Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Triple H , Part 5


Triple H lost his title to Chris Benoit at WrestleMania XX and was unable to reclaim the belt from Benoit afterwards in subsequent rematches, including an exact rematch of the WrestleMania main event between Triple H, Benoit, and Shawn Michaels at Backlash. Triple H regained the title later that year from former associate Randy Orton at Unforgiven. Following a controversial triple threat World title defense against Chris Benoit and Edge on the November 29 2004 episode of RAW, the World Heavyweight Championship became vacant for the first time.

At New Year's Revolution Triple H won the Elimination Chamber to begin his 10th world title reign. At WrestleMania 21, Triple H lost the championship to Batista, and subsequently lost two rematches at consecutive RAW pay-per-views (Backlash 2005 and Vengeance 2005). Following this, Triple H took some time off from wrestling, learning about the corporate side of WWE in preparation for a future full-time executive position.

Triple H returned to RAW on October 3 2005 as part of WWE Homecoming to a tremendous ovation, even though at the time he took his absence, he was a heel. He teamed up with Ric Flair (who had turned face during Triple H's absence) against Chris Masters and Carlito. Triple H and Flair won, but the Game then turned on Flair with his sledgehammer. Triple H then began a feud with Flair.

Another championship opportunity came about for Triple H in the Road to WrestleMania Tournament, in which he won, thus granting him a number one contendership for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 22.

At WrestleMania 22, Triple H and John Cena fought in the main event for the WWE Championship, where Triple H lost via submission. The next month at Backlash 2006, Triple H was involved in another WWE Championship match, fighting Edge and John Cena in a Triple Threat match, where he lost again. In an act of frustration, a bloodied Triple H used his sledgehammer to attack both Edge and John Cena and then performed a number of DX crotch chops, much to the delight of the fans. Triple H would unsuccessfully attempt to win the WWE title from Cena on numerous occasions, and blaming his shortcomings on Vince McMahon, eventually leading to a feud between the McMahons and Triple H.

Triple H displaying the DX "X".Shawn Michaels returned on the June 12, 2006 edition of RAW and soon reunited with Triple H to reform their previous wrestling stable, D-Generation X. DX defeated the Spirit Squad at Vengeance 2006 in a 5-on-2 handicap match. DX continued their feud with Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and the Spirit Squad for several weeks. They then defeated the Spirit Squad again at Saturday Night's Main Event in a 5-on-2 Elimination match. They then again defeated the McMahons at SummerSlam 2006, withstanding the attack of several handpicked WWE superstars by Vince McMahon.

At Unforgiven 2006, D-Generation X overcame the odds once again, defeating The McMahons and ECW World Heavyweight Champion The Big Show in a Hell in a Cell match (the seventh Hell in a Cell match for Triple H and the third for Shawn Michaels). DX embarassed Vince by shoving his face in Big Show's backside during the match, and DX won when Triple H broke a sledgehammer over the shoulders of Vince McMahon.

At Cyber Sunday 2006 during their feud with Rated RKO (Edge and Randy Orton), DX was defeated. The fan selected special guest referee, Eric Bischoff, allowed the illegal use of a weapon to give Rated RKO the ill-gotten win, and the plaudit of being the first tag team to defeat DX in a tag team match since their reformation in June 2006.

At New Year's Revolution 2007, DX and Rated-RKO fought to a no contest and during the match Triple H suffered a (legit) torn right quadriceps (similar to the one he suffered in 2001 but in the other leg). He finished the match despite the injury, just as he did in 2001. A successful surgery was performed on January 9, 2007 and Dr. James Andrews estimated that Triple H would need four to six months of rehabilitation before he can make his in-ring return. Coincidentally, the 2007 tear to his quadriceps occurred five years to the date he made his return on RAW following rehabilitation to his 2001 quadriceps tear. In an interview on WWE.com, Triple H stated that he expects to be back in the ring around SummerSlam 2007.

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