WWE: 10 Times Triple H Consciously Didn't Do What Was "Best For Business"

9. HHH Changes The Finish To The Kurt Angle Storyline So He Doesn't Look Bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7lJqUFySCs Later in 2000, after HHH had improbably lost the World title to the Rock (I mean, come on, who would be stupid enough to buy that any mere mortal could beat the mighty HHH for a title?) via Vince McMahon getting pinned in a six-man tag (never mind), he clearly needed something new to occupy his attentions as a top guy. And that something was Kurt Angle, quickly becoming one of the hottest new stars in our so-called sport. So you knew that it was only a matter of time before HHH latched onto him. In this case, it was in the form of a storyline where Angle was flirting with HHH's onscreen wife Stephanie during his rise to the main event. Things got heated between HHH and Angle and the storyline was actually compelling enough in a pure soap opera fashion that the female demographic was actually paying attention to it. With Angle becoming more and more of a cuckolding ass in the storylines and HHH gaining more and more sympathy from the fans as a result, the payoff seemed clear: Angle would ultimately steal Stephanie away and launch a monster babyface turn for The Game. And in fact that was the plan, up until HHH decided at the last minute that a far better payoff would be him beating Kurt Angle to make him look like a geek and then moving on to feuding with Steve Austin in the top spot instead. So Angle failed, and the angle failed. Instead of an effective payoff, we got HHH giving Stephanie a bloody kiss at Unforgiven 2000 to assert his manhood, at which point Stephanie was written out as his onscreen wife for a few years anyway.