The WWE Universe's opinion of Triple H has changed drastically lately. Now that he's retired from in-ring action, Paul "Triple H" Levesque has been endeared to wrestling fans thanks to his work transitioning into the role of Chief Content Officer, and many fans see him as responsible for one of the best times in the company's history. However, there was once a time when Triple H was universally hated as a wrestler for how he was booked.

This time for Triple H is best recognized as the Reign of Terror, pinpointed between 2002 and 2005 during WWE's Ruthless Aggression era. It's named as such because Triple H practically terrorized the WWE roster at the time, rarely coming out of the losing end of a feud or match. When he did lose, it wouldn't be long before he'd be back on top as if nothing happened.

Booked strongly at every turn and spotlighted as the star of the main event picture, the strength of his booking often came at the detriment of someone else's push.

How Was Triple H Booked Pre-Reign of Terror?

A Steady Rise to the Top

To truly understand how jarring fans found the Reign of Terror, one must first understand how Triple H was booked before the reign. The Game officially became a main event star with his first WWE Championship reign, defeating Mankind on the August 23, 1999, episode of Raw. His reign only lasted 22 days and, oddly enough, he lost his title to his future father-in-law, Mr. McMahon. Losing to a 54-year-old man isn't exactly the sign of a dominant main event talent.

In contrast to the Reign of Terror, Triple H was far from terrorizing anyone on the roster during the Attitude Era. Most of his booking saw him gain assistance from some outside force to win his matches, usually DX while he was still the leader, or his manager/lover Stephanie McMahon. Even then, as he often traded wins with his Attitude Era cohorts, there was plenty of room for him to look weak as often as he looked strong.

It's also important to keep in mind that what many people find so confounding about Triple H's Reign of Terror is that he often wrestled young, up-and-coming talent. This made his so-called "burials" all the more prevalent because it was usually his opponent's first (and, in some cases, last) shot at superstardom. On the contrary, all Triple H's Attitude Era opponents were firmly established main eventers like Stone Cold, Undertaker, and The Rock, hence why he traded wins so often. Beating The Rock in a match wasn't going to bury the most electrifying man in sports entertainment, so Triple H could be just another main event heel.

How Did the Reign Begin?

September 2, 2002, episode of Monday Night Raw

The summer of 2002 marked the official start of the Ruthless Aggression Era, and by proxy, marked the first Brand Split to cut the roster in half between SmackDown and Raw. When Brock Lesnar ed the SmackDown roster as Undisputed WWE Champion, this meant that Raw was without a World Title. Raw's General Manager Eric Bischoff had the idea to re-introduce the Big Gold Belt from WCW as Raw's World Heavyweight Championship. His first order of business was to quite literally hand the title to Triple H and dub him the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion.

This was something of a mixed bag of booking and a big pill to swallow. On one hand, in theory, a heel winning a championship he didn't earn or deserve should be a good way to get heat on someone. However, while fans didn't like the decision, it wasn't so much heat on the character as much as they were jarred at the booking decision, a running theme for his Reign of Terror. Rather than making Triple H look like a dastardly heel, this made the championship look less meaningful, as it could simply be handed to someone.

Who Suffered from Triple H's Reign?

Booker T Got the Short End of the Stick

While the Attitude Era had plenty of stars, WWE was in a rebuilding stage with their roster, pushing new stars alongside Superstars like Triple H who represented the old guard. With stars like The Rock and Stone Cold gone, it was anyone's ball game and there was room for anyone to grab the brass ring. Raw was as much of a Land of Opportunity as SmackDown was at the time, but what prevented Raw from receiving the same moniker is that the old guard (a.k.a. Triple H) never truly made room for the new guard to thrive.

After Triple H defeated an insanely popular RVD at Unforgiven 2002, he wouldn't recover from this loss until winning the WWE Title at One Night Stand 2006. In the same vein, Kane's push was stopped hard after losing a Title vs. Title match against Triple H, although the Katie Vick thing didn't do him any favors either. In 2004, Randy Orton losing his World Championship to Trips one month after winning did harm to his career that took him years to recover from, not winning another World Title until 2007. The most well-documented victim of the Reign of Terror, however, was Booker T.

Booker T was immensely over with crowds in 2003. Heading into WrestleMania XIX, fans were ready to see the former 5-time WCW Champion get his spotlight in WWE. After earning a shot to face Triple H for his title at Mania, the champion would then cut an infamous promo on Booker for the March 3, 2003 episode of Raw with racial connotations. He looked him up and down and told Booker that "people like you" don't get to be World Champion, and exist to make "people like me" laugh with his dancing and entertainment.

Triple H then pinned Booker T clean at WrestleMania. Many pushes mentioned on this list halted because Triple H often beat his opponents in such a definitive fashion, but it's this moment that truly felt like a nail in the coffin. It's because Triple H explicitly stated that Booker T did not deserve to be in the main event picture, and by beating Booker with relative ease, it sent a message to audiences that his words were true. Like Orton, Kane, and RVD, it took Booker years to recover from this loss and return to World Title contention.

Who Benefited from the Reign of Terror?

Not Many, But More Than One Might Think

It's easy to disparage the Reign of Terror for the harm it caused, but there were rare instances where it helped. It's the fact that Triple H seldom lost during his Reign of Terror that made it mean something valuable when someone actually dethroned him. Shawn Michaels' return to wrestling in 2002 was solidified as a true main-event comeback run when he beat Triple H for the title, even though Trips won it back the next month. Meanwhile, Chris Benoit (for better or worse) did win a WrestleMania main event at Triple H's expense, leading to a 5-month reign.

Most significantly, if Triple H made any new star from this era, it's Batista. The Animal's win at WrestleMania 21 marked the end of Triple H's Reign of Terror not only because of how dominant he looked standing over a bloody Cerebral Assassin but because Big Dave beat Hunter clean at three consecutive PPVs. This build is still ed as one of the most effective in modern times, and it created a min event star that carried one of the company's brands for the following years.

Anyone getting the upper hand on Triple H during his Reign of Terror was unheard of, but to do so three times in a row marked an official changing of the guard in WWE, and one that fans had been waiting to see for a very long time.