10 Times Triple H Was Actually As Good As He Said He Was
9. Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - No Way Out 2001
Few went over Stone Cold Steve Austin clean as a sheet during the 'The Rattlesnake's legendary run, but timing and rationale had never been better for Triple H to conclusively claim what he couldn't at SummerSlam 1999.
Back then, a decisive victory over Austin was a pipe dream (it took a sledgehammer shot from The Rock when Stone Cold did lay down a few months later), but a Three Stages Of Hell payoff to their lengthy rivalry in 2001 found Hunter in particular at a very different point in his main event push.
'The Game' had become exactly that the prior, to the point that few complained loudly when he was inserted as the real mastermind behind the Rikishi hit-and-run attack that had taken the company's top start out a year prior.
The match absolutely f*cking rules (and needed to with its near-40 minute run time right in the middle of a pay-per-view), but the undertones of what it all represented are as fascinating as the "fists and fire" of Austin throughout. Stone Cold didn't give the pins away, but was quietly further informing his need for Vince McMahon's help at WrestleMania X7. Triple H, meanwhile, was planting his flag to get a shot at the title Austin would take during a babyface turn that ultimately never materialised.