Top 10 heel moments by Triple H/Stephanie McMahon

As the WWE Universe is gearing up for another extravagant WrestleMania, the top storyline that the company has to offer is the one involving Daniel Bryan and the Authority. The typical working class- boss feud is certainly fueled by the popularity of Bryan among the IWC and more importantly, the brilliance of Stephanie McMahon and Triple H in their heel persona. And whether you like it or not, Bryan wouldn’t have risen to the stars if he didn’t have such worthy opponents in the form of Stephanie and Hunter. Throughout their career on-screen and off-screen, both Stephanie and Triple H have been the villain for many names and it’s all these deeds which took them to the top of the heel mountain. So let’s have a look at some of those things that Hunter and his wife did to make sure that we hated them.

#10 Beating up a handcuffed Daniel Bryan

The moment that took Triple H back into his real deal as a heel, the brutal beating that he gave Bryan still lingers as a disturbing sight for the fans.

Popularity of Bryan might be the primary reason for this making such an impact but since Triple H planned it through from the start of the show itself makes it deeper. When it all started, Hunter looked like the good guy giving respect to Bryan.

And he even fended off the officers who were called in by Stephanie. However, soon he did what he does best and turned on Daniel Bryan and saying that all this was a set up. A hand cuffed Bryan was left helpless in front of Stephanie and Triple H as they unloaded the punishment on him.

Bryan took a beating of his life and Triple H planted a pedigree which marked one of the most heelish moments in the Internet Era.

#9 Stephanie slapping Linda McMahon

The McMahon- Helmsley era was filled with great family drama and the McMahons were to be seen in each and every corner of the promotion.

And it all boiled down so badly that Stephanie slapped her mother in national television. It was one of the most heelish things that she would’ve ever done and it gave a lot more of depth to the hate that Stephanie had been attracting.

The fact that Linda was projected as a simple mother who had nothing to do with the power battle between her daughter and her husband made things worse. The Attitude Era was filled with many violence and controversies but this certainly was one of the most disrespectful one from the lot.

#8 Knocking out Randy Orton from the Evolution

Evolution was a great stable that came from the creative team as it had two legends and two youngsters ready to make it big.

However, Triple H and his ego soon took over the stable and when Randy Orton won the title defeating Chris Benoit, it all fell apart. Triple H got jealous of Orton and pulled off the famous thumbs down angle when Orton was celebrating his title run.

Triple H ordered a beat down of Orton and got what he wanted as the Viper’s celebrations soon turned into his pain. Hunter’s love for the gold and his big ego fueled this storyline further and it made a big impact on the career of everyone which was associated.

#7 Calling Kane a murderer

Triple H had this famous feud with Kane in which the Big Red Monster challenged hunter for the title. His character and bulk figure was too hot for Triple H to handle, so instead of going for the physical feud Hunter stuck with the mind games.

Triple H accused Kane of murdering Katie Vick who was Kane’s girlfriend and said that Kane had sex with the corpse. Triple H even had a video made mocking what he accused off which is still considered as one of the most awkward angles that WWE ever filmed.

It simply showed how deeper Hunter could go to win a match and keep the title intact as it was a pure show of the heel brilliance which resides in him.

#6 Pink Slip match

One of the most notable things that repeatedly happened in the McMahon-Helmsley era was Triple H and Stephanie putting their employees in very precarious situations.

For instance, on Raw, Mick Foley and Rock had to fight for a pink slip on the pole match whose loser would’ve lost his job. Rock and Foley fought a great battle for their bread and Rock emerged as the winner leaving Foley unemployed with a family to feed.

The Rock however showed support for Foley and organized a locker room protest to reinstate Foley and it worked.

However, the match will mostly be known for the brilliant booking which made Triple H and Stephanie look like the heel bosses who were playing with the lives of others.

#5 Triple H splitting up with Stephanie

After returning from his famous quadriceps injury, Triple H was an instant hit with the fans even though he was hanging out with his heel wife.

The WWE decided to solve this problem of Heel-face pairing in a bizarre way and made Stephanie reveal that she was pregnant. A happy Triple H however was quickly turned off by Linda McMahon who said that her daughter was faking the pregnancy and even had a video package for Hunter as proof.

Hunter reacted by going into the ring and saying that he knew about Stephanie faking her pregnancy and started abusing her. He knocked out Vince McMahon with a pedigree and knocked Stephanie onto the mat and threw their wedding ring at her.

Stephanie attracted a lot of sympathy from that however the fans never forgot that they couldn’t stop hating her until that happened.

#4 Turning on Vince McMahon

In what proved to be the incident which marked the start of the McMahon-Helmsley era, Stephanie was seen turning against her own father and aligning with her newly married husband.

Triple H actually married Stephanie when she was unconscious and she made everyone believe that she had nothing to do with it much to the rage of Vince McMahon. To seek revenge for his daughter, McMahon fought Triple H in a street fight in Armageddon 1999.

Once the match moved on, Stephanie came into the ring and asked her father if she could hit Triple H with the sledge hammer and once she got her hand on the weapon she switched sides shocking the entire WWE universe.

It started the domination of Triple H and Stephanie in the promotion which no one actually wanted to see.

#3 The Rhodes Brothers firing

The authority is always known for taking out anyone who talks against them but firing Cody Rhodes and his entire family while he was going through a transition phase of his life was clearly cold and cruel.

Cody was just preparing for his marriage and the fans were well aware of that fact and Triple H’s decision to fire him right in the middle of that evoked a great deal of hate from the fans for the Game.

Mixing in a Hall of Famer like Dusty Rhodes and someone looking to get back into the business like Goldust made things more emotional.

But once it concluded, the Rhodes Brothers rose as the savior of the tag team division and had a great title run. However, Hunter will never be forgiven by the fans for this one as it was a situation that you wouldn’t even wish on your worst enemies.

#2 Plotting Steve Austin\'s Car Accident

Scenes like this are regular in Hollywood films, but a wrestler doing the same to take out his fellow employee wasn’t something that everyone expected.

Austin was chasing Triple H after a brawl broke out between the two on back stage and when Austin reached the parking lot he was met with a vicious car crash. It took Austin out of action for almost a year and paved way for Triple H to reign as the champion in Austin’s absence.

However, once Austin returned, he found out that Triple H was the master mind behind the whole thing and the two would then feud with some bloody matches which culminated in a three stages of hell match in which Triple H defeated Steve Austin.

#1 Making Randy Orton the champion at SummerSlam

Last year’s SummerSlam was arguably “the” best pay-per-view of the year and it had a suiting main event as well.

John Cena was pitted up against Daniel Bryan for the WWE title with Triple H as the special guest referee and the whole WWE Universe was set to see history being made when Cena finally falls for their new hero.

It did happen and once the fans were starting to enjoy the moment, Triple H played the spoil thing and pedigreed Bryan and set him up for Randy Orton to cash in the Money in the Bank contract. It was apparently the start of Bryan’s long running feud with the Authority.

And Triple H’s plan which made sure that Bryan didn’t walk out of SummerSlam with the title turned the fans against him big time.