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Biggest backstage politics injustice in WWE history?

114K views 192 replies 87 participants last post by  Headliner 
#1 ·
This might not be the most notorious, but it's the one the pissed me off the most..

There were reports that circulated circa 2006 that HHH lobbied to have Edge stripped of the WWE title before Wrestlemania 22 so that he could have a main event spot against John Cena. While this rumor isn't 100% confirmable, I thought that it did alot to damage Edge's credibility as a main eventer, and he really should've main evented against John Cena that year. Thankfully, Edge found a way to climb back to that spot later on.

What are your picks?
 
#52 ·
Well, I very well could be wrong, but it was a detailed report at the time, and the assumption that it may be true pissed me off. It sure as hell didn't surprise me given HHH's paranoia over his spot.

Also, keep in mind that HHH was inserted in every Wrestlemania title match from 2000 to 2009 with 2 exceptions, and one of those exceptions was in 2007 because he was injured. However he stated on Shawn Michael's DVD that he was originally supposed to main event that year..

I disagree that HHH was the perfect choice for Wrestlemania 22. He returned during the summer of 2005 to feud with Flair, but throughout the whole year he didn't do anything noteworthy. His last big angle was losing to Batista 3 times in a row. Edge however was fresh off of screwing Cena after the Elimination Chamber to win the title, the ratings during his reign proved that people were excited over his fresh new ''Rated R'' character, notwithstanding that Edge and Cena's characters were polar oposites. Had they built that feud and sustained it till Wrestlemania, it wouldve been the perfect time to have Cena extract revenge and solitify Edge as a legit contender in the process.
 
#53 ·
1989 - Hogan finally meets Savage at Wrestlemania V. Hogan beats him for the title. Rather than face Savage in the anticipated rematch at Summerslam, or a program with Rick Rude as creative suggests - Hogan deccides to go a different route.

Hogan suggests a tag team match, pitting himself and his close friend Brutus Beefcake, against Savage and an ACTOR, Tiny Lister who played Zeus in the Hogan film "No Holds Barred". The film opened that summer to decent business, so Hogan uses a WWE PPV to promote the film, while "giving the rub" to his friend Beefcake.

1990 - Hogan agrees to drop the belt to Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania. Only with a guarentee of an extended break and the promise he would get the title back. A month after 'Mania, Hogan is "attacked" by Earthquake and off TV for a few months. After teasing retirement on TV, Hogan returns at Summerslam as "Immortal" and vanquishes his good friend John Tenta (Earthquake).

1990 - To preserve the Warrior character, creative decides he will drop the title to someone OTHER than Hogan. Despite the allure of a Hogan/Warrior rematch - Randy Savage is rumoured to be the man Warrior will drop the belt to at Royal Rumble '91. Hogan suggests Sgt Slaughter. Slaughter has just returned as an "Iraqi sympathizer" and Hogan pushes for Slaughter to beat Warrior, then he can beat Slaughter to regain the belt.

1991 - Hogan defeats Slaughter a few months after "Desert Storm" starts. He waves his flag and defeats the Iraqi villan at Wrestlemania. After headlining Wrestlemania for the past two years, Savage and Warrior are reduced to the undercard.

1991 - Hogan again decides against a rematch with Warrior at Summerslam, and suggests they team together against Slaughter & The Iron Shiek. Six months after he had beaten Slaughter for the belt, he feels the feud is not over and that fans will tune in to watch him team with Warrior against "the enemy".

1992 - McMahon decides that Flair will win the title at Royal Rumble, then drop the title to Hogan in a "dream match" at Wrestlemania VIII. Hogan decides he wants to take another extended break after 'Mania. He suggests Flair drop the title to Savage instead and he can work with Sid Vicious and "give him the rub".

Despite the fact that Flair/Savage is the WWE Title match, it is placed in the middle of the show. Hogan and the lumbering Sid Vicious close the show. The first time the WWE Champion has not been in the main event of Wrestlemania.

1993 - Hogan agrees to return to team with Brutus Beefcake against Money Inc. at Wrestlemania and it appears to be the first time he will NOT be in the main event.

When Hogan learns that WWE Champion Bret Hart is scheduled to drop the title to Yokozuna, he informs McMahon that this will be the first Wrestlemania that a face doesn't win the main event and the "people aren't gonna like it". Hogan suggests "surprising" the audience by challenging Yoko immediately afterward and beating him to win the WWE Title. Vince McMahon agees. Hogan beats Yoko to regain the title.
 
