10 WWE WrestleMania Matches That Failed To Live Up To The Hype
5. Triple H Vs. Randy Orton - WrestleMania XXV
It was a blood feud and then some. As then-WWE Champion Triple H made his way to the ring, the announcers listed all that challenger Randy Orton had put him through. Hunter was an ‘emotional mess’ after seeing Orton punt his father-in-law and brother-in-law in their respective heads. He’d seen his wife get DDT’d. JR spoke about how Triple H will turn his body into an assault weapon. Could he destroy Orton and retain his title? Jerry Lawler said achieving both was impossible.
Within a couple of minutes, both men had hit their finishing moves. Was this going to be a thrilling 10-minute sprint? Well, you don’t need to be a long time WWE viewer to know the answer to that question. This was a Triple H WrestleMania main event, this was going long and go long it did, sapping every last drop of interest out of the feud as it went.
WWE tried to inject some venom into a Triple H/Randy Orton WrestleMania feud by having the latter attack the former’s family, but it was no good. For one, it is difficult to feel any sympathy for a valiant babyface champion who happens to be part of the family in charge. Secondly, the hype generated by the violent feud was never going to survive 24 and a half minutes of Randy Orton methodically working a body part and Triple H doing Triple H things.