people with a toy guitar.
When you add all of that up you have the best wrestler, who is the toughest, the smartest, most connected, and armed with a sledge hammer. Even to the most casual observer, you have a wrestler who has no vulnerability. I don't get excited and admire him more when he wins. I expect nothing less. I have been trained to see him as unstoppable. Over the years he cowers to no one and has single-handedly beaten the biggest, best, the tag champs and more. A win is expected and a loss just makes him look weak.
This spring I thought he was attempting to show vulnerability by letting his emotions overcome him. After his wife Stephanie was attacked he lost control in interviews and attacked Orton at his home. While I thought this new wrinkle was done to show a weakness that could become part of his character, instead at WrestleMania he walked calm and collected to the ring and wrestled Orton with none of the anger or passion that was shown during the lead-up to WM25. So not only was there no weakness, but his in-ring style didn't match his character or the situation. You could have watched it without the six weeks of Orton's vile actions and Triple H's emotions would have fit the action.
To connect at a higher level, Triple H needs to find a way to tie his in ring style to the character he plays and he needs to allow some weakness to his character so wins are more meaningful. I'd like to see Triple H return with a new wrinkle of susceptibility and more attention to matching his in-ring work to his character and mic work. And leave the sledge hammer at home.
•New for September 2010 - the Torch Today "Daily News at a Glance"... If you've got 25 seconds, we've boiled the news of the day down to 250 words. Check it out every day at 5 p.m. ET or bookmark the listing. Appointment reading for the wrestling fan who doesn't want to miss anything, but doesn't have much time.
