On May 21st, 2001 on an episode of Raw, Triple H tore his left quadriceps muscle clean off the bone. Despite somehow managing to finish the match, the injury ruled Triple H out for 8 months, causing him to completely miss the Invasion angle. He returned in January 2002 to one of the loudest pops in wrestling history. Just listen to this reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRGQugQpjz8 You can barely hear his music when he comes out. With The Rock taking more and more time out to film movies, and Stone Cold growing increasingly frustrated with his angles with the re-formed nWo, everything was in place for Triple H to make a push for the Number One guy spot. An on-screen divorce from Stephanie McMahon helped get that out of the way (she was a heel, there was no way around it) and Triple H won the Undisputed Championship from Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 19, making him perfectly positioned to lead the company from then on. But on July 22nd, 2002 Triple H turned heel again. Shawn Michaels had returned to in-ring action and a feud with Triple H seemed too good to refuse. And there was only one heel in that situation. Besides, you just get the sense that Triple H just loves working as a heel too much. He's just so natural at it. But the turn took away the opportunity for him to become the Top Guy in the company at that point, and before long John Cena had cemented that role for himself.
Michael Palmer is a contributor at whatculture.com and thelineofbestfit.com, and he probably likes WWE slightly more than most people would call "healthy".
