Reviewing the Rivalry: Triple H/Randy Orton (2009)

[#BabyFace]

Almost every day I sit back and watch a random fued and match from the WWE. The match may be from any time period. So I thought I would start making some threads.
In the threads, I will recap the fued and match. I will give you my thoughts on it and then would love to hear your thoughts. I will then rate the fued/match.
So, for the first one, I thought I would go with a very personal fued from 2009 that had its match at WrestleMania 25-

Randy Orton vs Triple H​

Royal Rumble....The final superstars would be Triple, Orton and his backup, Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase. With the help of his Legacy Friends, Orton would eliminate Triple H to win the Royal Rumble. Few thought that Orton would actually face Triple H at WrestleMania.
No Way Out...Triple H would win the Elimination Chamber and become WWE Champion. At that point, many new that Orton would be picking The Game as his opponent for WrestleMania.
This fued would soon start to get good, and personal. Randy Orton had already had a match with Shane McMahon at Elimination Chamber. As an attempt to get in Hunter's head, Orton would kick Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon in the skull. As if that wasnt enough, he would later handcuff Triple H to the ropes and make him watch as he DDT's HHH's wife and seals it with a KISS. Orton would have the upper hand of the fued for weeks...untill Triple H would retaliate and invade Randy's home. A brutal fight that many remember. Triple H would also get kayfabe "arrested."
The monday before WrestleMania, The McMahons along with Triple H would return and take out Legacy, giving Triple H the upper hand going into WM.

The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania...Alot of hype going into a match that in many's eyes...would not deliver. The stipulation was made that if Hunter was DQ'd, he would lose the title. HHH would bend the rules and use the help of a sledgehammer to pick up the win and retain the WWE Championship.

My Thoughts: The rivalry, in my eyes, was legendary. One of the greatest buildups to a match I have seen. I was very excited to watch the match live although...it would not deliver fully. The match was average at best. The problem I had with it was Triple H winning. Randy Orton should have gotten the win here as he had more to benifit from it Although, Orton still has made it to the top, he should have won this.

Fued/Match Grade- 7/10 "Great rivalry, but the match brings the grade down."

YOUR TURN!​

Since this is the first one, please give me some feedback on what you think of the idea while giving your opinion on the fued. Thanks

 

[PlayTheGame]

I liked this feud overall. Obviously, they had ties back to Evolution at the time, so their history together added to the feud. I think this is one of the feuds that the PG era hurt in a sense, as it somewhat limited the lines that they could cross in what was a very personal feud. The home invasion, the verbal jabs, etc. could have all been a little more malignant, but had to be held back a bit. That being said, I liked the home invasion, as it was a pretty fresh concept that isn't used all that much. It certainly added to the intensity of their rivalry. I don't remember the match all that much, but I think I liked it. I had no problem with HHH winning. He was the face of the feud, after all. It's hard to have a problem with a face going over at WM, especially when you consider all the talent HHH has already put over at Mania in the past. Not to mention the fact that he has directly helped buildup Orton to where he is today. Good feud.

 

[ctln4rko]

I agree completely with the OP. The feud had an amazing buildup, the two had great chemistry, and both can go in the ring and on the mic. But the culmination of the feud is what, a five minute match? Some of my favorite Raw moments are from this feud, (HHH invading Orton's house, Orton kissing Stephanie) but the match killed the feud. I'd rate it an 8.5 of 10

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Most probably the greatest rivalry of the PG Era. The buildup was great and the match wasn't all that bad. I'd rate the HHH/Randy Orton (2009) fued 9/10

To the above poster ...It wasn't a 5 minute match. The match was 33 minutes long.

 

[HBsam31]

One of my favorite feuds in a while actually, but the match at mania just didn't do it for me. It wasn't a bad match by any means, but for some reason I did not expect HHH to retain. I know it makes sense in that the the face wins after being bested by the heel so many times in the build up, but for some reason it seemed like Orton's time to win. Maybe I am completely off base, but in my opinion great feud, disappointing Mania match.

