Tommy Platinum

Stealing Steve's idea in my attempts to get more discussion going in the wrestling sections.

Triple H is a guy who is very highly rated by many on the internet, and he's been around a long time, so I thought he would be a good pick for the next installment of this. Basically list the best Triple H match from every year he has been active in WWE. Preferably give a few notes as to why you believe this was his best of the year, but this isn't essential.

I'll start with 1997, but even from this year I've not seen too much.

1997: vs Cactus Jack - RAW Hardcore Match - This is a really fun match and I really enjoy Foley. Not seen much HHH stuff from 97 but this is the best I've seen.
1998: vs The Rock - Summerslam 1998 Ladder match - Again, not seen a lot from this year, but I remember this being a very good ladder match. Needs a rewatch though.
1999: vs Vince McMahon - Armageddon No Holds Barred - 1999 was pretty terrible for good matches in general. HHH vs Kane at Mania is an anti-classic. The Vince match was at least a lot of fun, with Vince going to great lengths to make the match entertaining as always.
2000: vs Cactus Jack - Royal Rumble Street Fight- This is easily the toughest year. He produced a lot of very good stuff with Foley, Rock, Jericho, Austin, but for me the Rumble match just gets the nod over other great matches such as the Jericho LMS and the Rock Ironman. Great brawl with an epic finish.
2001: vs Steve Austin - No Way Out 3 Stages of Hell - He missed most of 2001 with an injury of course, but he was still able to put on a few great matches before the injury, ironically including the match he was injured in. This one was off the charts though. It will easily make my top 10 in the "Top 100 WWE matches of the decade" list. This is a contender for his best match.
2002: vs Shawn Michaels - Summerslam Unsanctioned Match - Another truly great one. The whole Michaels return angle was great and this was a hell of a brawl.
2003: vs Shawn Michaels - New Years Eve RAW - lol this is where it starts to go to shit. Most of his PPV matches were god awful, although he was facing some pretty limited guys. Have to go with the RAW match against HBK, which was actually really good I thought. Their second best match maybe?
2004: vs Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania XX - Wow, Shawn Michaels in HHHs best match 3 consecutive years. The 2003 one pretty much wins by default though, and this was more about Benoit of course. If not 5*, its very close.
2005: vs Batista - Vengeance Hell in a Cell - Don't remember their 2nd match, but I wasn't a fan of their Mania encounter, which bored me. The Hell in a Cell was surprisingly great though. Lot of brutality and Batista looked fucking great.
2006: vs John Cena - Wrestlemania 22 - The DX return made good matches a thing of the past for a lot of this year, but even if overrated and helped a lot by the crowd, the WM match was very good.
2007: vs Randy Orton - No Mercy Last Man Standing - This was brilliant. I was gutted by Cena's injury, but they went out there and produced one of the best LMS matches I've seen. So much drama and intensity.
2008: vs Randy Orton vs John Cena vs JBL - Backlash Elimination match - More HHH/Orton greatness, as strange as that sounds now. The match was good at first, but when it became one on one it became great, and really had an epic feel to it.
2009: w/Michaels vs Legacy - Summerslam - Can't think of anything notable he's done 1 on 1, but the Summerslam tag was surprisingly good and made Legacy look impressive. I didn't like the Chamber he was in.

You don't have to put in as much detail as that, but go!~

EDIT: HOLY SHIT AT ALL THE GIMMICK MATCHES

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horrorfan_1986

1995 - vs Henry Godwin (In Your House: Seasons Beatings)
Hunter only wrestled for the second half of the year. It would still be a year before he showed any real talent. However, this was at least fun.

1996 - vs Steve Austin (In Your House: Buried Alive)
Due to Savio Vega being unable to wrestle, these two are thrown in a random match as both were heels. The pair showed some natural chemistry and this would be forgotten amongst better matches in both careers.

