Triple H wins the WWE Championship for the first time - WWE Raw August 23rd 1999

This post is the script for a video on my YouTube channel. You can find the video version here: https://youtu.be/TS4nuY85Mi4

On August 23^rd 1999 WWE presented Raw from Ames Iowa, one night after the the 11^th Summerslam event. On this night Triple H would win the WWE championship for the first of fourteen world title reigns, cementing himself in the main event scene in the process, but there is a month of backstory that got Triple H to this night.

On the July 25^th episode of Sunday night Heat prior to the Fully Loaded pay per view, Jim Ross conducts a backstage interview with Helmsley. In it Triple H blurs the lines between storyline and reality, when he talks about the infamous Curtain Call from 1996, where he and his kliq friends celebrated in Madison Square Garden on Scott Hall and Kevin Nashs last night in the company. With them both leaving and Shawn Michaels being the WWE champion at the time, Triple H was the one punished. He was due to win the 1996 King of the Ring but didn’t, which ended up changing Steve Austins career for the better, and spent the next year floating in the lower card. Triple H talked about this candidly in the interview in a way fans weren’t used to seeing at the time, telling JR that he is going to shoot about his feelings on the matter. He rants about being punished for that, and rages against management in general before the line that changed his character. “You guys talk about being students of the game? I am the fucking Game JR. There is nobody who eats, sleeps and breathes this business more than me, and now its my time to prove that to the world. Summerslam is my time to take what is mine, and that is becoming the WWF champion” 

Over the following episodes of Raw, there would be various changes in who was the number

one contender set to challenge for Steve Austins WWE Championship. For a few weeks it even looked like Chyna had earned the contendership having defeated Triple H and Undertaker in a three way match, thanks to the interference of Steve Austin and referee Shawn Michaels. She next retained contendership by again beating Triple H again thanks to interference, but was then was defeated by Mankind, who went to a draw with Triple H. This resulted in a three way match being booked, with Austin defending against both Helmsley and Mankind.

This match was also special as it was to be refereed by legendary wrestler turned commentator turned politician, Jesse the Body Ventura. In 1998 Ventura had won his elected role as governor of Minnesota. In an unrelated movie fact, five years later his Predator and Running man co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger would become governator of California. Prior to this Ventura had left WWE on bad terms in the early 90’s. He then later became one of a few people in history to successfully sue the WWE and win, over royalties he believed he was due for his commentary appearing on home video releases. For a time his commentary was edited off so as not to have to pay him as much, but thankfully his commentary is back on the shows he worked.

At Summerslam 99, Steve Austin would lose the WWE championship cleanly to Mankind. For many years the prevailing rumour was that Steve Austin refused to lose to Triple H, not seeing him as championship material. Given that Austin would lose in a title match to Triple H at No Mercy months later, and again to end their feud at No Way Out 2001, and after that go on to team up with him as the two man power trip, I never thought this had much validity, and both Austin and Triple H have denied it also. Another rumour that feels more plausible, is that as an elected official, Jesse Ventura refused to put a heel over, and so counted the pin for Mankind, allowing Triple H to win the next night. This would be Mankinds third and final reign as WWE champion, and his three combined reigns add up to just 28 days.

One thing that is clear about this ending is that Steve Austin was likely supposed to lose the

title whoever was going to beat him. Austin had been dealing with nagging injuries for a long time at this point, and would have two months off from in ring action after this match. In storyline he was written off post match, as Triple H decided to take his frustrations out on him by injuring his leg, repeatedly hitting it with with a chair. Austin would have a few more televised matches until Survivor Series, where he was written out again by a hit and run attack, this time for nearly a year.

Throughout the night segments were shown of Ventura going over the rules of the match with all three men, establishing that he was taking his referee job seriously, and wouldn’t abide rule breaking. Crucially for what happens later, Jesse makes it clear he won’t abide the use of weapons. This led to a moment during the match where Triple H blatantly uses a chair as a weapon in front of Ventura. While this isn’t illegal technically, as triple threat matches traditionally have no disqualifications, its still cheating, so Jesse refuses to count the pin. In the end, Triple H didn’t win at Summerslam as he promised to, because of his own actions, but he would get another shot on Raw the next night, because of his own actions.

The August 23^rd Raw opened with Jim Ross conducting another interview with The Game, this time in the ring, and this time with horrible consequences for JR. On January 4^th 1999, Mankind coaxed the Rock into a title match that he would eventually win by threatening to break the arm of Shane McMahon until he got what he wanted. On this night, Triple H would use the same strategy, with JR being the innocent victim this time. This difference here, is that after Mankind agreed to defend the title against Triple H, he broke JR’s arm anyway, sending him out of the arena in an ambulance. Jim Ross would be replaced for the rest of the night by Michael Cole, and The Rock joins them for the main event.

On this episode of Raw seven matches happened, six of which were less than five five minutes long, and the main event would last nearly 9, typical of wrestling in the attitude era and strange to look back on by todays standards. After the Rock makes his entrance, Shane

McMahon enters, wearing a referee shirt. As soon as the champion Mankind enters the ring the action kicks off, with Triple H desperate to achieve his destiny. The two go at it while the Rock complains about his placement on the card having defeated Billy Gunn at Summerslam the previous night. Much like Jesse Ventura refused to count for Triple H at Summerslam, Shane refuses to count for Mankind, leading him to take Shane out with a Mandible Claw. He then applies the claw on Helmsley, but before a ref can come out, Chyna does, and gets a mandible claw from Mankind also. After hitting Mankind with a sickening looking unprotected chair shot, Triple H turns the chair to The Rock, blasting him out of his seat. With Shane back in the match, Triple H hits the pedigree in the middle of the ring, and Shane counts the three. In another call back to Mankinds WWF title win in January, back then Michael Cole exclaimed that “Mick Foley has achieved his dream, and the dream of every one who has been told, you can’t do it.” On this night, Jerry Lawler shouts that “Triple H has realised his dream, and its all about Triple H.”

The first of many world title reigns for Triple H would only end up lasting 22 days, as he would lose the championship on an early episode of Smackdown to of all people, Vince McMahon, in a storyline for another day. He would regain the championship a week later at Unforgiven in a six pack challenge beating five other contenders. Who was the man who was forced to count the three for this win? Special guest enforcer, Stone Cold Steve Austin, leading to their match at No Mercy the following month. By the end of 1999 Triple H was solidly a main event star, leading the WWE into one of its hottest years ever.