ROUND ONE: Triple H (3) vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts (6)

[Everlong]

The Ultimate Wrestler Tournament
ROUND ONE: Triple H (3) vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts (6)

If you'd look at the history of these men's titles and accomplishments, they couldn't be further apart. But if you look at their abilities and their contributions to the industry, you'll find them to be much closer matched. Triple H and Jake the Snake. Who ya got?



The Game played second fiddle to The Rock and Steve Austin throughout most of the attitude era, but when the two left the company he was prepared to take the mantle, becoming the leader of Evolution and one of the greatest heels in the history of the WWE. A man reviled by the IWC for his perceived unwillingness to put over new stars, this has only added to his heel status and the gravitas that he carries in the ring.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

*WWF/E Championship (x8)
*World Heavyweight Championship (x5)
*WWF European Championship (x2)
*WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (x5)
*WWE Tag Team Championship (x1)
*World Tag Team Championship (x2)
*King of the Ring (1997)
*Royal Rumble winner (2002)
*Grand Slam Champion
*Triple Crown Champion

NOTABLE MATCH



NOTABLE SEGMENT





Another man who has had a phoenix-like comeback over the last couple years, Jake Roberts's personal triumphs in wrestling were long overshadowed by his substance abuse issues. But now that he has come clean, fans can once again more easily appreciate his history of greatness, including feuds against Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase, Rick Rude and Stone Cold Steve Austin. An underrated ring worker and a man with an extremely memorable gimmick, Roberts is a very worthy inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

*Numerous territorial championships
*WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2014

NOTABLE MATCH



NOTABLE SEGMENT



VOTE NOW!

[ShaneOfan]

As much as I respect Jake The Snake. As fun as he was to watch, few people are better then HHH. HHH is one of the best heels of all time and makes a damn good face as well. He is marvelous on the microphone and great in the ring. We like to say he buries people and he has but he has also put a lot of guys over.

[VaderBomb]

Triple H, but not by much. Both are two of the greatest promo guys ever, but Triple H takes it in the end. He's better in the ring, and has had a much more successful career. Sorry Jake, I love you.

[The Legend]

This one is interesting to me because, while they applied their craft in different ways, I feel like Cerebral Assassin HHH (which was his best work in my opinion) and Jake the Snake Roberts were very similar in their psychological abilities as heels. Jake the Snake was fantastic at making people fear and remember him even when he wasn't a top player in the game and he has some incredible moments that I remember more than 20 years later as vividly as if they were yesterday. HHH's best work will also be remembered in much the same fashion I suspect, but the reason I took Roberts is because of how uneven HHH's career has been. He's was nothing truly great or memorable as a blue blood and even recently from the time he and HBK brought DX back to his recent heel turn was incredibly underwhelming, Roberts' work never hit such a huge lull.

[Str8Shooter]

Another great match up!

Jake was one of the greatest promo men of all time, and if we end up doing a greatest talkers tournament, he has a pretty good chance of winning. His in-ring work was solid as well, and his promos were so good they often made his feuds the most personal, and most real, during a time wear things were still pretty cartoony from time to time. He has a memorable character, and even people who weren't the biggest wrestling fan remember him thanks to the gimmick and the snake. My one knock against him was that his personal demons really affected his career, more than most. His WWE run was done by 1992, and his WCW run afterwards was lackluster. Then he came back to WWF for a short but rather uneventful time. And after that he's pretty much but a mess who was gone for the business for a decade or more. I'm glad to see him finally getting himself clean, hopefully it sticks.

Triple H has A LOT of detractors, but I've always been a fan and I generally think that much of the hate he gets is over the top and undeserved. He busted his ass to become a big star, even before he married into the McMahon family. His work in DX was fantastic, and then after turning heel he had one of the best heel runs, probably ever. His year 2000 as the top heel in the company during one of the best years ever, may have been the best single year a heel ever had. The Attitude Era often is lauded on the backs of Austin and Rock, but Triple H was their foil and was really the straw that stirred the drink for most of that Era.

His run after returning from his quad tear was still pretty solid, and he had the unfortunate task of being the main guy to lead the company forward after the ending of the Attitude Era. Rock and Austin both were pretty much gone by 2003, and people missed them and the Attitude Era, and I think Triple H took the brunt of people's frustrations as the WWE tried to move on without them and create some new stars. But Trips had a large hand in creating two of those stars in Randy Orton and Batista.

