Austin and Triple H ran roughshod over all their opponents, until coming up against The Undertaker and Kane. After defeating Kane and The Undertaker for the WWF Tag Team Championship at Backlash, they held the tag team titles, the WWF Championship (Austin) and the Intercontinental Championship (Triple H) all at once. At Judgment Day, Triple H lost the Intercontinental Championship to Kane. The following night on "Raw Is War", Austin and Triple H wrestled against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit with the tag team titles on the line. Midway through the match, Triple H tore his quadriceps muscle. As planned, the team lost the tag team titles at the end of the match when Triple H accidentally hit Austin in the stomach with a sledgehammer, but the injury to Triple H, which kept him out for the remainder of the year, forced the WWF to go in another direction. Austin officially broke up The Power Trip on that week's "SmackDown!", criticizing Triple H for his injury and for hitting him with the sledgehammer. He continued to align himself with McMahon and began feuding with Jericho and Benoit by himself, with Kurt Angle joining the group as Triple H's replacement. For most of the next month leading to King of the Ring, he repeatedly fell victim to a double submission involving Jericho's Walls of Jericho and Benoit's Crippler Crossface. Though he did not wrestle as he was nursing a hand injury, he continued to feud with the reigning tag team champions, eventually costing them the titles on the "SmackDown!" preceding King of the Ring against the Dudley Boyz. At King of the Ring, Austin defeated Jericho and Benoit in a Triple Threat match to retain the WWF Championship, despite interference from the debuting Booker T. Stone Cold suffered a back injury during the match after Booker T dropped Stone Cold through the announcer's table.