The Secret History Of WWE’s Ruthless Aggression Era | Wrestling Timelines

June 29, 2008 - Triple H Wins LOL

Triple H John Cena
WWE.com

Triple H gets his win back.

Triple H had lost to John Cena at WrestleMania 22 on April 2, 2006. This match was designed to fully establish Cena as the face of the company. Triple H did the honours, but not before undermining Cena in the build. Triple H accused Cena of being a mechanically poor goof who “happened to not be a very good wrestler” and whose big move was “pumping up his Reeboks”. These were accusations that Cena could not answer by triumphing in a fictional story. It hardly mattered - but this sort of tactic did not help the millennial males accept the John Cena character, who generated mixed reactions thereafter in the defining thread of his career.

At Night of Champions 2008, Triple H goes over John Cena clean. There’s a slight suggestion that Cena suffers an injury near the finish - an “out” of sorts - but this isn’t followed up on television.

Cena easily absorbs the loss, which is designed to strengthen Triple H as the top babyface on SmackDown, to which he was drafted days earlier. The idea is to rehabilitate the blue brand, which by 2008 is very much secondary to Raw. Triple H just happens to be the guy they choose to lead it, that’s all.

The response amongst hardcore fans is what you’d expect. They think Triple H is using this big push to make SmackDown more important as mere pretext to win big matches all the time and hold onto his main event spot. If that is too cynical a take, it might be substantiated by what happens a month later…

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!