#61 ·
1. Shawn Michaels backstage was a dick

2. Any HHH win from 2005 onwards

3. Kevin Nash ever being a wrestler and winning the title just because of who he was friends with

5 The Great Khali ever been in the WWE
 
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#78 ·
No, that was an isolated incident in which I made sure to mention that it was a report that wasn't 100% confirmed, much like most reports on the Wrestling Observer and such..

I added it under the speculation that it was true, with the possibility of being wrong.

Please, there's no need to get your panties up in a bunch :)
 
#172 ·
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

It's worth noting that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Shawn Michaels, who long harbored animosity towards each other, crossed paths during WrestleMania weekend. WWE.com published a photo (link) of Johnson and Michaels sharing a laugh shortly after HBK had appeared on stage at WrestleMania XXVII to commemorate his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. According to a source, their past animosity was actually settled in 2008 when Johnson inducted his father, Rocky Johnson, and grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Johnson's issues with Michaels dated back to when he was a teenager. He long harbored animosity towards Michaels because he felt he was disrespectful to his maternal grandmother (Lia Maivia) at a wrestling show she was coordinating for Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling. His disrespect towards her incensed Johnson, and nearly led to an altercation.

Their issues persisted several years later when Johnson was a rookie starting out in WWE. Bret Hart wrote in his 2007 autobiography, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, that Michaels and Triple H disliked Johnson "intensely." Both resented him because he was talented and Hart, a political foe, had taken a shine to him. Many believe they were out to sabotage Johnson so that Hunter would ascend to the top before him, since they were both viewed as the future of the company at the time.

Michaels and Hunter conspired to obstruct Johnson's push in March 1997, who was the Intercontinental Champion at the time. Michaels suggested to Vince McMahon that Johnson lose the title to Hart on an episode of RAW. Meanwhile, Hunter insisted to Hart that he beat Johnson. Their suggestion would serve two purposes — sabotage Johnson's push and take Hart out of the world title scene. Hart, however, refused to beat Johnson. Hart felt it wouldn't build heat for his newly launched heel turn, not to mention that it would undermine Johnson. Instead, Hart insisted on a DQ finish, which infuriated Michaels and Hunter.

By 1999, Johnson had ascended to the top of WWE, going beyond nearly wrestler, including Hunter. Meanwhile, a back injury had forced Michaels to retire and he was relegated to sporadic appearances. Nonetheless, Michaels attempted to politically undermine Johnson by lobbying to McMahon that he be replaced by Hunter in the main event at WrestleMania XV. His suggestion fell on deaf ears.

Johnson stated years later in a 2005 interview with WWE.com that he never had interest in working with Michaels — when asked if he would have liked to.

There was definitely animosity between these two. All based on jealousy. But then again HHH and HBK had the right to be jealous seeing as Rocky is greater than the two of them combined.
 
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#174 ·
Thanks for the info. LOL stupid boy-toy, during the entire time he was gone the ratings went up & in fact WWE aquired the other company, so of course his stupid ideas fell on deaf ears.

Shawn Michaels was a low-life piece of shit then but, as weird as it sounds though, I don't believe Triple H ever had a problem with The Rock, HHH even said in a shoot interview they've never had a cross word with each other but did have a professional rivalry. I can believe what Triple H says because the real Paul Levesque is a very humble man, and he was the only person in the Kliq that wasn't like a drug user or an alcoholic, The Game has always had a good head on his shoulders. I've certainly never heard The Great One come out and say one bad thing about Triple H either.....
 
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#2 ·
I'm not sure if that's the case, though I am inclined to believe that HHH pulled the rug out from under him. Edge was vocal about feeling he should have been in the main event at WM against Cena and that he did think that he'd been shafted when they took the title away early. Apparently their plans were not set in stone until very close to the Royal Rumble, so there very well might have been some backstage politicking that got the title off of him.

On the other hand it could have been a business decision with the higher ups not believing people would buy the PPV with Edge in the main event on the card--but at the time that would have been ludicrous to assume considering Edge's first title reign saw ratings increase with packed house shows finally cheering John Cena and cursing Edge to hell. He was really hated then.

Personally I do think that HHH flexed some muscle backstage and made it out to be a business decision--but it was so transparent it was enough to tick outsiders and people in the lockerroom off enough at the time that there were plenty of reports leaking out backstage from pissed off guys in the lockerroom over Edge losing his spot--because after all if it happened to them, it could happen to anyone. It was almost like Edge's heel run was becoming too hot and was in danger of eclipsing Triple H's heel run (and it could have IMO if they hadn't cut the rug out from under him--I mean his first title defense was against Flair in a freaking ladder match, and he was decimating his opponents, good on the mic and getting booed to all hell).

