Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969 in Nashua, New Hampshire) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, invariably abbreviated to Triple H or HHH. Triple H currently wrestles on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment. He is a ten-time world champion: four-time WWF Champion, one-time WWF Undisputed Champion and five-time World Heavyweight Champion. He is also part of the reunited faction of D-Generation X along with real-life friend and former on screen rival, Shawn Michaels.
| Paul Michael Levesque | |
|---|---|
| File:HunterHearstHelmsley.jpg | |
| Born | July 27, 1969 Nashua, New Hampshire |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Jean Paul Levesque Terra Ryzin Hunter Hearst Helmsley Triple H |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (120 kg) |
| Billed from | Greenwich, Connecticut |
| Trained by | Killer Kowalski |
| Debut | March 1992 |
Early career
Triple H was trained to wrestle by legendary wrestling heel Killer Kowalski. In 1993, he joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW), wrestling as a heel under the ring name Terra Ryzin. He teamed with fellow Kowalski trainee, Perry Saturn, who would go on to form The Eliminators in ECW. Later, Levesque created the persona Jean-Paul Levesque, a hastily constructed persona in reference to his surname's French origins, and was asked to speak with a French accent as he could not speak French. Under this persona, Levesque also teamed with Lord Steven Regal. He left in 1995 for WCW's rival organization, the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment).
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
1995-1996
As a continuation of his gimmick in WCW, Triple H started off his WWF career as the Connecticut Blueblood, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. He appeared in taped vignettes talking about proper etiquette up until his wrestling debut. Although he had an impressive streak during the first few months within his debut, his career stalled during 1996, starting off with being squashed by Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania XII. Up until that event, he appeared on television each week with a different female valet accompanying him. Sable was his valet at WrestleMania XII, and after his loss to Ultimate Warrior, he took his aggressions out on her. The debuting Marc Mero came to her rescue and this started a program between the two wrestlers.
Helmsley was best known backstage as one of the members of the Clique, a group of wrestlers including Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman and Scott Hall who were known for influencing Vince McMahon and the WWF Creative team. Because of his connections with the Clique, and because of the WWF's pressure to create new stars to compete with WCW, Helmsley was in line to win the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, but was eventually suspended and buried after the MSG incident where the Clique broke character after a match between Shawn Michaels and Diesel match to say goodbye to the departing Nash and Hall.
Despite the punishment, Helmsley did have several successes following the MSG Incident. He found a manager in Mr. Perfect and won his first Intercontinental Championship on October 21, 1996, defeating Marc Mero. When Curt Hennig left the WWF, his departure was explained to be a result of Helmsley turning his back on his manager as soon as he won the Intercontinental Championship. He held the belt for nearly four months before losing it to a young Rocky Maivia on the February 13, 1997 edition of RAW. For an extremely brief amount of time, Helmsley hired Curtis Hughes to play the role of his bodyguard. After losing the Intercontinental title, he feuded with Goldust, defeating him at WrestleMania 13. During their feud, Chyna debuted as his new bodyguard, assaulting Goldust's wife and valet Marlena.
1997-1998
Helmsley's push resumed in 1997, when he won the King of the Ring tournament on June 8, defeating Mankind in the finals. Later that year, Shawn Michaels, Helmsley, Chyna and Rick Rude (who left shortly after the group was formed) formed D-Generation X (DX). This group became known for pushing the envelope, as Michaels and Helmsley made risque promos, spawning the catchphrase "Suck It" along with a "crotch chop" hand motion, and sarcastically deriding Bret Hart and Canada. By now, Helmsley fully dropped the "blueblood snob" gimmick and adopted the name of "Triple H", though some wrestlers still do refer to him as Hunter. For a time, Triple H took particular joy in riding on then-Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter, often accusing him of impotence, culminating in a match at the D-Generation X pay-per-view. After WrestleMania XIV, Michaels was forced into retirement due to a back injury sustained at the 1998 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, and Triple H took over the leadership position in DX. He introduced the returning X-Pac the night after WrestleMania and joined forces with the New Age Outlaws, the team of "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn and "Road Dogg" Jesse James).
Triple H led the "DX Army" throughout 1998; this was the first time he had performed as a face in the WWF, and he quickly became one of its most popular wrestlers. It was also during this time that Triple H began feuding with the leader of the Nation of Domination and rising WWF heel, The Rock. This rivalry eventually led to a feud over The Rock's Intercontinental Championship. Triple H defeated The Rock in a ladder match at SummerSlam 1998 to capture the title. He did not hold the title long, however, as he was sidelined with a knee injury he suffered during the match itself. When The Rock won the WWF Championship at the Survivor Series 1998, the rivalry between the two continued, but became more of a gang war as DX fought Vince McMahon's Corporation stable, of which Rock was the main star.
1999-2000
Triple H received a shot at the WWF Championship on the January 25, 1999 edition of RAW in an "I Quit" match against The Rock, but was forced to quit or see his aide Chyna chokeslammed by Kane. Chyna attacked Triple H after the match and joined the Corporation, betraying him. At WrestleMania XV Triple H wrestled as a face for what would be the last time in several months when he beat Kane with the aid of Chyna, who was thought to have rejoined DX. Later on in the night, he betrayed his long-time friend and fellow DX member X-Pac by helping heel Shane McMahon retain the European Championship, thus turning heel and taking Chyna with him. This decision earned him the hatred of many fans, and helped push Triple H further in the direction of the WWF Championship. Triple H then joined the Corporation, briefly placing him on the same side as The Rock. Unable to get along, The Rock turned on the Corporation and took Triple H's place as a face, quickly rising to further stardom.
When Triple H turned heel, he moved away from his "DX" look, taping his fists for matches, sporting new and shorter wrestling trunks, shorter hair and adding facial hair. His image and his personality changed as he fought to earn a World title shot. During mid-1999, Triple H was "groomed" for the WWF Championship. The demise of the powerful "Corporate Ministry" stable (the group which was created out of a merger of the Corporation and the Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness), left Triple H closer to the title. After numerous failed attempts at winning the championship, Triple H and Mankind challenged WWF Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at SummerSlam 1999 in a triple threat match. In a contest which featured Jesse "The Body" Ventura as the special guest referee, Mankind won the match by pinning Austin, becoming a three-time WWF champion.
The following night on RAW, Triple H threatened to break Jim Ross' arm if Mankind refused to give him a title shot that night. Mankind consented, and Triple H would go on that night to win the title for the first time. He then "interviewed" Jim Ross to see "what Ross thought of him." JR's reply was that he thought Triple H was a "no-good, drunken S.O.B." Triple H replied in kind by beating JR to the ground. From then onwards, Triple H feuded with the biggest WWF superstars of the time: The Rock, Mick Foley, Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, Undertaker, Kurt Angle, among others. He earned the hatred of fans around the world due to his dirty, under-handed tactics, including the use of his trademark sledgehammer and cruel schemes, such as forcing Mick Foley out of the WWF. He also dubbed himself "The Game", implying that he was at the top of the wrestling world, as well as "The Cerebral Assassin", implying that he was simply smarter than the other wrestlers. Triple H has claimed that "The Game" tag was initially going to go to Owen Hart.
By January 2000, Triple H was already a three-time WWF Champion. His feud with Vince McMahon was not well-received, however, and even outraged fans after McMahon won the title from Triple H during an episode of SmackDown!. However, the short-lived feud started the Hunter Hearst Helmsley-Stephanie McMahon storyline that carried the WWF throughout the next seventeen months, when Triple H married a "drugged" Stephanie McMahon at a drive-through wedding chapel in a storyline that had him sabotaging the planned wedding of Stephanie and Test. It was later revealed that both Triple H and Stephanie were in cahoots the entire time in order to spite Vince McMahon. With Triple H marrying into the McMahon family, this gave him and Stephanie considerable power over the WWF roster, and the period of their rule was known as the "McMahon/Helmsley era."
Triple H regained the credibility he lost from losing the title to McMahon during an intense, brutal feud with Mick Foley. Triple H managed to win a Street Fight at the 2000 Royal Rumble against Foley to retain the title after a Pedigree onto thumbtacks, despite having suffered a legitimate injury to his calf when Foley suplexed him onto a wooden pallet, driving a shard of the wood into his leg. The feud ended in a Hell in a Cell match at No Way Out 2000 that sent Foley into retirement. By the time Triple H shockingly pinned The Rock at WrestleMania 2000 (becoming the first heel to walk out of WrestleMania as champion), he was one of the hottest characters in the WWF, being able to generate enormous heat for his entrance and promos alone.
In 2000, Kurt Angle was making advances towards his storyline wife, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. With the fans seemingly in his corner, Triple H disposed of Angle. In November of that year, Triple H turned heel again when he was revealed to be the man behind "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's hit-and-run accident at the 1999 Survivor Series.
2001-2002
The feud between Triple H and Steve Austin culminated in a 3 Stages of Hell match in which Helmsley defeated Austin 2 to 1 (The first fall was a regular match, which Austin won; the second and third were respectively a street fight and a cage match, which Triple H won). In 2001, Triple H also feuded with Undertaker, who defeated him at WrestleMania X-Seven. He later teamed with his former nemesis Austin to form The Two-Man Power Trip capturing both the WWF Tag Team Titles and the Intercontinental Championship once again.