1997 - vs Mankind (In Your House: Calgary Stampede)
While 1997 was his breakthrough year, this is really the only match that stands out from the rest. This is head and shoulders better than their other '97 PPV matches.

1998 - vs The Rock (Fully Loaded)
Truly a forgotten gem in both wrestler's careers. At the height of the Nation/DX feud, these two were put in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the IC title. While 2 out of 3 fall matches were popular in the WWE several years before, by this point, they were rarely seen. Even with the non finish, it's still at the top of both wrestler's best of 1998.

1999 - vs The Rock (Fully Loaded)
Strap match with the winner getting a title shot. While it's not nearly as good as the previous year's match, it's still decent enough. 1999 was an off year for nearly everyone though. I would like to see Hunter's match against Austin at No Mercy though.

2000 - vs The Rock (Backlash)
Chaos at it's best. Much like the Dude Love/Steve Austin series, this match benefitted from being a clusterfuck.

2001 - w/Steve Austin vs Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho (Raw)
With a very excited crowd, the WWE produced one of it's best tag team matches of the decade with two makeshift teams. One of the better matches from everyone involved that year.

2002 - vs Shawn Michaels (Summerslam)
Good angle leading into the show and better than probably anyone could have imagined. While 2002 was a tough year for Hunter coming off of the surgery, this is the one match that he truly looked like the old Hunter.

2004 - vs Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania XX)
The Michaels/Hunter feud hadn't reached it's point of over doing it quite yet so mixed with Benoit, it was a fresh match up. Easily one of the top matches of the decade.

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Tommy Platinum

Nothing good enough from 2003 and 2005-now?

I believe I've seen the 99 Rock match, but I really need to rewatch both that and the 98 one you listed. Can't have Vince making my list.

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King Steventon

1997: vs Foley - In Your House: Canadian Stampede
1998: vs The Rock (Ladder Match) - Summerslam
1999:
2000: vs Chris Jericho (Last Man Standing) - Fully Loaded
2001: vs Austin (3 Stages Of Hell) - No Way Out
2002: vs Michaels (Unsanctioned) - Summerslam
2003:
2004: vs Benoit vs Michaels - Wrestlemania
2005: vs Batista (Hell In A Cell) - Vengeance
2006:
2007: vs Orton (Last Man Standing) - No Mercy
2008:
2009:

2000 could also be the Ironman with Rock, but I prefer the Jericho match even if the Ironman is a more impressive performance. 2001 could also be the tag, but the 3 Stages Of Hell has a better HHH performance whereas he was the least of the four guys in the tag.

2002 is a no brainer as he only had one good match that year. 2004 was purely a case of him being in a great Benoit match more than him having a great performance.

2005 could have also been the Flair LMS match, they are pretty equal matches, though I put the HIAC above it because of the result.

I don't think the 2007 tag holds up as well as others do but it's the only notable thing he did that year. Was going to put the Backlash fourway for 2008 but that was pretty much a carry, and his did almost nothing in the Legacy tag otherwise I'd put that for 2009.

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Tommy Platinum

You didn't like the Last Man Standing from 2007 Steve?

That may be the second best one I've seen after Cena/Umaga.

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King Steventon

I forgot that, I'll edit it in.

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Tommy Platinum

At the risk of this becoming another HHH hate thread, I am struggling to think of many straight up one on one HHH matches with no BS that were good. My list is so ridden with gimmicks.

I can think of the Benoit match at No Mercy, and the Rock Ironman (despite the finish) both in 2000 that were great, but I can't think of much more.

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King Steventon

The Foley match from SS was hella fun match, though a lot of that is the post-match brawling admittadely. The RR match with Angle was also a pretty damn good "straight" match, though the Steph/Trish BS brings it down, but I can't knock Hunter for that.

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Tommy Platinum

And also despite you saying it was a carry, I did think both men did an excellent job in the Backlash 4 way once Cena and JBL were eliminated. Admittedly Orton was the better of the two, and his selling after the steps bump was epic, but I thought Triple H did his job well there.

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