9 Times Triple H Stole The Spotlight

Fast forward to the following year’s WrestleMania, and the “Triple H effect” was in full force once more as another bad guy, this time the newly-turned Stone Cold Steve Austin, ended the night as champion.

This was to be the start of Austin’s despicable heel run alongside his former nemesis Mr. McMahon. Except, the pair weren’t exactly acting alone.

The night after Austin’s win at WrestleMania X-Seven, Triple H showed up to help him successfully defend against The Rock, and in doing so create the Two Man Power Trip.

Now, from a continuity perspective, this didn’t make a ton of sense as Triple H had been the one who'd previously orchestrated the hit-and-run incident that wrote Austin off of television for the better part of a year. Plus, it led to the pair hoarding the WWF, Intercontinental and Tag Team titles at a time when the roster was growing larger than it had ever been, what with the WCW acquisition.

In short, adding Triple H to the mix just felt a little unnecessary, and ultimately it left us never knowing how Austin’s ill-remembered heel run might’ve turned out if he’d had the chance to go it alone.