When the referee's hand slapped three, it was Triple H staring up at the lights, with his goal to put Batista in a position to lead the company through the next five years complete. The trilogy between mentor and protégé culminated with one of HHH's greatest matches. Look no further than Vengeance 2005 and the main event for the World Heavyweight Championship inside Hell in a Cell. He was integral in helping elevate Chris Benoit as world champion in 2004 and firmly established Batista as a main event star for the company a year later. While there is certainly a track record to support that, mostly in a year-long stretch from 2002-03, the argument falls apart when you hit that midway point of the decade. There is a prevailing sense that, at the height of his run at the top of WWE, Triple H did not want to put others over.
The Rock may have had a more immediate rise, but The King of Kings was well on his way to accomplishing all that he wanted. The match was a breakthrough performance from Triple H, who had long been a good hand in the ring but needed that one contest to really break out and prove he had the ability to be a main event performer. In the first real display of his toughness to that point in his career, The King of Kings overcame a knee issue and capitalized on late interference from Chyna to regain a title he had lost a young Rocky Maivia in February 1997. The bout relied heavily on the drama of the climb, the storytelling that incorporated the likes of Mark Henry and Chyna into the finish, and the unbridled physicality that left The Rock bloodied and Triple H selling a knee injury that ultimately proved to be more realistic than most knew at the time. Their battles over the Intercontinental Championship culminated at SummerSlam with a brutal ladder match for the coveted title. The rivalry between D-Generation X and The Nation dominated the summer of 1998 and led to the rise in prominence of the faction leaders, Triple H and The Rock.
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