Road to WrestleMania 29: Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H

When Brock Lesnar decided he had had enough of mixed martial arts (MMA) and fighting people who wouldn't pull back on their punches, it was only natural that he make his way back to the place where he could fight people who would pull back on their punches. That's what he did too, quickly signing a lucrative deal with WWE and returning to beat on John Cena before doing a job and going rogue on the powers that be.

It just so happens Triple H is one of those powers.

"The Game" has been trying to wind his career down for a couple years now, but he just can't seem to stay away from the ring. Whether that be refereeing a big money rematch between CM Punk and John Cena at SummerSlam in 2011 to set up a feud with Punk while he was at his hottest -- and you know who won that match on pay-per-view (PPV), of course -- or locking horns with his old friend Kevin Nash, sending him on his way out of the company, or even making a third WrestleMania match with Undertaker, Trips always seems to find himself in the thick of things.

He's turned his real life executive role into an on-screen character. He's the COO of WWE but instead of that being his new role, it's simply used as a storyline tool to set him up for whatever big match he can find his way into.

Lesnar's return meant Triple H had another reason to dust off his trusty sledgehammer and break out of his suit in favor of jeans and a leather jacket. Brock went against authority in kayfabe contract negotiations -- which was really just WWE using real life situations in angles on television -- until "The Cerebral Assassin" put his foot down and got his arm broken for his troubles.

That set up a match at SummerSlam last year but in a surprising twist, Brock won clean by forcing Triple H to tap out. A retirement speech soon followed but we saw right through that. No way was he going out on a loss, at least not like that.

Sure enough, all this was to set up an even bigger money rematch between the two down the line. Lesnar left, storyline quitting the company for five months, before returning and destroying Vince McMahon before he got the chance to fire Paul Heyman, Brock's manager. McMahon suffered a broken hip in the melee but, being the crusty mean old cuss that he is, refused to take time off and even booked a fight against Heyman. They went at it too, until Lesnar showed up to wreak more havoc.

Which prompted the return of "The Game."

Triple H revealed he had been looking for any reason to come back -- truer words have never been spoken -- and he found that when he was forced to sit through his father-in-law's hip surgery and see the impact it had on his family. Now it was personal and he wanted a match with Brock at WrestleMania 29 on Sun., April 7, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Having already defeated him once, Lesnar had no reason to accept this and, in fact, refused it at first. But after some goading and poking and prodding, the match was agreed to just as long as Triple H would accept whatever stipulation Brock and Heyman came up with.

And he would have to do so blind.

He did and it was revealed that the match will be No Holds Barred and Trips will be putting his career on the line. Will this be the swan song he's been teasing for years? Or will Triple H be unable to squash the urge to get his win back on an even bigger stage than his loss and put himself over Lesnar?

Stay tuned, Cagesiders.