10 Seriously Underrated WWE World Title Matches

Triple H and Shawn Michaels have clashed many, many times over the years and their matches really run the gamut between poor (Armageddon 2002), overblown and self-indulgent (Bad Blood 2004) and genuine classic (SummerSlam 02, Raw 03). They also had one World Heavyweight Title match which was, surprisingly, rather underrated and overlooked.

At the 2004 Royal Rumble, they fought under Last Man Standing rules, and their match was suitably intense and violent. The early going saw the two wrestlers trading punches and working over a selected body part (The Game targeted HBK's back, while Michaels went after Trips' leg).

Then Michaels went for a bonkers springboard Asai crossbody to the outside, missed, and dramatically crashed through the Spanish announcer's table. Not only did it almost keep him down for a ten count, it also busted him open. Like a shark, The Cerebral Assassin zoned in on the claret and began viciously pounding Michaels.

Not one to ever give up (something he must have learned from John Cena), Shawn retaliated with rights of his own as it descended into a slugfest. A steel chair was introduced, a sleeper was a applied and balls were punched (HHH went low to avoid some Sweet Chin Music).

The drama kept getting turned up as the Chin Music and a Pedigree connected, but neither man could keep the other down for the count. In the end, neither man was able to answer the call and the match was declared a draw, with Triple H needing to be stretchered out, a broken man but still champion.