Power Ranking Triple H's 14 WWE World Heavyweight Championship Reigns

On January 24, 2016, Triple H won the Royal Rumble match and added another WWE Championship to his impressive resume of title reigns, 14 in all.

The latest reign serves as a reminder of his incredible power both in front of and behind the cameras, as well as the connection he has with the audience. So strong is his character and detailed is his narrative that he can win a world title at 46 and be believable because of everything that preceded it.

His title reigns have been responsible for some extraordinary matches, moments and television in the 20 years that he has been employed by World Wrestling Entertainment.

As he prepares to defend his title against Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose or Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32, let's relive all 14 of his runs with the world title, whether the traditional WWE Championship or the Raw-exclusive World Heavyweight Championship, ranked according to the quality of opponents, historical significance and length.

It is far too early to tell where Triple H's current WWE Championship reign will rank when it comes to an end at WrestleMania 32, most likely at the hands of Roman Reigns.

His victory in the Royal Rumble was not unexpected, but the fact that he has remained as relevant as he has to this point in his career is. He is still in excellent shape and remains as smart as any ring general who has ever laced a pair of boots. The Game has proved countless times over the last five years that he knows exactly what kind of match he needs to wrestle, depending on his opponent, to generate the greatest possible result. 

As great a heel as WWE has at this point, his title reign was a necessity as the company navigates its way over the broken bodies that have paved The Road to WrestleMania.

Even if it is short and exists only to put Roman Reigns over on The Grandest Stage of Them All, the COO's run atop the company, some 20 years after he first set foot in a Vince McMahon-owned ring, is quite the accomplishment.

Triple H's first world title came just 24 hours after SummerSlam, a show at which most expected him to leave with gold around his waist. Perhaps it was for the best, as a larger Raw audience witnessed him down the Mankind with the help of Shane McMahon to finally elevate himself to the top of the industry.

His first reign would come crashing down (and it hurt inside) three weeks later when his rivalry with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin proved problematic. The Texas Rattlesnake cost The Game the top prize in the industry in a match with Vince McMahon, resulting in the first and only championship reign for the CEO.

It was a pivotal point in the feud between Triple H and Austin and in the lengthy saga of the McMahon family, but it also spoiled what could and should have been a much more rewarding run for The Cerebral Assassin. It should have firmly established him as a main event attraction. 

Instead, it took another five or so months and a five-star classic with Cactus Jack at the 2000 Royal Rumble to reach that point.

The Game's final run with the World Heavyweight Championship came early in 2005 and began with a victory inside the Elimination Chamber.

Just in case anyone hadn't figured out by that point that Triple H was superior to Randy Orton in every way, he put yet another exclamation point on the statement by dropping him with a Pedigree and regaining the title that had been vacant since December, when he last dropped it.

The Game proceeded to hold the title straight through The Road to WrestleMania, further humbling Orton at every available opportunity. But it was the sudden elevation of Batista to the role of top Raw babyface that doomed Triple H.

At WrestleMania 21, he found himself bloodied and the recipient of a Batista Bomb, then watched as his former protege lifted the title high overhead, celebrating the greatest moment of his career.

Like the title reign that preceded it, this one felt like another resume-builder, one that existed solely for the sake of boosting his profile and taking him one step closer to matching the mark set by his idol, Ric Flair.

Six months after dropping the world title at WrestleMania XX, Triple H once again reigned over the wrestling world by way of his World Heavyweight Championship victory over Randy Orton at Unforgiven. The result of the implosion of Evolution, the match re-established The Game as The King of Kings, the measuring stick in the industry.

For just under three months, he defended against the likes of Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit until a fateful episode of Raw in December. It was there that The Game's latest run came to an end, the result of controversy stemming from a double-pin involving the aforementioned Benoit and burgeoning heel Edge.

His fourth reign as world heavyweight champion was one that never should have existed. By beating Orton in the first place, he cut off the momentum of the young star. Then he spent his two months as champion working best friend Michaels and former titleholder Benoit but doing nothing to help with the development of Orton or the betterment of the Raw brand.

Where as some of his 14 title reigns can be justified either by their contributions to ongoing storylines or the consistency they brought to WWE programming, this one felt more like an ego boost than anything else.

The epic rivalry between Triple H and The Rock dominated the spring months and stretched into the summer of 2000, a series of pay-per-view matches determining who the greatest truly was.

At Judgment Day in May, the Superstars battled in an Iron Man match that tested their willpower as well as their skill. In controversial fashion, Triple H regained the heavyweight title for a fourth time when The Undertaker arrived late in the bout and blasted him with a chokeslam in clear view of special referee Shawn Michaels.

