20 WWE Royal Rumble Undercard Nightmares

7. Triple H Vs Shawn Michaels (2004)

Yokozuna Undertaker
WWE.com

Another bout of cruel and unusual punishment from two of the all-time greats, Shawn Michaels and Triple H quickly erased memories of their December 2003 Raw classic with a Last Man Standing snoozer that robbed audiences of a both a satisfying conclusion, and twenty-three minutes of their lives.

Falling into the same traps as they would in their glacially slow Three Stages of Hell and Hell in a Cell matches in 2002 & 2004 respectively, the best buddies replaced selling and drama with gory blade jobs and lying around, deciding to forgo any kind of coherent story in place of a series of unsatisfying weapon shots and buckets of blood.

Michaels in particular seemed incapable of dragging emotion from the contest or his opponent, just three months after one of his best ever displays in the Team Austin/Team Bischoff Survivor Series match.

With both men claret-soaked and knackered, the finish came when Shawn caught Triple H with Sweet Chin Music shortly after he himself had sustained a Pedigree, leaving both men out cold for a cop-out draw and gifting them each a ticket to WrestleMania, where thankfully a Triple Threat involving Chris Benoit would vastly improve the conflict.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett