Triple H only buried one guy his entire career and that's Booker T. The Reign of Terror is a false narrative people made up because they were upset that a non smark favourite was on top. So here's a breakdown of his major feuds since the introduction of the WHC as that's when the narrative is said to of happened:
-Faced RVD in his first defence. Won after Flair interfered thus starting the formation of Evolution. It wouldn't of made sense for the inaugural champion to lose so soon. Plus, RVD just lost the IC title so it would've been a bit too much too soon. RVD wasn't buried, he merely lost. He was still a credible upper guy as seen by him being in the EC match later that year. RVD even admitted himself that he wasn't a dependable guy to make champion which he later proved to be correct.
-Kane:HHH took his IC title, embarrassed him with the Katie Vick storyline and took his mask. That being said, after all that, Kane was actually in his hottest storyline he ever had since the brand split when he went full psycho after being unmasked. Kane was actually main eventing over HHH and Goldberg when he was doing his crazed antics. It was Kane's poor storylines and booking WAY after his Triple H feuds that killed his momentum. I don't think Kane was buried by HHH even though he lost a lot to him, he wasn't ruined because the unmasking actually made him a more prominent feature.
-Loses the belt to HBK and then regains it. Back and forth feud at this point they're both legends so no one is buried.
-Steiner: His in ring performances declined so much that it became a liability to his popularity. At the Royal Rumble PPV, after Steiner botched moves and was performing poorly to begin with, the crowd started to boo him and cheer Triple H and that wasn't down solely to Triple H because the fans were cheering Steiner going into the match. He buried himself.
Booker T:This is the one case where I won't deny that it was a burial.
Kevin Nash:Was anyone crying out for Nash to be champion at that stage of his career? HHH winning was the right outcome.
Goldberg: Yes it would've been better if he won at Summerslam but he did get the title in the end and got clean victories over Triple H. Sure HHH won the feud in the end but what you have to remember is that Goldberg was only set to perform for a year and would leave after Mania. They couldn't build the program around him too much because he wasn't gonna stay long. Goldberg beat Triple H at back to back PPVs and at Survivor Series, he beat all 4 members of Evolution.
HBK again
raw finish at Rumble. Not a burial.
Chris Benoit:Lost to Benoit every single time in all of his defences. He gave Benoit the biggest victory of his career. If you want to say that he was main eventing over Benoit, Benoit didn't have the skill set (mic skills and character) to carry storylines as the top star. There's a reason they didn't make him champion again and he was one of the lowest House Show draws ever.
-Randy Orton:From a straightforward perspective, it looked like a burial. But once you find out the reasoning behind what happened, it was necessary. Orton was struggling with alcoholism and he himself admitted that he wasn't ready to become champion and the original plan was for him to fight HHH at mania. Orton's problems were seen as a liability therefore they had to make the quick transfer to Triple H. Orton never had an amazing top face connection and there's a reason they waited 3 years for him to next hold a world title in 2007. Plus, he fought Undertaker at Mania so it's not as if he slid down the card.
Elimination Chamber match 2005:Wins the title but there was a story to it as the purpose was to further progress the story between him and Batista.
Batista:Loses to Batista 3 times straight and cementing him as a top star.
John Cena: Cena was WWE champion sure but he needed that little extra to be THE FRANCHISE PLAYER! Cena beating Triple H did just that.
DX reunions: Just some fun. The Spirit Squad were never gonna amount to much.
WWE championship reigns: Mostly feuded with well established guys and unless you wanted to see Koslov as champion I don't see any problems here. Umaga's substance abuse problems didn't make him a dependable top champion so he couldn't take the title from HHH.
Gets retired from being a full timer by Sheamus thus negating any damage caused by Sheamus losing to him at mania.
Undertaker feud: Loses that
CM Punk: Yeah him winning was a bad move but CM Punk wasn't buried. If he was buried he would've slid down the card. Punk went on to have the longest WWE Title reign in modern history. Losing to Triple HHH really didn't derail him.