 

[TheKingofKings20222]

To be completely honest, the feud was on of the best and most intense feud from this Era. And as far as the match goes, the match itself was amazing. The reason why everyone claims it was boring is because it went on DIRECTLY AFTER Shawn Michaels VS The Undertaker Part 1. THERE WAS NO MATCH THAT COULD HAVE TOPPED THAT! None. Period. And the crowd was still in awe of that great match, and of course, HHH and Orton could not have outdone that match. Had the two matches been switched in position on the card, then I believe everyone would have been a lot happier with the overall match and the final outcome. It was really a storybook ending. Orton grabs the sledgehammer, slides into the ring and HHH giving Orton a taste of his own medicine by punting him in the head and finally hitting him with the sledgehammer. (Which was something EVERYONE had been waiting for, because Orton had avoided it since the beginning of their feud.) Overall, I give this feud a 9/10.

Oh and one more thing, everyone seem to forget that this feud continued after WrestleMania, and Orton ended up winning the feud, by "injuring" HHH. HHH won at Mania, but Orton won the feud.

 

[The Liar]

I like the concept of this thread. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on other rivalries and matches from throughout history.

As for this feud, it is among my personal favorites, and the one that really got me hooked on wrestling. I'll never forget when HHH came running down the ramp like a mad man after Orton DDT'd her. I also loved HHH chasing Orton & DiBiase through the backstage areas, and of course the home invasion was classic.

Oh and one more thing, everyone seem to forget that this feud continued after WrestleMania, and Orton ended up winning the feud, by "injuring" HHH. HHH won at Mania, but Orton won the feud.

Good point. Their feud was pretty good right through the spring...I remember them having a really good Last Man Standing match for the WWE title on Raw.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This was an awesome feud. The build up to their match at Wrestlemania 25 was one of the best builds I have ever seen. It had great moments such as Trips invading Orton's "house", Orton attacking the McMahons, Trips finally recognizing his marriage to Stephanie onscreen, and more. Then there were some strange things about it such as Orton winning a shot at Wrestlemania against Triple H by last eliminating.... Triple H....? They got past that and the feud ultimately was a success.

The Wrestlemania match did not live up to the hype. Legacy could have and SHOULD have gotten involved. Trips should have been legally allowed to use his sledgehammer. The McMahons could have gotten involved. Oh, and Orton should have won. Taker & Michaels or Cena/Show/Edge could have closed the show instead if they did not want to end with a heel victory. Orton needed the win.

Yes, Orton did get the title, but not under the circumstances. First of all, he won at Extreme Rules, which is FAR less important of a show than Wrestlemania. Secondly, it was in a tag team match. Yes. A tag team match at one of the worst shows of the year is when he won, rather than in the main event of the biggest show of the year. Other than that, I did really enjoy this feud. It was one of the best in recent years because of the level of intensity it reached and memorable moments it provided.

As for the feedback you wanted, I would like to see more of this thread series.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

It was terrible the whole rivalry was incredibly inconsistent it also didn't help that Triple H and Orton were feuding less than a year ago.

Apparently this whole thing was Orton's plan to hurt Vince, Shane, then Stephanie to provoke Triple H who was the WWE Champion. This was all because of what happened in 2004. Now of course that doesn't make sense because

(a) for this whole design or plan of Orton to work, Orton punted Vince before The Rumble. Triple H wasn't the Champion yet and Orton wasn't the Rumble Winner yet. How would Orton have known Triple H would have won the Title at No Way Out? It's a flawed plan.

(b) If Orton wanted to extract revenge on Triple H why did he wait until 2009? He had 3 years. Orton was already pretty ruthless prior but since then he was busy with other things; if this really bothered him why wait for so long?

(C)So they make it personal because Randy Orton beat the crap out of his in-laws? Big deal Triple H and Shawn Michaels beat the cr@p out of Shane and Vince back in 2006. Heck even Triple H smashed Vince's back with a Sledge Hammer. I find it funny how Triple H is pissed at Orton for Punting and Old guy like Vince when Triple H the same thing not too long ago. As for Stephanie, if RKO'ing his wife crossed the line then why didn't Triple H go berzerk at The Rock after WM2000 when they were still Kayfabe married, or when Austin stunned the whole family in the RAW Homecomming in 2005, in which she would be pregnant a few years later which, can we assume based on Triple H's promo for his build up at WM25, was his child? A

(d) Hitting a finisher on Vince is nothing new; Austin, Foley, Undertaker, The Rock, etc. all did it before. So why is there so much emphasis on how shocking it was that Orton punted Vince. They replayed the whole thing and made it look like a big deal.

So these are my problems with the feud. I didn't even go as far as discussing the decent, at best, matches they had.

Coupled with a "been there done that" feud and the many storyline inconsistencies. I found rivalry they had in 2009 really forced and didn't feel like any real heat in the feud was built up.