Following a nine month layoff due to a torn quad, Triple H made his highly anticipated WWE return on the January 7, 2002 edition of Raw. As a heavy favorite to win the Royal Rumble, he went on to win the match after lastly eliminating Kurt Angle; however, his bad blood with Angle was far from over. In subsequent weeks, the two resumed their feud with Triple H agreeing to put his title shot on the line against Angle at No Way Out. Sound familiar? The Game's dumb decision to defend his number one contendership to the WWF Championship ending up costing him, as he lost the title shot to Angle in their match at No Way Out thanks to assistance from Stephanie McMahon. Then-co-owner of WWF Ric Flair granted HHH a rematch the next night on Raw, which he won, begging the question why they even bothered to put his title shot on the line in the first place. While it didn't devalue Triple H's Rumble win per se, it felt unnecessary seeing how his place in the WrestleMania main event was never in doubt.