The Montreal Screwjob is obvious, and as much as I can't stand Matt Hardy--I have to say 2005 when he got fired is also up there. I mean, he got fired and had to watch his ex make out with her new boyfriend every week, and to top it off they scripted the promos to take direct shots at him, repeating things he'd said in interviews.

Not that he didn't deserve it, the whiner.
 
#5 ·
I don't remember something like that about Edge and HHH but the main event was always HHH/Cena for WM22, They just wanted to take the briefcase from Edge before WM and the 3 weeks between NYR and the Rumble was a good opportunity to do it. For Edge, this short title run was big for long term plans about him, the rating went up in almost 1.0 at that time and thanks to Lita's drawing power, he got a huge segment on his first night as champion, 5.2, imagine how big it was if they saved it for the next week with more hype?
 
#10 ·
I heard that it was because he didn't trust him after what had happened with Lita. I also heard that if it were not for Undertaker getting injured, Edge would have stayed on RAW "to put HHH decisively over".

z0mg stewpid triple h iz mean y he no put shovel away

on the flipside we have lack of politics: Christian what the hell were you thinking on May 3? Oh sure Randy no problem I only waited ten plus years to have this thing but it's fine you can have it two days after I win it. WTF :no:

It's a shame, because you can keep your personal integrity or you can keep your world championship. It's rare that someone gets to keep both. That being said Christian, you should have gotten your hands a little bit dirtier with this.

Also, I don't care if you're bloody Jinder Mahal, losing someone their job is just not cool Randy.

OH and speaking of Edge, his pointless non title loss against HBK before moving to Smackdown, because, in HHH's words "you always have to do the job on the way out". Hunter, the man's moving to the other show, not fucking WCW :lmao Ah, whatever. Silly cats.
 
#141 · (Edited)
I heard that it was because he didn't trust him after what had happened with Lita. I also heard that if it were not for Undertaker getting injured, Edge would have stayed on RAW "to put HHH decisively over".

z0mg stewpid triple h iz mean y he no put shovel away

on the flipside we have lack of politics: Christian what the hell were you thinking on May 3? Oh sure Randy no problem I only waited ten plus years to have this thing but it's fine you can have it two days after I win it. WTF :no:

It's a shame, because you can keep your personal integrity or you can keep your world championship. It's rare that someone gets to keep both. That being said Christian, you should have gotten your hands a little bit dirtier with this.

Also, I don't care if you're bloody Jinder Mahal, losing someone their job is just not cool Randy.
OH and speaking of Edge, his pointless non title loss against HBK before moving to Smackdown, because, in HHH's words "you always have to do the job on the way out". Hunter, the man's moving to the other show, not fucking WCW :lmao Ah, whatever. Silly cats.
Let's just blame Orton for all life's problems fpalm. Um you know vince don't like Christian and feels he isn't really a star. Vince wanted Orton to beat christian and that's what happened. How do you know Orton was the one playing politics? Ha ya don't. Vince made the right call. Christian later got his one month reign so stop cying.

I've heard of Triple H's inexplicable hatred of the Rock many times, but I'd always heard that HBK didn't have any problems with him. I actually heard that Triple H tried telling Shawn that the Rock was no good, and HBK just said some shit along the lines of "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Also, I'd like to add in Triple H's burial of Booker T at Wrestlemania 19. Booker had no business walking out of that Wrestlemania without the title. That whole feud was so one-sided that it was ridiculous. It took Booker YEARS to get out of mid-card hell after that.
I am a Triple H fan but I 100% agree.
 
#11 ·
Agreed with the HBK comments. Shawn in the 90's made HHH in the 2000's look like Barry Horowitz.

The Edge/HHH thing from 2006 is false. The plan was always to do Cena/HHH so that Cena could be "made" from a top guy like Hunter.

Reading Jericho's first book "A Lion's Tale", I gotta say the whole thing with him and Goldberg pissed me off. WCW had a hot angle going with Jericho harping on Bill and Chris just wanted to get creamed on PPV, but Bischoff and Hogan put the kibosh on it and he just got speared on TV. Hello, WWF!
 
#18 ·
I remember this. Goldberg didn't even know what Jericho was doing for what 2 months? Then he decided it was ruining his character, so they just stopped. Ended it for free on tv. What a shame.

Wow did WCW really drop the ball with Jericho, he could have been huge.
 
#14 ·
Shawn and Hunter are obvious mentions, but I'm really surprised that we're on page 2 and see no mention of Hogan. Need I remind you guys of Wrestlemania 9 or the Mega Powers?
 
