As Triple H and Shawn Michaels began to make peace, WWE started up its doomed nWo storyline. That eventually spun off into Eric Bischoff, the Raw General Manager, telling Michaels to be Triple H's ...
They even did it with nWo counterpoint D-Generation X ... and the belt was treated with distinction right up until Shawn Michaels won it at One Night Only in the UK later that year.