WWE found tremendous chemistry when having Triple H and Kurt Angle feud with each other towards the end of the Attitude Era. Angle was the hottest newcomer moving up the card into the main event picture. An alliance and teased romantic moments between Angle and Stephanie McMahon led to Triple H naturally getting involved.
The action always delivered from the strong matches on PPV to the entertaining promos on television. Angle and Triple H may have benefited from having more matches together, but they certainly made the most of their opportunities. The rivalry between Triple H and Angle deserves another look for the under the radar details.
10 Stephanie Low Blowing Kurt Won Triple H First Big Singles Match
The love triangle involving Kurt Angle, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon provided great results for storytelling in the Attitude Era. Stephanie was split between her husband and close friend when both guys grew jealous of the other.
Their other matches get discussed more, so fans often forget that Stephanie did pick a side in their Unforgiven 2000 singles match. Stephanie was forced on the spot towards the end of the match and hit Angle with a low blow to help Triple H steal the win.
9 Kurt Added Trish To Combat Stephanie
The next big singles match between Triple H and Kurt Angle took place at Royal Rumble 2001 for the WWE Championship. Angle was now the top champ in the promotion and had to get his win back against Triple H.
The alliance between Kurt and Stephanie McMahon ended when he recruited Trish Stratus to be his manager for the match. Status was dating Vince and became an enemy of Stephanie ahead of this to add more layers to the feud.
8 Triple H Still Attacked Angle When Turning Heel On Austin
Triple H’s hatred for Kurt Angle existed even when they were technically on the same side. The character of Triple H turned face for a few weeks before he reverted to the heel side by revealing he set up Steve Austin to get run over by a car.
Rikishi and Angle were facing Austin in a handicap match when Triple H made the save seemingly to help Austin. Triple H attacked Angle to make fans think he was on Austin’s side before hitting Stone Cold with a sledgehammer.
Rikishi and Triple H beat down Angle along with Austin to make it clear he wasn’t on their team moving forward and that Triple H still hated him.
7 Triple H Betrayed Angle During Raw Vs Smackdown Match
WWE has struggled to tell the brand rivalry story between Raw and Smackdown throughout the past few Survivor Series themes. 2017 featured Triple H joining Raw General Manager Kurt Angle as the leaders of the Raw male team due to Stephanie McMahon’s desire.
Triple H tricked Smackdown’s Shane McMahon into thinking they were on the same side when he hit teammate Angle with a Pedigree. A confused Shane trusted Triple H before he was betrayed as well for the Raw win. Angle was once again played for a fool by Triple H years after their original feud.
6 WWE Intentionally Kept Them Apart Following Brand Split
The rivalry between Triple H and Kurt Angle peaked from 2000 to early 2002. WWE booked them in quite a few matches throughout that time with different character alignments. However, the duo barely worked together after the brand split.
Angle explained on his podcast that Vince McMahon viewed Triple H as his most trusted main eventer for Raw and Angle for Smackdown. The trust in them to help lead their shows made it impossible for them to face off for many years.
5 Kurt Referenced Old Feud During Memorable Return To Raw
Kurt Angle spent about three years on the Smackdown brand before he moved over to Raw in 2005. The memorable promo between Angle, Triple H and Ric Flair is most discussed for the hilarious “Woo off’ between Angle and Flair.
However, WWE chose to bring Angle back to the red brand by having him confront fellow top heel Triple H due to their past. Triple H mocked Angle for stalking Booker T’s wife Sharmell on Smackdown, but Angle retorted by mentioning his history of winning over Triple H’s then-wife Stephanie McMahon.
4 Triple H Led Concussed Angle Through Match
The feud between Triple H and Kurt Angle peaked at SummerSlam 2000 when both challenged The Rock for the WWE Championship in a triple threat match. Angle and Triple H were too obsessed with each other and Stephanie McMahon to focus on Rock as the overall story.
There was a real concussion suffered by Angle during this match that saw the brilliance of Triple H take over. Angle shared that he couldn’t think straight, and Triple H did moves for the both of them, including going out of his way to fall when making it look like Angle was in control.
3 WWE Didn't Reference Past Storyline For WrestleMania 34
Longtime fans were excited to see Triple H and Kurt Angle match up again at WrestleMania 34 when they respectively teamed with Stephanie McMahon and Ronda Rousey. WWE didn’t discuss the past love triangle between Angle, Triple H and Stephanie at all during the build.
Rousey’s first-ever wrestling match was the story in play with Angle’s time as Raw General Manager putting him against Triple H and Stephanie. All four talents delivered an instant classic that got Rousey over from the start to have a great run.
2 Triple H's Return From Injury Featured Feud With Angle
Triple H fighting through a torn quad injury in 2001 to finish the match made him a hero to wrestling fans at the time. The return in 2002 would see WWE having to turn him face rather than keeping up his previous heel role.
Madison Square Garden erupted with an all-time great pop when Triple H returned. Kurt Angle was the perfect person to interrupt him and become the first program moving forward. Triple H getting to play a face got the best out of Angle with more structured storytelling.
1 Rare Successful Heel Vs Heel Feud
The idea of two faces having a match makes sense since they will each get fan support, but a heel vs heel match is often a death sentence for a feud. Triple H and Kurt Angle proved that it doesn’t always have to be that way.
WWE didn’t make either turn face during the first chapter of their rivalry with most of their matches coming with this alignment. Fans ended up choosing Triple H since Angle was a more obnoxious heel, but both men cheating to get ahead added to the matches and overall storyline.