The most difficult moment of Triple H's career occurred during the May 21, 2001 broadcast of RAW when he suffered a legitimate and career-threatening injury. In the night's main event, he and Stone Cold Steve Austin were defending the Tag Team titles against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. At one point, Jericho had Austin trapped in his Walls of Jericho submission hold. Triple H ran-in to break it up, but just as he did, he suffered a tear in his left quadriceps muscle, causing it to come completely off the bone. Despite his inability to place any weight on his leg, Triple H was able to complete the match, something that his fans and fellow wrestlers saw as an admirable display of dedication to the business. He even allowed one of his opponents in the match, Chris Jericho, to put him in his standard finishing maneuver, the "Walls of Jericho", a move that places considerable stress on the quadriceps. The tear required an operation, which was performed by famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, in Birmingham. This injury brought an abrupt end to the McMahon/Helmsley era as the rigorous rehabilitation process kept Triple H out of action for over seven months, completely missing the Invasion storyline of WCW/ECW. Meanwhile, Stephanie remained involved on television as the new owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).
Triple H returned to RAW as a face on January 7, 2002 at Madison Square Garden, receiving a tremendous ovation. He soon won that year's Royal Rumble, and thus received a WWF Undisputed Championship match in the main event at WrestleMania X8. Following the failure of the WCW/ECW Invasion, Stephanie McMahon rejoined Triple H on television, but the two started to have troubles with one another. Stephanie took a desperate measure to regain her husband's favor by telling him that she was pregnant, a lie that was proven false when Linda McMahon informed Triple H of the ruse with a videotape that revealed the doctor he and Stephanie visited to be a paid actor. This prompted Triple H to demand a divorce during a televised ceremony to renew the couple's wedding vows. From that point, Stephanie made it her priority to stop Triple H from ever becoming world champion again, aligning herself with then-champion, and former enemy, Chris Jericho. In the weeks leading to WrestleMania X8, Jericho and Stephanie unsuccessfully tried to re-injure Triple H's quadricep.
Fans began to heavily criticize this storyline as it became increasingly ridiculous, with Stephanie demanding ownership of Triple H's bulldog Lucy and reducing Chris Jericho to her errand boy. Finally, at WrestleMania, Triple H beat Chris Jericho for the WWF Undisputed Championship, and a few weeks later defended it against both Jericho and Stephanie in a Triple Threat Match, with the stipulation being that if Stephanie was pinned she would have to leave the company. Triple H was victorious, and Stephanie was taken off WWF television until she became the general manager of SmackDown! during the WWE brand extension in 2002.
After holding the title for a month, Helmsley lost it to Hulk Hogan at Backlash 2002. Triple H then became exclusive to the SmackDown! roster due to the WWF Draft Lottery and began another feud with the Undertaker. The two fought at Insurrextion 2002, where Triple H won with a Pedigree, avenging his WrestleMania loss in 2001. The feud grew hotter when the Undertaker won the WWF Undisputed Championship from Hogan at Judgment Day 2002. Also at Judgment Day, Triple H ended his feud with Chris Jericho by defeating Y2J in a Hell in a Cell match, following a Pedigree on the top of the cell. Triple H and the Undertaker wrestled for the WWF Undisputed Championship at King of the Ring 2002, but the Undertaker won following interference from The Rock. Triple H's feud with the Undertaker ended as Triple H re-focused on The Rock. However, in a triple threat title match at Global Warning against The Rock and Brock Lesnar, Triple H again lost.
Meanwhile, Triple H's old DX companion Shawn Michaels had made his return to the WWE and joined the nWo, and Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash planned to bring Triple H over to RAW in order to put him into the group. However, Vince McMahon disbanded the nWo following several backstage complications and brought in Eric Bischoff as RAW's new general manager. One of Bischoff's first intentions was to follow up on the nWo's plan and woo Triple H over to the RAW roster. Triple H did indeed jump over to RAW, reuniting with Shawn Michaels, but on July 22, 2002 he turned heel once again by turning on Michaels, hitting a surprise Pedigree on him during what was supposed to be a DX reunion. The following week, Triple H smashed Michael's face brutally into a car window to prove that Michaels was "weak." He denied it at the end of the show to Eric Biscoff, with an emphatic "You think I did this? F*CK YOU!" before the show went off the air. However, it was revealed later through "surveillance camera" footage and "image enhancement" technology that Triple H was indeed the culprit. With Shawn "live via satellite," as a result of his injuries, he told Triple H that he would be 100 percent by SummerSlam, and challenged him to a fight. These events led to the beginning of a long, heated rivalry between the former partners, and an eventual "Unsanctioned Street Fight" at SummerSlam 2002, in which Michaels came out of retirement and won. Afterwards, however, Triple H attacked him with a sledgehammer, and Michaels was carried out of the ring.
