(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: The Rock vs. Triple H – WWF SummerSlam 1998

With SummerSlam just around the corner I figured it made sense to look back at one of the best matches to ever come out of that PPV. It’s also fitting since both The Rock and Triple H are so intrinsically tied to the company now. Man…who would’ve thought that, in the span of 26 years, these two guys would go from midcard gimmicks to the two most powerful people in the wrestling business today?

The Story

During the Attitude Era much of WWF’s roster was locked in a perpetual faction warfare situation. At different stages there were groups like The Corporation, The Nation of Domination, The Ministry of Darkness, The Oddities, The Brood, and many others, all working as units against one another. The only real exception to this was Steve Austin because he was a one-man army who didn’t need or want any allies.

Two of these factions, D-X and The Nation, were especially hostile with one another, trading wins in multi-man matches and big angles. One month earlier Triple H and the Rock had a two-out-of-three falls match at Fully Loaded which ended in a no-contest. Both sides continued fighting on a weekly and sometimes nightly basis until a street fight took place on August 17^th, 1998 which saw Rock bust Triple H’s mouth open with a ladder. Shortly afterwards HHH challenged Rock to a ladder match and Rock accepted.

And so The Rock and Triple H would resolve their differences in the third-ever televised ladder match. This set lofty expectations for both of them since the only other two under a WWF banner were Shawn Michaels versus Razor Ramon, both of which were/are on many fans’ shortlist of greatest (ladder) match of all time. There was also something of a novelty factor here: it had been three long years since the previous ladder match and WWF had undergone major changes since then. Not only were the company’s product and presentation different from what they were in 1994/5 but their audience had changed as well. Some fans had never seen the earlier ladder matches and were tuning into WWF for the first time in 1997-8.

Given all of this pressure, would The Rock and Triple H manage to deliver, or would they fall short of historic standards?

The Match

This took place on August 30, 1998. It was rated ****1/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

Rock clearly mouths ‘FUCK YOU’ as he throws the first punch. A short punch exchange ends in a usual criss-cross followed by a clothesline from HHH, who then lands some mounted punches. It’s still weird seeing HHH in purple tights; one could easily mistake him for Edge or Chris Jericho. HHH hits a facebuster and blocks a Rock Bottom. Rock hits back and blocks a Pedigree to send HHH ringside. Rock goes for the ladder at the entranceway but HHH cuts him off. They brawl into the ring and keep going until HHH drops Rock with a jumping knee.

HHH goes for the ladder but Rock cuts him off. Rock hits back, knocks him down, and brings the ladder closer to the ring. HHH gets back and tries to whip Rock into the ladder but Rock reverses and drops him with a clothesline. Rock sets up the ladder and starts climbing but HHH hits a dicing ax handle to drop both Rock and the ladder.

HHH gets up first and rams the ladder into Rock, first with the body and then with the head, into his stomach. HHH appears to have a bad leg and so he struggles to climb so Rock pulls him off by that same leg. Rock goes after HHH’s presumed bum knee with kicks (that miss completely FWIW) and then continues to work over the knee. Yes, limbwork in a ladder match. Because how can a man with a bad leg climb a ladder? God I miss the days when these matches had this sort of logic and weren’t just generic demolition derbies without an ounce of thought put into them.

The crowd chants “Rocky sucks” as Rock drops the ladder onto HHH’s right knee. Rock traps that leg within the ladder and stomps on it, and then smashes the ladder with a chair. Rock smashes that knee into a ringpost, sets up the ladder between the steps and the barricade, and drops HHH with a knee crusher onto the ladder.

Back in the ring Rock starts climbing as HHH struggles to re-enter the ring. Rock has the SLOWEST climb for a relatively refreshed wrestler I’ve ever seen and clearly stalls long enough for HHH to knock the ladder over as planned. HHH places the ladder on one side of barricade and tries smashing Rock into it but Rock blocks and catapults HHH into it. HHH bounces off a ringside commentary table and crawls up the entrance ramp. Somehow he has enough wherewithal to kick Rock to stop a ladder shot. They brawl some more until HHH reverses an Irish whip into the barricade and hits a clothesline. HHH teases a Pedigree onto the ladder but Rock reverses with a back body drop onto it instead.

Mark Henry introduces a second, structurally-sound ladder into the ring which Rock sets up and climbs (again, SLOWLY). HHH gets back into the ring after decking Henry, who tries to hold him by his foot. HHH knocks the ladder over, sending Rock out of the ring. Rock gets up but HHH hits a running dropkick to send the ladder into Rock’s face, busting Rock open in the process. HHH starts climbing the ladder with one leg but Rock knocks him over.

