No, you didn't misread that. After 16 years in the game and 12 chmpionships, "The Game" had never been honored with the coveted Wrestler of the Year designation.
How is it that arguably the top wrestler of this decade has not once been named the best wrestler of a given year? We think it comes down to a variety of factors.
One of the biggest resons for HHH's lack of success in this category has been the fact that he has spent most of his career as a villian, and villians are at a distinct disadvantage for any award that is based on fan voting. When the fans despise you, they're not particularly apt to go out of their way to acknowledge you as the best wrestler of the year.
Injuries are another key factor. Triple H has missed significant portions of several years due to ill-timed and career-threatening injuries that have kept him from competing at a high level through a full calendar year.
Then there's the 'Next Big Thing' factor. Triple H often gets knocked for using his political influence to 'hold bck' young talent. But when you look at the winners of this award over the past decade - from 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin to John Cena - nearly all of them truly established themselves as main event talent by scoring a win over Triple H. Triple H hs helped make those 'Next Big Things' that passed him over for the award in years past.
Finally, Hunter's style deserves some of the blame. Triple H is at his best when he's slowing the pace of a match and dismantling his opponent with a methodical, technically sound, grinding offense. Triple H doesn't perform many of the awe-inspiring high spots other wrestlers have used to propel them to victory in this category.
Of course, none of this is to say that Triple H has been completely ineffective in the Wrestler of the Year running. He has been either a first or second runner up three times since 2000, though he has been completely shut out of the runner up running since 2004.
As it turned out, this was an unlikely year for "The Cerebral Assassin" to earn top honors. He fell short at Wrestlemania and was moved from WWE's flagship RAW brand to it's secondary Smackdown brand. Still, HUnter's consistency, nd a seven-month WWE title reign, was enough to win support from 24% of the fans.
"There is no question that Triple H is the man to beat in WWE, and in all of wrestling," wrote Jason St. Pierre of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
This year, "The King of Kings" gets a new plaque for his very, very full trophy case.
First runner up: Kurt Angle (19%)
Second runner up: Randy Orton (18%)
Third runner up: Somoa Joe (13%)
Votes for Others: 26%