Lesnar: Yeah him winning at mania wasn't the best but the thing is Lesnar actually won that feud in the end and is 2-1 against Triple H.
Loses to Bryan, Reigns and Rollins at Wrestlemanias thus giving them some of their biggest wins.
Sting was a bit iffy but he was already a legend at that point and was retired after his next match.In hindsight, that may of been the best move but with Sting, he simply came into the company far too late to warrant more.
I'm not counting one off moments like him beating up London and Kendrick (were those guys ever gonna amount to more than tag guys and cruiserweight champions?) and Ryder (his rivalry with Kane and association with Cena did more damage).
I just don't see it when people say that Triple H buries everyone. I'd actually argue that he's good at putting people over seeing how he made Batista's career, cemented Cena as the next top guy, gave Benoit his biggest moment, helped give Bryan his biggest moment, cemented Sheamus as a top guy and has lost to the 2 top guys today in Roman and Seth. Most of Triple H's victories in 2002-2005 weren't even clean. The only feuds he won clean were with HBK and Nash, 2 guys who had already cemented their place as legends.
I definitely see why people think the Reign of Terror was so bad because he did hold the title for the majority of the time but the thing was, there weren't many top guys to capitalise on at the time. Goldberg couldn't stay long, HBK didn't need the title, sure Y2J and RVD could've been pushed more but that's not down to Triple H burying them and both flopped as top champion anyway (Y2J due to being unremarkable and RVD getting himself in trouble) and Orton bombed on his own account.
I am convinced most people haven't actually watched RAW during that time period and are just quoting narratives spawned by Meltzer and Smarks revisionist history. Triple H didn't even hog that much spotlight. The Austin/Bischoff feud took more of RAW's screentime, when Kane was unmasked, his antics took priority over the title scene and The Rock/Austin conclusion also took priority. The only time period that he really became the big priority for RAW was when he feuded with Orton and Batista AKA when you need to build new stars.
To summarise, I don't think Triple H deserves this reputation as a burying machine. You can't even say that he used his marriage to boost his status when he was already a multiple time WWE champion before he started dating Stephanie.
-Faced RVD in his first defence. Won after Flair interfered thus starting the formation of Evolution. It wouldn't of made sense for the inaugural champion to lose so soon. Plus, RVD just lost the IC title so it would've been a bit too much too soon. RVD wasn't buried, he merely lost. He was still a credible upper guy as seen by him being in the EC match later that year. RVD even admitted himself that he wasn't a dependable guy to make champion which he later proved to be correct.
-Kane:HHH took his IC title, embarrassed him with the Katie Vick storyline and took his mask. That being said, after all that, Kane was actually in his hottest storyline he ever had since the brand split when he went full psycho after being unmasked. Kane was actually main eventing over HHH and Goldberg when he was doing his crazed antics. It was Kane's poor storylines and booking WAY after his Triple H feuds that killed his momentum. I don't think Kane was buried by HHH even though he lost a lot to him, he wasn't ruined because the unmasking actually made him a more prominent feature.
-Loses the belt to HBK and then regains it. Back and forth feud at this point they're both legends so no one is buried.
-Steiner: His in ring performances declined so much that it became a liability to his popularity. At the Royal Rumble PPV, after Steiner botched moves and was performing poorly to begin with, the crowd started to boo him and cheer Triple H and that wasn't down solely to Triple H because the fans were cheering Steiner going into the match. He buried himself.
Booker T:This is the one case where I won't deny that it was a burial.
Kevin Nash:Was anyone crying out for Nash to be champion at that stage of his career? HHH winning was the right outcome.
Goldberg: Yes it would've been better if he won at Summerslam but he did get the title in the end and got clean victories over Triple H. Sure HHH won the feud in the end but what you have to remember is that Goldberg was only set to perform for a year and would leave after Mania. They couldn't build the program around him too much because he wasn't gonna stay long. Goldberg beat Triple H at back to back PPVs and at Survivor Series, he beat all 4 members of Evolution.
