10 Wrestlers Who Learned Important Lessons The Hard Way
9. Triple H Learns to Know His Role
The above title has nothing to do with HHH's perennial rival The Rock, but refers to the fact that it's always the runt of the litter who's left carrying the can.
Triple H was part of the Kliq, a notorious group of wrestlers who had a reputation for prioritising their own interests above those of the wrestling business. That reputation was strengthened on 19 May 1996 when the Kliq shared a group hug in front of the fans despite having fought each other that very night. To casual fans, it was like watching a theatre production of the Lion King where Scar dusts himself off and hugs Simba after the latter throws him off a cliff.
The Curtain Call, as the incident came to be known, pissed off both the locker room and the higher-ups but Hunter was the only one punished for the Kliq's actions. Hall and Nash had gone to WCW and Michaels was the World Champion, which meant HHH was the sole focus of the WWE's ire. His planned victory at that year's King of the Ring was cancelled and he spent the next few months "learning to eat s**t and like it", in the words of Vince McMahon, as he was jobbed to all and sundry in a bid to teach him humility.
Admittedly, the above photo of HHH being thrown into a Hog Pen is from a match preceding the above events but it was too perfect not to use. From being dumped in pig s**t to eating metaphorical plates of it, HHH looked for all the world like a superstar being flushed down the toilet but he overcame the crappy start to his career, did his duty, and now sits proudly on the company throne.