10 Great Wrestling Feuds With Awful Payoff Matches

9. Triple H Vs. Randy Orton

Kane Undertaker WrestleMania XIV
WWE

Even the thought of Triple H vs. Randy Orton at WrestleMania 25 is enough to get your eyes feeling a little heavy.

While the match itself was boring as all hell, the build to this ‘Mania bout was actually entertaining. Orton had won the 2009 Royal Rumble and decided to challenge for Triple H’s WWE Championship at the Showcase of the Immortals. As a way to mess with Hunter, The Viper began to beat the snot out of the entire McMahon family. Homes would be broken into, people would be thrown through windows, and Randy would get all kinds of creepy with Stephanie. Pretty intense, for sure.

After having simmered for months, this rivalry all came to a head at WrestleMania 25 in what was expected to be an intense, all-out fight. The thing is, that intensity was replaced by 25 minutes of rest holds.

Like so many Triple H matches, this was an overly long bout that saw fans lose interest. On a PPV that featured The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, a Money in the Bank Ladder Match, John Cena defeating Edge and Big Show in a brisk and fun contest, and the hugely entertaining Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka offering, the WWE Championship match between Triple H and Randy Orton was one of the worst matches on the card.

Even now, the Hunter/Orton rivalry is one that rears its head every so often – inducing cold sweats on those who remember WrestleMania 25.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.