On this date in WWE history: Triple H takes Randy Orton's title at Unforgiven 2004

For those who many be wondering why a number of hardcore pro wrestling fans despise Triple H, here's a good example of one of the many incidents that has drawn ire from that particular segment of fans.

"The Game" pushed and pushed to create a stable that would come to be known as Evolution, a group of wrestlers who, quite literally, represented the evolution of the pro wrestling business. Trips was the present, Ric Flair was the past, and Batista and Randy Orton were the future.

They were a heel group and worked well together, although you probably won't find a lot of fans with great memories of their time at the top. Triple H was champion throughout the majority of its run with the idea that he would help get the younger guys over. He would eventually do just that with Batista, completely making "The Animal" by dropping the title to him at WrestleMania 21 before doing the job twice more at consecutive pay-per-views.

That's all well and good but that's often forgotten, at least partically because of what happened with poor Orton.

In 2004, the group was cruising right along, accomplishing its intended goal of creating two new stars. Orton was getting over with a Legend Killer gimmick on the strength of great matches with the likes of Mick Foley. He was over enough, in fact, that he was given a world title shot at SummerSlam, where he defeated Chris Benoit to become the youngest world heavyweight champion in history.

Of course, this didn't go over well with Triple H, who promptly kicked Orton out of Evolution with the infamous thumbs up, thumbs down routine before engaging in a brief feud that saw "The Game" win the belt back the very next month on this date in history (Sept. 12, 2004) at Unforgiven.

Orton would ultimately be okay but the handling of his character during this time was miserable and felt too much like he was knocked down off the mountain top just so Triple H could get back on it.

After the jump, watch the video of Triple H vs. Randy Orton at Unforgiven.