Posted in: Mr. Tito
TITO DAILY - How Triple H obtained his Pedigree Finisher...
By Mr. Tito
Dec 22, 2011 - 2:06:51 AM

CONTACT MR. TITO - Email: [email protected] - Twitter: @titowrestling - Join LoPForums.com: Feedback Thread

--------------------

I had a pretty good Triple H opinionated piece circulating in my head today about how he should address his in-ring future, but in the course of looking something up on YouTube.com, I came across a great wrestling story that puts Triple H in a great light.

During the early 1990's, Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) was trying to break into the wrestling business during his late 30's with World Championship Wrestling. While training at the WCW "Power Plant", which was WCW's training grounds for up and coming wrestlers (instead of FCW like the WWE has now, WCW had a full blown training center). While training at the Power Plant, DDP was working with John Laurinaitis for a finisher. Laurinaitis was a former WCW wrestler known as "Johnny Ace" and he teamed with Shane Douglass to form the Dynamic Dudes tag team (YouTube THAT one).

When Laurinaitis was a wrestler as Johnny Ace, he had a finisher called the "Ace Crusher". Closet variation that you see of this move to date is Randy Orton's RKO finisher. Diamond Dallas Page worked with Laurinaitis on the move but also used a suggestion from William (Steven) Regal to clutch the Ace Crusher with two arms instead of just using one arm. DDP would call the move the "Diamond Cutter" and the move got quickly over in WCW and I'd argue helped propel DDP up the the ladder quickly. Finishing moves matter, folks.

Interestingly, a young wrestler by the name of Paul Levesque was training at the Power Plant during this time... He wrestled as Terra Ryzing and Jean Paul Levesque in WCW, but he would later become Hunter Hearst Helmsley in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). As a newly minted singles wrestler, Triple H needed a finisher... LOOK WHAT HE USED!



BANG, Triple H delivered a Diamond Cutter! That's right, upon joining the WWE, Triple H began using the move that John Laurinaitis and William Regal taught Diamond Dallas Page how to use. He swiped it!

But this is where Triple H should earn major respect to you, as wrestling fans. When Diamond Dallas Page saw Triple H using his finisher, DDP called Triple H...



THAT'S AWESOME. Diamond Dallas Page asked Triple H to stop using the Diamond Cutter, a move developed for DDP, citing that "I'm in my late 30's, you're in your 20's and have your whole career ahead of you" as a valid reason to stop using the move. Plus, it was DDP's move.

Triple H stopped using the move. Obviously, he would develop another finisher and that's probably how the Pedigree came to be, a perfect finishing move for Triple H and his character. Who knows how popular Triple H could have been without a strong finisher to market, as he could have been deemed "second class" for clearly stealing someone else's finishing hold. However, he listened to DDP's pleas and created a whole new finisher that, in my opinion, helped him get over.

Triple H's finisher is STILL the Pedigree to this day. Diamond Dallas Page had a GREAT career with the Diamond Cutter as his finisher. Both, in part, were due to a little respect paid from one wrestler to another. As much as we hammer Triple H of today, the younger version of Triple H paid a great deal of respect to another wrestler (and in another promotion to boot!).

CONTACT MR. TITO - Email: [email protected] - Twitter: @titowrestling - Join LoPForums.com: Feedback Thread

BLOG is TITO Archive on LoPForums.com

© Mr. Tito 1998 - 2011