8 WWE Stars That Triple H Stabbed In The Back
1. Shawn Michaels
2002 saw Triple H not only commit his greatest ever back-stabbing, but also one of the most jarring heel turns in WWE history.
Triple H and Michaels had been close for years. They’d formed DX together, ruled the roost backstage as The Kliq, and their initial union only came to an onscreen end thanks to Michaels’ injury-necessitated four-year retirement.
Shawn returned to WWE in 2002, and it looked for all intents and purposes like WWE were set to pull off a long-awaited D-Generation X reunion when the nWo were split and Hunter was brought to Raw. Instead, it turned out to be one of the best feuds that WWE have ever written, regardless of era.
On July 22nd, Triple H destroyed a brief reunion with Michaels by turning heel with a Pedigree, then smashing Shawn’s face into a car window the following weak. A long storyline ensued between the two, culminating with the duo meeting in an unsanctioned street fight at SummerSlam ‘02.
Michaels came out of wrestling retirement to triumph over The Game in an all-time classic match, but a post-match sledgehammer attack put him back on the shelf, and Shawn was carried out of the ring by medical staff.
The feuded continued all the way through to Bad Blood ‘04, when Triple H defeated Michaels in the longest Hell in a Cell Match in WWE history. It was the end of a storied rivalry that stemmed all the way back to DX’s 1997 formation, and offered no shortage of thrills and spills along the way.
Triple H and Michaels’ relationship has continued to evolve over the years. DX reunited in 2006, then once again in 2009. They became Unified Tag Team Champions at that year’s TLC pay-per-view before eventually losing them on an episode of Raw two months later, and their last match together came in a March 2010 episode of Raw, when they lost to Big Show and The Miz.