Trips takes a lot of hate, some of it deserved for putting himself ahead of some others when probably he shouldn't, but ultimately his career is stellar and he is one of the best ever. Not to mention if pro wrestling is ever going to become bigger again, it's probably going to have to be Triple H who does it, the future of wrestling is pretty much in his hands.

[Viazon]

I have a lot of respect for Jake but Triple H is one of the best of all time. People can say what they want about him, but he is one of the greats. He has been probably one of the best heels they have ever had and have had many quality matches throughout his career.

[prophet]

I'm another who voted for Triple H. The guy has just been such an ever-present on TV throughout my childhood that it's hard to look past him. I'm very familiar with Jake The Snake's work and I like to think of him as the original heel in many ways but if I was to comprise a list of my favourite bad guys through the years I think HHH would be floating higher somewhere near the top.

HHH was great during the Attitude Era with DX, better with Evolution and even to this day still cuts the best promos of the night and can get more heat than anyone else on the roster. He's fun to watch, has awesome music (My Time being my favourite) and to me he's under-rated as to his in-ring ability. I have a lot of respect for Jake Roberts and I'm really delighted he's going into the HoF this year but as far as the first round goes I've gotta give this one to HHH.*

Unless he buries Daniel Bryan on Sunday. In which case I'll come back and change my vote

[AkydefGoldberg]

Went for HHH.

A fantastic heel worker, especially on the microphone and shows his quality with the work he's done with Bryan. Some people moaned and groaned when it went to HHH-Bryan (probably because latter wasn't in the main event) but HHH's work has complimented the Yes Movement brilliantly.

[Kirbi]

???

[Hanley!]

This is the toughest call for me so far in the tournament. Both guys are impressive all round talents. They both cut great promos and are really effective at playing heels. They both have solid gimmicks and are known for their use of psychology in the ring.

I ultimately gave this one to Jake the Snake, and I think if we had more older fans, this poll might be weighted a little more in his favour, but I think either of them would be deserving victors here. Triple H has annoyed me at many moments in his career and he seems like an asshole in real life, but he has always had a certain level of talent and when he's a heel he's always able to use that crowd resentment to further an angle.

I gave it to Jake for a couple of reasons. First of all, the snake gimmick was just cool. It was very of its time, but it made him stand out and made for some great moments. Second of all, whenever you ask a wrestler or wrestling fan about wrestling psychology, they'll always point to Jake as the best example. Triple H is a solid hand in all areas in the wrestling business, but I can't really think of one particular thing that he was 'the best' at.

So Jake the Snake takes it by a hair.

[Ace]

Jake the Snake did not only use in-ring psychology in his matches but I remember that my mom & uncle once told me that when he pulled out his snake Damien, the fans whether at home or in the audience would quiver at the sight of the python. This gimmick worked & has made Jake Roberts a legend. He also was the accidental inventor of the DDT move which is use in many variations today.

However this one goes to Triple H because of his sheer overall success in the WWE. He went from a lower mid card French character named Paul Levesque, to being called Hunter Hearst Helmsley. He is what it means to be a professional wrestler. He played awesome heels in his prime & was also always an entertaining heel. He might not be in my top 10 but he certainly is one of the best in the biz.

I respect Jake Roberts for his contributions to the world of professional wrestling but Triple H actually has won gold in the WWE. Even if we're talking abut Triple H's European Championship reigns, he still beats Jake Roberts.

Triple H held gold in the WWE and that's my standpoint on this one.

[Hanley!]

It's a little sad that Triple H is winning this one by so much. Watching the Hall of Fame speech last night, I remembered just how good a talker Jake really was. And even though Triple H is skilled in that department too, I don't think he compares.

At one point I just noticed while Jake was talking, quite softly and slowly as he always did as a performer, that the crowd was just hanging on his every word. That's a rare gift. He also had the best speech of the night without having to talk for ages. He said just enough to make the moment as good as it could be, which was exactly what made him great as a wrestler.

When he was talking about being able to manipulate people and make them feel whatever he wanted them to feel, he really hit the nail on the head. It takes a rare kind of charisma to pull that off and nobody did it better than Jake.