10 Most Damaging WWE Defeats

To be the man, so said Ric Flair, you have to beat the man - and, in 2003, Triple H was the man. The Game's position as Monday Night Raw's leading man was so deeply entrenched, in fact, that he held the World Heavyweight Championship for all but three months of the year (and even in those where he didn't, he still hogged much of the spotlight).

Merely being able to hang in the ring with Trips, let alone keep his shoulders down for a three count, was seen to be a seal of approval in and of itself. That's why he was routinely put between would-be champions and the World Title on the Grandest Stage of Them All. He was essentially the WrestleMania litmus test.

For Booker T - who came gunning for the WWE gold that had so far eluded him at WrestleMania XIX - he was also something more personal than that. Much of the pre-match build-up had focused on the former WCW star's credentials as a wrestling ambassador ("somebody like you doesn't get to be a world champion").

It was a racially-charged storyline to which there could only be one satisfactory ending, and yet somehow WWE still conspired to shoot themselves in the foot.

Booker T was defeated at the height of his popularity, making clear to all observers that he would never be given the mantle of Vince McMahon's top guy.