It's often been said that Vince McMahon never looked at Kurt Angle and saw a badass World Heavyeight Champion. Which is funny, since Angle is a legitimate hardcase and could probably tie every current member of the WWE roster (save for Brock Lesnar) into knots. Triple H apparently held the same opinion and often stood up against Angle becoming champion during meetings (which once prompted a disgruntled Gerald Brisco to stand up and ask The Game if he thought he could take Angle in a real fight). This might be one of the reasons why their 2000 feud was such a disappointment, then. The two men had an engrossing storyline, centred on the Olympic hero's courtship of Stephanie McMahon. Well, Kurt insisted they were 'just friends' but after a backstage kiss Triple H blew a gasket. After weeks of them attacking each other, commissioner Foley booked the match for Unforgiven and, to make sure they didn't murder each other, appointed himself guest referee. What a disappointment their match was. It was a lifeless seventeen minutes. The crowd were oddly silent during portions of the bout, probably because of how muddled the storyline had become in the weeks after SummerSlam. Angle was not yet the worker he would become but Triple H was on top of his game (pardon the pun) in 2000 and could have carried Angle. Something was just off, as it was at the 2001 Royal Rumble when they squared off for Angle's WWE Championship. These two just never really clicked, did they?
