Views From The Turnbuckle: Triple H Vs Seth Rollins; Can The Authority Finally Leave?

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of WrestlingInc or its staff

Right after SummerSlam, the rivalry between Triple H and Seth Rollins was set in motion when Triple H inexplicably turned on Rollins, costing him the Universal Championship and choosing Kevin Owens as the new champion of The Authority. Ever since then the build for a match between Triple H and Rollins has been building, finally coming to a head at WrestleMania this year.

Although that sounds like a build that has been going on for months, that isn't really accurate. After Triple H influenced the Universal Championship match that saw Owens leave with the title, he was absent from WWE programming for months. Rollins did always indicate that he was after Triple H, but with Triple H not on TV for months and months the feud lost momentum. Rollins would shout from the roof tops that he was going to take down the machine, but the machine was never on television, making him look pretty weak.

Anyway, Triple H finally did show up after months and months of waiting and the light switch for the feud switched back on. Ironically, the amount of time between Triple H turning on Rollins and Triple H actually appearing on WWE television has actually helped in aspects of the storytelling. All a lot fans remember, at least when they think about it on the surface, is that Triple H turned on Rollins and therefore Triple H is bad. They don't necessary remember the messy storytelling involving Rollins spending months after being dumped by the Authority coming off as a whiny brat who was mad that his bully friends were no longer helping him cheat.

The distance between the two parts of the story has also allowed Triple H to rewrite history, as in his promos leading up to WrestleMania he has consistently mentioned that the day Rollins turned against The Authority was the greatest mistake he ever made. Of course, if you actually look back you'll notice that Rollins never turned on The Authority, he was fine working with them until Triple H inexplicably decided to turn on him. Triple H's entire motivation for despising Rollins is non-existent, Rollins never turned against The Authority so Triple H never had a good reason to screw Rollins out of the Universal Championship. It doesn't make any sense, but nobody really remembers that, so it doesn't matter.
Outside of that, the build for the match over the last month has been very good. Rollins suffered a legitimate injury to his knee when Samoa Joe debuted and beat him down, which contributed to a story that Rollins is injured heading into WrestleMania. He is of course fine and ready to wrestle, but has added an element of reality to the situation. When Triple H inevitably ends up working over Rollins' knee in their match it will be more effective at building heat; because that REALLY is the knee that Rollins' injured.

WrestleMania itself does not have many matches on the card that are going to be considered great in-ring displays. A lot of them (Goldberg vs Lesnar, Styles vs Shane, Cena and Nikki vs The Miz and Maryse, The Undertaker vs Reigns) are going to be limited due to the personnel in the match. Really out of the big matches on the show, the only one that I think you can really expect to be really good is Triple H vs Rollins. In a way, this is the match that could make or break WrestleMania in a lot of people's eyes. If they have an awesome match, that might offset fans feelings over the main event (Lesnar vs Goldberg) being subpar.

A potential problem for the match is that both the outcome and structure of the match seem easily predictable. The match is an "Unsanctioned" bout because no doctor will clear Rollins to wrestle, which means there are no rules. Triple H matches over the last several years have often been no disqualification, mainly so he can use a sledgehammer. The sledgehammer of course, is one of the stupidest props in wrestling and should never appear in a ring again once Triple H retires. He never swings it the way you actually swing a sledgehammer, because if you did that you would kill the guy. The announcers always react as if he is going to use it the normal way and beg Triple H not to use it; even though when he actually does it it is obvious it didn't hurt at all. Imagine if instead of a sledgehammer he used an axe–and when he picked up the axe he didn't use the blade part but instead beat him the handle. It would be ridiculous right? It is basically the same thing with the sledgehammer, but it's Triple H so it has to be really cool and badass.

Anyway, because of the build involving Rollins' injury and the Unsanctioned stipulation, the match is going to be a lot of Triple H working over Rollins' knee. This is how Triple H works a lot of his matches, and I imagine it will look very similar to his match against Daniel Bryan a couple years ago, only this time he will be working over the knee of Rollins instead of his arm. Samoa Joe is also likely to run in and help Triple H at some point. Rollins will rally back and build towards the finish, which has to end with Rollins defeating Triple H, finally conquering his foe. It might be a simple match, but it will be the right decision and it should be pretty good if everything goes according to plan.

My one suggestion to WWE is that the result of this match should actually mean something long term. In the past, a wrestler has battled The Authority and finally fought their way to WrestleMania where they overcame the odds and conquered The Authority; only in the aftermath The Authority is still in charge and sends guys after the conquering hero and makes their life miserable, so despite the big win, nothing really changes which kind takes away from the importance of that big win at WrestleMania. Daniel Bryan finally beat Triple H and then Randy Orton and Batista, but The Authority stilled rolled over him afterwards. Roman Reigns beat Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania last year, but The Authority is still the exact same characters as they were before that loss, because The Authority storyline NEVER ENDS. It would be cool if Rollins beating Triple H actually means that The Authority no longer have that much power and stay away from Rollins, that way the match at WrestleMania feels like a major culmination, as opposed to just another chapter in a never-ending storyline.