Hypothetically, if there had been no brand split, do you guys think business would have slid more with HHH on top of both shows? If their only saving grace was the Smackdown 6 guys keeping some of the hardcore's during that time, then that says a lot about HHH's run as well.

I'll throw out there that HHH/HBK killed Columbus as a city for several years with their god awful HIAC match. I've had more than a few hardcore fans say that was the last straw for them with live WWE shows.

Hypothetically, if there had been no brand split, do you guys think business would have slid more with HHH on top of both shows? If their only saving grace was the Smackdown 6 guys keeping some of the hardcore's during that time, then that says a lot about HHH's run as well.

 

In preperation for this (since I'm on the prosecution), I've been looking at the ratings a lot, and it's quite interesting to watch the steady slide on Raw in 2002 while Smackdown stays consistent.

At the time, Vince actually blamed declining ratings on there not being enough support for HHH and doubled down.

Yeah, that's the other big thing against Trips: He had the undying approval of Vince behind him and still did crappy. The idea of really getting behind someone who doesn't get the support he thinks he deserves is the ultimate egotistical move when they don't want to admit they're wrong. Because when nobody can tell you that, who are you going to believe?

booker t was inexcusable, though. if it weren't for katie vick i would say that was the worst thing HHH was ever involved in, just by virtue of the angle they took and the end result.

 

Booker got screwed by the Goldberg signing. He couldn't have gotten a "WrestleMania moment" win that lasts a solid period of time because he would have had to drop the title by May or June so that they could have gotten a transitional reign before giving the belt to Bill at SummerSlam (you know, if they had done things logically there). Unless they had put Goldberg on SD, which was already kind of congested up top, especially with big men.

There was a Raw recapper that used to clock how much time HHH was on screen during that really bad period from 2002-2003 and I think he was averaging over 35 minutes per episode of Raw.

 

"Douglas Wambaugh, for the Son In Law

Your honor, I move that these charges be dropped on the basis of Double Jeopardy Or Millionth Jeopardy, as the case may be."

There was a Raw recapper that used to clock how much time HHH was on screen during that really bad period from 2002-2003 and I think he was averaging over 35 minutes per episode of Raw.

 

JHawk at TSM

Since I saw it live in 2003 I've thought that Triple H taking so long to pin Booker at WrestleMania was just because he was pissed Booker landed on his head while hitting the Houston hangover.

The podcast is up, and a lot of the thoughts here were read on the show, which ended up being a lot of fun.

 

For those who can't be bothered to click on publications and podcasts, the link is here:

 

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/ay7qrj/SCGRadio6-TheTrialOfTripleH.mp3

Interesting discussion in that episode, though I was a little surprised by the verdict at the end. I guess that's what happens when your case is at the mercy of the whims of the court.

It could be said that HHH wasn't capable of cutting 20 minute promos either. It is hard to hold that against WWE for not pushing guys based on that criteria.

Interesting discussion in that episode, though I was a little surprised by the verdict at the end. I guess that's what happens when your case is at the mercy of the whims of the court.

 

Agreed, I thought we won the one we actually lost and lost the one we actually won. ¬_¬