During the latest edition of his “Grilling JR” podcast, Jim Ross commented on Triple H tearing his quad during a match on an episode of RAW in 2001, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Triple H working through a torn quad in the 2001 RAW match where he teamed with Steve Austin to face Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit: “He doesn’t get enough credit for continuing that match with a horrific injury. Painful injury. But he stuck it out and steered the course somehow, someway. It always resonated with me and still does to this very day. Most of the focus on Triple H nowadays is as an administrator in WWE, but his wrestling career back in those days – at one time, he became the best heel in our company, and arguably, the best heel in the wrestling business. I just thought he was amazing. His matches with Mick Foley helped that. But yeah, it takes a lot of guts to do that.”
On the psychology behind the match and WWE losing another top star for an extended period: “That main event itself – if you go back and watch this or haven’t seen it, that tag match is worth taking a good long gander at….they did create magic because they were all skilled professionals. Their skill sets were advanced, enhanced, and refined. It was just a matter of incorporating your skill set into a tag environment – the psychology in the early part of that match when Benoit got isolated and Jericho was prevented from making the tag. You got a nice shine on Benoit early and Austin sold like crazy. The tags were starting to come from the heel side. It was just really, really good. At the end, that sledgehammer thing, Austin was out. That was his reason for losing and taking the fall.
“Here again, for me in my talent relations role, The Rock is somewhere making a movie. The top babyface I’ve ever had in my life, booking-wise, is a heel. And now a guy that could either be a top babyface or a top heel is going on the injured reserve because of a torn quad. We needed people to step up. Nothing supplants getting someone over than a win with their finish – not banana peels or quick ones or small packages. I really thought that was a great psychological outing when you go back and look at it in that regard. You understand the principles of tag team wrestling much better.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