The outcome infuriated fans, but they would not have to wait long to see their hero relieve The Game of the title.

Just weeks later at the King of the Ring, The Rock pinned Vince McMahon in a six-man tag team match to take the title back.

The fourth reign of Triple H's Hall of Fame career was but a plot device, an excuse to get one more match out of the rivalry between him and wrestling's most electrifying Superstars. 

Unfortunately for the current COO of WWE, championship reigns for the sake of telling a story rather legitimate runs with the title have been recurring devices. 

Fresh off a devastating torn quadriceps muscle that kept him away from the squared circle for eight months, Triple H made his epic return to WWE on January 7, 2002 and was almost instantly the favorite to headline that year's WrestleMania X-8.

A Royal Rumble win and some shenanigans involving both Kurt Angle and his estranged wife Stephanie McMahon got him there, and a Pedigree to Chris Jericho earned him the WWE Undisputed Championship.

It should have been the first great babyface run of his career, a reign that firmly established him as the top star in the sport at a time when Steve Austin and The Rock were stepping away from full-time roles in the company.

Instead, the fun lasted just one month for Triple H, as he entered April's Backlash for an epic encounter against Hulk Hogan, whose return to the squared circle was one of the most inspirational and unintentionally hot angles in the sport.

On that night, The Game ate the big leg drop, and Hogan won his sixth WWE title, cutting off all of Triple H's momentum and leaving him with just one successful title defense in that period: a win over Stephanie and Jericho in a Handicap match on Raw.

It was hardly the stuff of which epic title reigns are made.

Triple H's second championship reign began at Unforgiven 1999 when he defeated "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, The Rock, Mankind, Big Show and Kane to win the vacant WWE title.

It was not easy, and The Game had to combat the not-so-unbiased officiating from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, but he managed to regain the title that the Texas Rattlesnake was so instrumental in screwing him out of winning.

It was during those two months that Triple H finally began finding his footing as a lead heel in the WWE morality play. He was cunning, calculated and dangerous as he knowingly made enemies of every major babyface on the roster, including Vince McMahon.

By earning the attention of the boss in ways he never should have, Triple H put himself at risk of another shortened title reign.

At Survivor Series that November, he would see his aspirations of pro wrestling dominance go up in smoke courtesy of a huge chokeslam by The World's Largest Athlete, The Big Show.

For the second time in his career, The Game saw his growth as a marquee star stunted for the sake of storytelling.

The most controversial reign of Triple H's career began on the September 2, 2002 episode of Monday Night Raw when he was unceremoniously handed the World Heavyweight Championship by general manager Eric Bischoff.

No, he did not win it, or even really deserve it. As the "gold standard" of the Raw brand, he had the honor bestowed upon him, and fans erupted with great anger at The Cerebral Assassin.

Anyone who thought he was using his political pull behind the scenes to benefit him in front of the camera had evidence now, as his ego was stroked on live television for the world to see.

Making matters worse was the fact that he proceeded to defeat Rob Van Dam and Kane in back-to-back pay-per-view title defenses, killing the heat of the two hottest babyfaces on the roster.

The reign came to an end two months after it started inside the Elimination Chamber at Survivor Series, when he suffered Sweet Chin Music and dropped the title to Shawn Michaels. 

Few have forgotten the circumstances of that first world title reign, nor the fact that it was an excuse to put Triple H over even more than he had been to that point, and at the expense of stars hotter and more interesting than his stale persona had become.

While he would hold numerous world heavyweight titles in between, it had been five years since Triple H held the WWE Championship. That streak came to a screeching halt in October 2007 when The Game substituted for an injured John Cena and defeated Randy Orton in an impromptu title bout to kick off the No Mercy pay-per-view.

The entire purpose of the event, though, was to crown Randy Orton as the new champion, so Vince McMahon and WWE Creative concocted a scenario in which the evil chairman would force his son-in-law to defend his newly won title against Umaga.

Triple H retained his title in that match, so McMahon stuck it to him again, booking a Last Man Standing match between the exhausted champion and Orton for the night's main event.

It was in that match that Orton realized his destiny, winning the title and ending Triple H's shortest reign to date.

Still, considering how uneventful some of The Cerebral Assassin's reigns had been to that point, the one-night run with the title, including three spectacular wrestling matches, ranks as one of the higher-quality stints with the belt to that point.

