10 WWE Royal Rumble Wins That Became Huge Disappointments

Triple H returned to the WWF following a horrific leg injury at Madison Square Garden in early January 2002, receiving one of the biggest ever crowd reactions. Instantly, he became the clear and obvious winner of the Rumble and, on the night of the pay-per-view, he indeed proved to be the victor.

The 2002 Rumble still ranks as one of the best Rumble matches and HHH was a very popular winner.

Yet his feud with Chris Jericho quickly became focused on Hunter and Stephanie McMahon's dog and marriage issues rather than an engaging personal story between the two men. Allied with Jericho scraping through title wins against The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin and the arrival of the nWo to the WWF, Triple H's return had cooled dramatically by the time WrestleMania X-8 arrived. He did get his expected world title win at the end of 'Mania, but the crowd had long since stopped caring after the iconic Hulk Hogan/The Rock match earlier in the evening.

HHH and Y2J had a good match that played to a mostly quiet crowd and the deafening reaction Hunter had received two months earlier was a distant memory. He then lost the Undisputed Championship to Hogan the following month and did not regain momentum again until he brought Shawn Michaels out of retirement in the summer, the babyface highs of January a thing of the past by then.