10 Great Wrestling Pairings That Didn't Last Long Enough

4. Rated RKO

Triple H and Shawn Michaels had reformed DX, but weren’t quite as over as they used to be. A big part of that problem was that they didn’t have many top-level heels to feud with (and because they were two 40-year-olds pretending to be 17). They had already squashed Cade and Murdoch and The Spirit Squad, so they needed some main event players to squash...er...work with to keep their momentum going. Edge and Randy Orton were chosen to join forces to go after the babyface veterans.

It seemed like a pretty good pairing. Both were still in their prime in the ring, and both had an aggressive heel persona that fans were into. Edge hadn't yet had sex in the middle of the ring, and Randy hadn't burnt a corpse. It was their time to shine!

Rated RKO succeeded in briefly toppling DX, as they handed Michaels and Hunter their first loss together since their reformation. However, DX later got their revenge as they swept Team Rated RKO at Survivor Series (squash!). Edge and Orton retaliated by beating up Ric Flair to set up another tag match for the titles.

Why They Split: At New Year’s Revolution, Hunter blew out one of his quads again and had to miss months of ring time. That left Michaels without a partner to compete with long-term. John Cena was chosen to help take the belts off Rated RKO, but instead of moving the angle along further, they had Edge and Orton turn on each other.

With a stronger push and a longer run, Rated RKO could have been a memorable team, but short-sighted booking and Hunter's injury ruined any chance of that.