10 Times Triple H Won WWE Matches He Should Have Lost
8. Vs Jeff Hardy (Various Pay-Per-Views, 2008)
If one were cynical enough to throw these types of stones, one might suggest Triple H knew exactly how massive Jeff Hardy already was before it came time to do a f*cking job for him once in a while.
Hunter retained the WWE Championship in the last seconds of an Unforgiven Scramble Match, robbing poor Jeff in the process. He pinned him clean at No Mercy and Cyber Sunday immediately following that. And he transitioned the title to a returning Edge when called to drop it at the following month's Survivor Series.
And he was just as bad when he was called to lose.
At Armageddon 2007, 'The Game' reacted with barely more than a shrug when Hardy reversed his Pedigree into a jackknife cover for the win. This flippancy towards bonafide wrestling holds would become an infuriating norm in years to come, but it was even sillier coming from a character that had once orchestrated a year-long hit-and-run plot just to make sure he secured that very same strap.
One year later, he was back in the mix with the 'Charismatic Enigma', and yet again failed to be the one to honest-to-god actually make him. Having surrendered the strap to Edge in November, he had the 'Rated-R Superstar' beat before Hardy flew in from nowhere with a Swanton Bomb to pin the Canadian himself.
The moment was still magic - Jeff Hardy's popularity is legitimately life-affirming - but Hunter had almost nothing to do with the spell being cast.