HBK again
Chris Benoit:Lost to Benoit every single time in all of his defences. He gave Benoit the biggest victory of his career. If you want to say that he was main eventing over Benoit, Benoit didn't have the skill set (mic skills and character) to carry storylines as the top star. There's a reason they didn't make him champion again and he was one of the lowest House Show draws ever.
-Randy Orton:From a straightforward perspective, it looked like a burial. But once you find out the reasoning behind what happened, it was necessary. Orton was struggling with alcoholism and he himself admitted that he wasn't ready to become champion and the original plan was for him to fight HHH at mania. Orton's problems were seen as a liability therefore they had to make the quick transfer to Triple H. Orton never had an amazing top face connection and there's a reason they waited 3 years for him to next hold a world title in 2007. Plus, he fought Undertaker at Mania so it's not as if he slid down the card.
Elimination Chamber match 2005:Wins the title but there was a story to it as the purpose was to further progress the story between him and Batista.
Batista:Loses to Batista 3 times straight and cementing him as a top star.
John Cena: Cena was WWE champion sure but he needed that little extra to be THE FRANCHISE PLAYER! Cena beating Triple H did just that.
DX reunions: Just some fun. The Spirit Squad were never gonna amount to much.
WWE championship reigns: Mostly feuded with well established guys and unless you wanted to see Koslov as champion I don't see any problems here. Umaga's substance abuse problems didn't make him a dependable top champion so he couldn't take the title from HHH.
Gets retired from being a full timer by Sheamus thus negating any damage caused by Sheamus losing to him at mania.
Undertaker feud: Loses that
CM Punk: Yeah him winning was a bad move but CM Punk wasn't buried. If he was buried he would've slid down the card. Punk went on to have the longest WWE Title reign in modern history. Losing to Triple HHH really didn't derail him.
Lesnar: Yeah him winning at mania wasn't the best but the thing is Lesnar actually won that feud in the end and is 2-1 against Triple H.
Loses to Bryan, Reigns and Rollins at Wrestlemanias thus giving them some of their biggest wins.
Sting was a bit iffy but he was already a legend at that point and was retired after his next match.In hindsight, that may of been the best move but with Sting, he simply came into the company far too late to warrant more.
I'm not counting one off moments like him beating up London and Kendrick (were those guys ever gonna amount to more than tag guys and cruiserweight champions?) and Ryder (his rivalry with Kane and association with Cena did more damage).
I just don't see it when people say that Triple H buries everyone. I'd actually argue that he's good at putting people over seeing how he made Batista's career, cemented Cena as the next top guy, gave Benoit his biggest moment, helped give Bryan his biggest moment, cemented Sheamus as a top guy and has lost to the 2 top guys today in Roman and Seth. Most of Triple H's victories in 2002-2005 weren't even clean. The only feuds he won clean were with HBK and Nash, 2 guys who had already cemented their place as legends.
I definitely see why people think the Reign of Terror was so bad because he did hold the title for the majority of the time but the thing was, there weren't many top guys to capitalise on at the time. Goldberg couldn't stay long, HBK didn't need the title, sure Y2J and RVD could've been pushed more but that's not down to Triple H burying them and both flopped as top champion anyway (Y2J due to being unremarkable and RVD getting himself in trouble) and Orton bombed on his own account.
I am convinced most people haven't actually watched RAW during that time period and are just quoting narratives spawned by Meltzer and Smarks revisionist history. Triple H didn't even hog that much spotlight. The Austin/Bischoff feud took more of RAW's screentime, when Kane was unmasked, his antics took priority over the title scene and The Rock/Austin conclusion also took priority. The only time period that he really became the big priority for RAW was when he feuded with Orton and Batista AKA when you need to build new stars.
To summarise, I don't think Triple H deserves this reputation as a burying machine. You can't even say that he used his marriage to boost his status when he was already a multiple time WWE champion before he started dating Stephanie.