#17 ·
Holy shit, how could I forget about Hogan?!? Thanks, Cornette Face!


Hogan not agreeing to put Bret over in '93 was particularly harsh, seeing how the company had already shot publicity photos for the match (Hogan/Bret playing tug-o-war with the Title) that made their way into the public eye. It was supposed to happen at Summerslam that year, but instead we got Yoko beating Hogan after a "Japanese photographer" blinded Hogan, and Bret went on to squash Doink and cripple Lawler in the Sharpshooter at Summerslam.
 
#26 ·
I gotta say treatment of Christian lately.
I was so excited when he beat Del Rio and that he had finally got his..

Only to watch him lose it to Randy Boreton for no reason and in my opinion didn't deserve the world title at the time, but it didn't stop there.
They ruined him and made people hate him once again for no reason with the One More Match bullshit.
 
#32 ·
the way christian was treated this past year in his feud with randy orton is criminal ...i really feel bad for the guy

also, i never heard about the tripleh /edge bullshit but if thats true then it just lowers my respect for triple h even more (not like i really had any respect for him in the 1st place ) ...

and wwe wonders why they cant make stars ???
 
#67 ·
also, i never heard about the tripleh /edge bullshit but if thats true then it just lowers my respect for triple h even more (not like i really had any respect for him in the 1st place ) ...
the hypocrisy here astounds me. Everyday theres a thread with people saying how they hate Cena but have respect for him cos of his work ethic etc etc. But then they just full out hate and don't respect Triple H despite the fact the guy has an amazing work ethic, dedicated his entire life to the company. Really? Sure don't like him but I don't see why people don't respect him.... unless they're the simpletons who only believe he is where he is cos he married the right person.

I'd like to add Austin - for both their first title reigns he didn't drop the belt to Rock or Triple H. Foley was the middleman via tournament or triple threat. I remember reading in regards to Triple H he didn't think the guy was ready so refused to drop to him... but then would drop to Mick (doesn't really make sense to me but hey you read what you read)
 
#33 ·
Not it WWE but WCW. I think Hulk Hogan Vs Sting at Starrcade 97 was a big injustice considering it was the biggest angle of the year and could have done great things for WCW. Kevin Nash ending Goldberg's streak as well.

As for WWE
Randy Savage never got a clean victory over Hulk Hogan. Hogan always had to be put over strongly in their matches. He couldn't give Savage ONE clean victory over him.
 
#34 ·
Hogan is a bastard for not wanting to lose clean to Sting at Starrcade 97.
 
#38 ·
The Montreal Screwjob. Duh.
Totally agree. Bret should have never refused to job, then this whole sorry story wouldn't have happened in the first place.

Watched a match from shortly after when he went to WCW and faced Ric Flair, and made him tap out. Pfft. Bret had creative control in his WWF contract, I'm willing to bet it was the same thing in WCW.

Except hell, everyone had creative control in WCW.
 
#40 ·
How about Hogan burying Undertaker when Taker was still a rising star?

The Undertaker did not attend the Hall of Fame Ceremony at WrestleMania 21 because he wanted to protect his character, but also because he and Hogan have long standing backstage heat. Undertaker has been bitter towards Hogan from his days early on in WWE when he worked two straight PPV's against Hogan. He heard that Hogan made a point of telling McMahon he wasn't ready for a top spot at that point and claimed Taker didn't protect him well during their matches including on a Tombstone piledriver.

Ever since then, he and Hogan have not gotten along. Many respected the Undertakers decision not to attend the ceremony. On that same note, some are saying that it took a phone call from Vince McMahon in order to persuade Steve Austin to attend the Hall of Fame Ceremony. There is also some heat between Austin and Hogan, but once Austin was there he seemed to enjoy himself and there are pictures of he and Hogan at the event speaking with one another.
Assuming this is true, Hogan ruined Taker's first WWE title reign, it didn't even last a week, Taker was also one of the youngest WWE champions in history when he won the title, not to mention he didn't win the title again until WrestleMania 13, about 5-6 years later.
 
#44 ·
How about Hogan burying Undertaker when Taker was still a rising star?



Assuming this is true, Hogan ruined Taker's first WWE title reign, it didn't even last a week, Taker was also one of the youngest WWE champions in history when he won the title, not to mention he didn't win the title again until WrestleMania 13, about 5-6 years later.
Wow... Taker is normally considered one of the most respectful guys on the roster, so if this is true, then that says a lot about what an asshole Hogan must have been.
 
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