WWE Backlash: 5 Best Performers of All Time
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
2. Triple H
You know, for a guy who many fans feel is limited as a wrestler, “The Game” almost always puts on a great show, especially on PPV. Heck, he just wrestled 6 weeks ago at WrestleMania 33, where “Trips” went 25 minutes with Seth Rollins in an absolute show-stealer. Triple H has had decades of pay per view experience and countless, huge moments. Get ready to gasp. Since 1995, Triple has wrestled in 164 pay per view matches with a combined record of 82-77-5 (cagematch.net). He’s the king of many things, PPV is probably one of them as well.
Now as far as Backlash goes, his 4-7 record is not great. But it’s his amazing performances at the event that puts him at No. 2 on this list. Sure he had a couple of duds. His 2002 match with Hulk Hogan was average at best but come on, Hogan was 50 in that match. The six man tag match he was in a year later was clearly no classic either. But if you look at the aforementioned triple threat match with Michaels and Benoit, his 2000 classic with The Rock where he lost the WWF title, and his 2008 fatal 4-way world title win, you’ll see a guy who makes his best performance a priority for Backlash.
With all those big wins in mind, my personal favorite Triple H, Backlash match was his tag team match alongside Steve Austin against Kane and The Undertaker in 2001. Fresh off one of the most dramatic heel turns in history of WrestleMania 17 a month earlier, Triple H aligned himself with Steve Austin and Vince McMahon. “The Power Trip” as Austin and Hunter would be known as captured the tag team titles that night to go along with their WWF and Intercontinental championships. Unfortunately for wrestling fans, Triple H legitimately tore his left quad in a tag match just 3 weeks later and the angle was scrapped. Luckily “The Game” made his way back to the ring where he continued on with some of the best work of his career just eight months later.