9 WWE Matches That Fell Apart On Live TV
5. Triple H Vs Scott Steiner (Royal Rumble 2003)
The point of calling yourself 'The Game' is to put yourself so far above everybody else on the show that no wrestling nickname or moniker can compete with it. That was a smart call by Triple H, but he created a ceiling for himself that - within two years and one quad injury of creating it - he simply couldn't reach.
Never was this clearer than during his "reign of terror" between 2002 and 2005, where a cycle of dreadful matches underpinned by nepotistic booking expedited the end of the prior commercial boom. Everything favoured him at all times (or at least the times that mattered) as he jobbed and showed ass tactically and selectively, ensuring that nobody was good enough to take his spot until he simply couldn't justify clinging on to it anymore.
Scott Steiner had Hunter outstripped in size, aura and arguably star power, having mostly been absent since WCW's closure in 2001, and the 'Big Poppa Pump' character carried a believable sense of danger that Triple H had long been drained of. In real life, Steiner was also working hurt, but that's the stuff somebody like 'The Game' should have been good enough to hide. He failed profoundly at that, succeeding in his mission to ruin any chance Steiner ever had of being considered a big deal.
Their 18-minute long Royal Rumble 2003 stinker was the beginning of Scott's time in WWE and the beginning of the end of his headline role. The challenger only had a gassed suplex to his name, Hunter made him look like a weakling for it, and the non-finish resulted in a rematch the following month where he got to put him down and out for good.