The unlikely history between Triple H and the Hurricane

This is a script for a video on my YouTube channel. You can find the video version here: https://youtu.be/Y8XPkcF7YdM

This video might seem random, but it came about when I was researching something else and fell down a rabbit hole. That's happened a few times on this channel... Sometimes two wrestlers have a history together that you completely forgot ever happened. Many fans who were around for the ruthless aggression era of WWE remember the interactions between the Hurricane and The Rock, then in what people refer to as his 'Hollywood' phase, but I had completely forgotten his sporadic history with Triple H, a man who dominated the World title scene in the early brand split years, which made it even more fascinating to me.

Their first ever interaction would be in the 2002 Royal Rumble match. Hurricane would find himself alone in the ring with Triple H who was returning from his torn quad injury that night, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had previously led Hurricane in the Alliance. Believing himself to have super human strength, Hurricane would attempt to choke slam both multi-time world champions, which went about as well as you might expect it did before Hurricane promptly flew over the top rope.

The next time Hurricane and and Triple H would be in the same ring would be six months later on Smackdown, in a 20 man battle royal to determine a challenger to the Undertakers Undisputed championship. I rewatched this match hoping for some kind of callback, but sadly there wasn't one. The two do touch at one point but it only Hurricane Kicking Triple H in the corner. Hurricane would however be eliminated after attempting to choke slam Kurt Angle, so that at least adds another WWE legend to the list of people Hurricane worked with.

One moment a lot of fans do still fondly remember is the time Hurricane actually achieved a pinfall victory over The Rock, which he won on the March 10th 2003 edition of Raw. For weeks Hurricane had been interrupting the Rocks backstage camera time, leading to an eventual match that we all assumed Rock would promptly win. However this wouldn't happen as when the Rock went for the Peoples Elbow Stone Cold's music played, allowing the hero to get a quick roll up three count over the great one. Austin's plan was to mess with the Rock ahead of their match at Wrestlemania nineteen.

One month after this on the April 14th 2003 Raw, Hurricane would actually get a win over Triple H, in a tag match teaming with Booker T against Triple H and Ric Flair to allow Booker a World title match. This match came about as a way to give Booker T a rematch following his poorly received loss at Wrestlemania nineteen. The reason that match was so derided stemmed from some inappropriate comments Triple H made in the story leading to the match, but also a moment at the end of the match where Triple H would hit a Pedigree, and take twenty two seconds to roll over and pin Booker with one hand on his chest to win. The idea they might have been going for was that Triple H took so long because Booker T had exhausted him, sort of how he beat Steve Austin at No Way Out in 2001 by falling in top of Austin fortuitously, but many fans felt strongly that Triple had done it to try and make Booker look bad.

Whether this was the reason or not, General manager Eric Bischoff was considering allowing Booker a rematch, which Triple H and Flair were trying to talk him out of. Standing up for truth and justice, Hurricane sticks his nose in, leading to the tag match main event. It perhaps shouldn't be so surprising to me that Booker and Hurricane got on so well, as less than a year previously Booker had experience with unusual tag team partners. rewatching this match it felt weird to see the Hurricane out wrestling Triple H early on, at one point even doing a head scissors which I never expected to see. Maybe I'd just forgotten how popular the super hero was around this time. Once Triple H takes control this match goes just as you would expect, with Hurricane taking damage for the bulk of the match. In the end though, while Triple H is distracted by his arch nemesis, referee Earl Hebner who takes a chair away from him, in the ring Shawn Michaels runs in and hits Flair with Sweet Chin Music, allowing Hurricane to pin Ric Flair. Theres a sentence I didn't think I'd ever write.

The next time Hurricane would meet Triple H would be on Raw in February 2005. This would occur one week after Batista had left Evolution by turning on Triple H during a ceremony to decide which champion Batista would face at Wrestlemania 21. Triple H had wanted Batista to choose Smackdowns JBL so that he didn't have to face Batista himself, but he failed to convince the 2005 rumble match winner, and eventually lost to Batista at Wrestlemania. Needless to say one week after Batista made his decision, Triple H wasn't in a mood to be messed with, and so his singles match with Hurricane never officially began, as Triple H attacked the super hero before the opening bell, and left him laying on the ramp.

One week later Hurricane's apprentice hero Rosey would attempt to get a measure of revenge for his ally. Rosey, who for a long time was referred to as a 'super hero in training', and if you don't get that jokes I'm not explaining it to you... Rosey would fair a little better than The Hurricane the week prior in that the match actually started, but after almost three minutes Triple H would be victorious with the Pedigree, and after the bell he would introduce Rosey to his trusty sledgehammer.

It's easy to forget that Rosey was a member of the famous Anoai family of wrestlers along side many successful Samoans past and present. He is the son of Sika, who was one of the Wild Samoans, and I never knew this until now, but he is actually the older brother of Roman Reigns. Sadly he passed away in 2017, but did achieve some success in WWE first teaming with his cousin Eddie who would later be known as Umaga, and later with the Hurricane.

It wouldn't be until after Wrestlemania 21 where triple H lost the World title that he would next meet the pair of heroes, as on the April 11th 2005 Raw Hurricane would take the opportunity to interrupt an in ring promo by Triple, and gloat over his recent loss. In an unreal looking moment I wouldn't even expect to see in a WWE video game, Hurricane and Rosey run in and clobber the Game. Triple H would get on the mic and warn that they had picked the wrong night to do this. He then asks for a referee and we appear to have a handicap match.

The match doesn't start well for the Game, as he tries to bring a chair in to equalise things, but is thwarted once again by his nemesis Earl Hebner. When we come back from an ad break Triple H has managed to gain control over Hurricane, though we aren't shown how.  He hits Hurricane with an awesome looking Spinebuster, that looks like he was trying to launch him into space, but as we know that wouldn't be an issue for a super hero. *Shooting Stars clip* Once Hurricane manages to tag in Rosey, the big man actually gets a lot of offence in on Triple H, including a unique looking spinning leg drop. For a minute there it started to look like Triple H might be in serious trouble. Despite the heroes putting in a great effort, Hurricane makes a big mistake by climbing to the top rope, only for Triple H to lean on the rope sending Hurricane back down to earth. Rosey gets knocked off the apron, getting his leg caught between the ropes, effectively taking him out of the match. Triple H takes advantage of this by hitting a Pedigree on Hurricane, and pinning him. After the match Triple H gets back on the microphone, and warns Batista that this is his fate, and then hits another Pedigree on Rosey.

Now we're at the end of the rabbit hole, the thing I can say I have relearned is not just how entertaining the Hurricane was, but also how popular he seemed to be back in the early 2000's. Am I being a little unfair for misremember how fun the character was all those years ago, did I take him for granted at the time? Let me know what you think in the comments. Despite how bad some of the booking was I actually used to enjoy him in WCW as part of Three count, and I remember being a fan of his more serious side as Gregory Helms later in his career. They can stand back though, because a Hurricane is coming through!