Come on, you weren't expecting anyone else to win the 2002 Rumble match, were you? The whole show was promoted around Triple H's in-ring return after eight months on the sidelines with a torn quadriceps. When he got injured Triple H was a dastardly heel as a member of the Two Man Power Trip with Stone Cold Steve Austin but WWE had no intentions of bringing him back as a bad guy, turning him face via a series of inspirational videos of The Game rehabbing and training for his return set to U2's Beautiful Day. It was a powerful campaign and the reaction that Triple H received from the Madison Square Garden crowd on his return to the company on January 7th 2002 signalled that WWE had made the right decision: they had another top babyface in their ranks. Of course, the monster pop also made it pretty obvious that he was going to be the one chosen to win the Rumble. It would hardly be a great comeback if Triple H came back as a returning hero and then lost the big match, would it? Sure enough, Triple H entered at number twenty two (to another massive reaction) and went on to win it. Even with Steve Austin and Kurt Angle in the final four, the result was never really in doubt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT5HwVrePdA
