10 WWE Champions That Completely Buried Their Challengers
4. Triple H (Challenger: Booker T)
There was no happy ending on a lesser stage. No righteous vindication further down the line. Barely even a tag team victory that wasn't for the benefit of somebody else.
No, Triple H's systematic removal of Booker T from his sphere of competition in 2003 is held in such disgruntled bemusement not just for the hideous racially-charged content of their storyline but also the sheer machiavellian brilliance of a man literally months away from signing his life to the company's cause.
Picture the scene; Booker eliminates The Rock from a Battle Royal to earn a shot at Hunter, is subject to bigotry from the oppressive heel champion, loses clean as a sheet when he gets a WrestleMania shot at taking said title, then defers to Kevin Nash - Hunter's next losing opponent - in a six-man tag the following month before being shunted miles away from both the strap and the chap as he enters into conflict for the Intercontinental Title in the immediate aftermath.
It was textbook place-setting gamesmanship from somebody quite rightly identifying as 'That Damn Good' at it. It's a crying shame the sparks of that very catchphrase - Hunter was a magnificent ring general at his year 2000 peak - had long been extinguished.