Ranking Every WWE Title Match At Royal Rumbles Worst To Best

5. Royal Rumble 2000 - Triple H Vs. Cactus Jack

The Rock CM Punk
WWE.com

While the then-WWF had positioned Triple H as a bona fide main event player who had recently captured his second WWF World Title, the Game's Street Fight war with Cactus Jack at the 2000 Royal Rumble took Hunter to a whole other level.

Given Mick Foley's Hardcore Legend nickname, it meant Triple H was in for a true battle here. Tearing Madison Square Garden up, these two put on their greatest match ever - with some disgusting bumps, chilling visuals, and the story told that, yes, Helmsley could hang with someone as deranged as Cactus Jack as he won via a Pedigree that slammed Foley's face into thumbtacks.

This was Mick Foley doing all he could to add a violent, brutal edge to Triple H as Foley prepared to hang up his boots; something that would famously be delayed. Going even further, the Micker would again bust his tail to make Hunter look like a badass the following month at No Way Out, where Triple H defeated Foley in a gruelling Hell in a Cell outing.

In the ascension of Hunter Hearst Helmsley becoming a genuine top tier talent, nobody did more for the real-life Paul Levesque than Mick Foley, and it was matches like this Royal Rumble contest and the aforementioned No Way Out offering that were pivotal in giving a vicious, violent, visceral edge to the Triple H character.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.