Triple H regained the WWE Championship for the eighth time in February 2009, winning an Elimination Chamber bout by defeating rival Jeff Hardy.

The victory set him on the fast track to another WrestleMania main event, this one against Randy Orton. Their feud became more personal and heated than ever before, with The Game's family targeted by the ruthless and sadistic Viper.

Wife Stephanie endured the worst, suffering an RKO one week, then the DDT a month or so later. Then insult was added to injury as Orton laid a kiss on the unconscious body of The Billion Dollar Princess, all while the enraged and heartbroken WWE champion Triple H was forced to watch from feet away, handcuffed to the ropes.

He would successfully retain against the third-generation star at WrestleMania 25, but one month later, at the final Backlash pay-per-view in WWE history, he would drop the title to his former protege.

The eighth reign of his legendary career was but an excuse to set up his feud with Orton and, ultimately, put him over. Nothing more, nothing less.

The groin injury that had plagued him throughout the summer and early fall months had healed, and Triple H returned to the squared circle at the Armageddon pay-per-view in December 2003 for a Triple Threat match against Kane and the man who defeated him for the world heavyweight title, Goldberg.

Few expected him to take the title back, but he did, then stood triumphantly atop the entrance ramp, his arms raised in victory alongside Randy Orton, Batista and Ric Flair. Evolution had taken the wrestling world by storm and would continue to dominate the Raw brand well into the new year.

In Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit, he had arguably the best crop of opponents he had to that point as the lead villain on the Raw roster. It would be Benoit who cut his reign off, forcing him to tap out to the Crossface in the main event of WrestleMania XX.

For the first time since his return to action in 2002, Triple H resembled the worker he was before the quadriceps injury that threatened his career, and the result was a strong though brief run with The Big Gold Belt.

If there is such a thing as a Triple H title reign that flew under the radar, it was his nearly seven months atop the SmackDown brand from April 27 to November 23, 2008.

Tasked with carrying the brand on his back as it shifted networks again, Triple H was the proud and fighting champion most would expect from a babyface titleholder.

The Game captured the title from Randy Orton at Backlash, then set his sights on making the SmackDown brand better than it was when he got there. There was a brief rivalry with Edge and a vastly underrated title defense against The Great Khali that has to rank as one of the giant Superstar's greatest bouts.

But this title reign is and will forever be defined by the program he worked with Jeff Hardy.

For all the flack he takes for "burying" guys, Triple H pulled Hardy up to his level, working a series of extraordinary title matches that built on the previous ones. Each match was progressively better, be it pay-per-view encounters or free televised bouts.

Unfortunately, before The Game could really put Hardy over in a singles match, paying off their story, the decision was made to book Edge to capture the title in controversial fashion.

Thus, Triple H's great title reign, in which he once again proved just how extraordinary a worker he was, came to an end in less-than-thrilling fashion.

The first truly great run Triple H enjoyed as heavyweight champion of the world began on January 4, 2000 with a win over the man who beat him to take the title in the first place, The Big Show.

With assistance from D-Generation X and his new wife, the devious Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley by his side, Triple H assumed control of the top prize in the sport and power of the entire company.

The Game and his bride ruled over WWE, making life a living hell during his nearly four months as champion.

His most notable opponent during that run was Mick Foley, whom he defeated in two straight pay-per-view main events, including a five-star Street Fight at the Royal Rumble.

Add to that the fact that he became the first heel to leave WrestleMania as world champion, and you had the makings for a successful reign.

It would come to an end at Backlash in April against The Rock in an epic encounter that blended three or four different stories together to create a masterpiece of sports entertainment.

While his first World Heavyweight Championship reign may have been the topic of discussion for all the right reasons, few can deny that his run from December 2002 until September of the following year was best for the stability of a Raw brand that was in dire need of consistency.

With babyface competitors fresh out of WCW and ECW, including but not limited to Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash, it was clear that Vince McMahon had no faith in any of those Superstars to carry his most prominent brand.

As frustrated as fans may have been every time he dispatched an incredibly popular star to "feed his ego," history tells us that none of those four were likely to carry the company to another financial boom period. Triple H, on the other hand, was a credible heel who could be built into the most detestable human being imaginable and then, when the time was right, be beaten in grand fashion.

Former WCW franchise star Goldberg did eventually get the nod, the conquering babyface to unseat the hated villain, but it was an uneventful match that did nothing for the new champion. Instead, it was Triple H's display of guts as he fought through a groin tear that really stood out.

This was as close a reign as Triple H had to mimicking those great ones enjoyed by his idol, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.