Rock sets up one ladder in a corner and tries to Irish whip HHH into it. Both men counter each other until Rock lands a DDT out of nowhere. Rock climbs the other ladder and then HHH starts climbing from the other side. They trade punches atop this ladder until Rock sends HHH down, but HHH bounces off that corner ladder and staggers into the Rock to knock him down again. The crowd and commentators are going nuts right now.

Rock gets up first and raises the ladder over his head but HHH swings the chair which hits the ladder into Rock’s head. HHH lands more chair-shots and then both men fight to their feet while still holding the ladder. Rock wins the battle and scoop slams HHH onto the ladder. Rock follows with a People’s Elbow. Now the crowd is chanting for The Rock as much as HHH. Both guys fight around the ladder. HHH climbs first and kicks Rock away. He jumps off for an ax handle…and lands in position for a Rock Bottom. Rock climbs again but HHH pulls him down. HHH hits a Pedigree and starts to gain momentum. Then Mark Henry throws powder in HHH’s face. But despite being blinded HHH feels his way around until he finds the ladder and starts climbing. HHH reaches the top and tries touching the belt. Rock cuts him off and reaches for the belt as well. Suddenly Chyna, who has been ringside this whole time, hits Rock with a low blow. HHH reaches up for the ladder. Rock tries getting up. Rock gets to his feet but the second he steps onto the ladder HHH pulls the belt down. HHH wins the match and the title!

Winner and NEW WWF Intercontinental Champion after 26:01: Triple H

Review

Prior to this review I hadn’t seen this match in a very long time so my memory of it was a bit fuzzy. But now that I’ve watched it I can honestly say that this one was, and still is, great. A bit cheesy with an annoying ladder match cliché, but otherwise a solid ladder match from back when those matches weren’t generic spot-fests. There was an actual story here. Rock had a game plan and executed it flawlessly. He made it so that HHH would struggle to climb the ladder if and when he got any moment of control. He played the heel so well in this match by cutting HHH off whenever possible and building hope for the challenger whenever he could. It felt weird seeing HHH as a babyface underdog but he made that dynamic work thanks to how well he fought back against whatever shenanigans the villain threw at him. Though their brawling was simplistic by today’s wrestling standards both of these guys still managed to build tension and excitement by keeping things basic. There was no need for wild and chaotic spots that were displays of creativity for their own sake. Instead, these two guys built towards a few key spots to make them matter so much more.

At the same time there were two things that took away from this match. The first was Rock’s clear slow climbing which has since become an overused and at times frustrating trope. He was obviously stalling, which he tried to mask as selling pain. And yet he barely took all that much damage from HHH by the time he started climbing so it was hard to believe he was so pained and exhausted as to move that slowly. So many ladder matches have adopted this premise to the point that it’s seen to this very day; I watched MITB with a friend and both of us found ourselves screaming at the TV, “Why are they climbing so slowly?” It’s one of those annoying trends that needs to either be done away with or used sparingly and only when it makes sense (i.e. HHH moving slowly in this match because his knee was battered).

Second, Mark Henry and Chyna didn’t really justify their presence in this match save for during the final five minutes. For the most part they stayed at ringside doing nothing. While Chyna served an important purpose at the very end, Mark Henry was largely a non-factor since HHH all but ignored the powder thrown in his face and managed to kick ‘the World’s Strongest Man’ away with his bad leg. What was the point of having Henry there if he was just going to play the world’s most useless second? It would’ve been much better to have Rock and HHH either enter alone or have their seconds leave after the entrances, only to come back when they were needed. That would’ve added to the surprise factor (which was the foundation on which the Attitude Era was built) and it would’ve added more weight to their involvement in the match.

Final Rating: ****1/2

This match is somewhere in the middle in terms of ladder match quality and chronology: neither great enough to be up there with the best ladder matches but still better than almost every big ladder match to come after it. The only ladder matches I’d put above this one are the first Money in the Bank match, TLC II (technically not a ladder match but most people remember it for the ladder-based stuff anyway), Michaels vs. Razor I and II, and Michaels vs. Chris Jericho from No Mercy 2008.

You’ll definitely get your money’s worth with this match because it doesn’t insult the viewer. You’re not getting 25 minutes of mindless carnage that becomes so superfluous that you spend most of it staring at your phone until something exciting happens. Instead, this match has a story and flows smoothly enough to keep the viewer on edge from start to finish.

After revisiting this match it shouldn’t surprise anyone that these two would go on to become legitimate wrestling superstars, especially since they’d have one of the best matches in modern WWF/E history about two years later.

Thanks for reading.