Prior to September 2, 2002, the WWE recognized only one Champion for both RAW and SmackDown! However, after SummerSlam, champion Brock Lesnar signed a (storyline) deal to become exclusive to SmackDown!, leaving RAW without a champion. RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff then awarded the World Heavyweight Championship to Triple H in the form of the old WCW Championship belt. Triple H made his successful title defense against Ric Flair, but eventually lost the belt to Shawn Michaels in the first ever Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series 2002, but regained it in a 3 Stages of Hell match at Armageddon 2002. In this contest, Triple H won the first fall, a street fight; Michaels won the second, a cage match; Triple H captured the title in the third fall, a ladder match. After Armageddon Triple H held the belt for most of 2003, defeating opponents such as Chris Jericho, Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash, and Bill Goldberg in main events.
2003-2004
In January 2003, Triple H formed Evolution with Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista. Its purpose was to include the "greatest wrestlers" of the past (Flair), present (Triple H), and future (Orton and Batista). The group was dominant on RAW from 2003-2004, the height of their dominance occurring after Armageddon 2003 when every member of Evolution held a title. Triple H beat Goldberg to win the World Heavyweight Championship, Randy Orton beat Rob Van Dam to win the Intercontinental Championship, and Ric Flair and Batista beat The Dudley Boyz to win the World Tag Team Championship. Triple H lost his title to Chris Benoit at WrestleMania XX and was unable to reclaim the belt from Benoit afterwards in subsequent rematches, including an exact rematch of the WrestleMania main event between Triple H, Benoit, and Shawn Michaels at Backlash.
Evolution nearly suffered a devastating blow when Triple H was drafted to SmackDown! after his name was pulled by John Cena for SmackDown! General Manager Paul Heyman (after Bischoff complained that that was his pick, no matter who picked it) during the 2004 Draft Lottery. To appease his new acquisition, Heyman immediately scheduled a SmackDown! championship match that very night on RAW with Triple H going up against then-WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero. Triple H was defeated, but later in the week, it was revealed that Eric Bischoff had pulled some strings and agreed to exchange three RAW superstars in return for the right to keep Triple H on RAW. Backstage, it was rumored that Triple H was unhappy with the announcement (the wrestlers had no idea who was going to be drafted until the day of the lottery) and pulled some strings to allow himself to stay on RAW. For the next few weeks, Triple H started beating up other wrestlers who laughed at him when he was drafted.
After Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam 2004, everyone immediately wanted to know how Triple H would respond to this. Triple H claimed that Evolution would have Randy Orton's back. This was revealed to be untrue when Triple H ordered the other members of Evolution to attack Orton following the conclusion of a rematch against Benoit the next night on RAW, ending Orton's affiliation with the group. Triple H told Orton the following week to make it easy on himself and forfeit the title to him, but Orton spat in Triple H's face and knocked him over the head with the title, starting a program between the two. A month later at Unforgiven Triple H won the title from Orton, and managed to prevent Orton from regaining the belt for the rest of the feud.
2005-2006
Following a controversial triple threat World title defense against Chris Benoit and Edge on the November 29, 2004 episode of RAW, Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship became vacant for the first time. Many saw this as a sign that there would be a new World Heavyweight Champion at WWE's first ever New Year's Revolution pay-per-view event held on January 9, 2005. These hopes were dashed, though, when Triple H won the title back in the main event, the third Elimination Chamber match in WWE history, to begin his 10th world title reign; the other participants in the match were Edge, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Batista and Randy Orton, with Shawn Michaels serving as the special guest referee. This match would also help as the launching pad for Triple H's upcoming feud with Batista, as Triple H failed to stop Batista from getting eliminated during the match despite being more than able to do so.
After Batista won the 2005 Royal Rumble, Triple H attempted to get him to jump over to SmackDown! and win the WWE Championship from John Bradshaw Layfield so that the two of them could "rule the business." However, when Batista discovered that Triple H planted several ruses (recent SmackDown! tapes of comments from JBL and Big Show, faking JBL's limo almost running Batista over) to further steer him towards that goal, and overheard Triple H telling Ric Flair that Batista was not smart enough to realize what was best for him and for Evolution, Batista powerbombed Triple H through a table and challenged him for the World Championship at WrestleMania 21.
At WrestleMania 21, Triple H lost the championship to Batista, and subsequently lost a further two rematches (Backlash 2005 and Vengeance 2005 in a Hell in a Cell match, which had been deemed "Triple H's match" despite being pioneered and made famous by The Undertaker). Following this, Triple H took some time off from wrestling, learning about the corporate side of WWE in preparation for a future executive position. The excruciating pain that he sustained as a result of the Hell in a Cell match was passed off as the cause of Triple H's extended absence from the company.
Triple H returned to RAW on October 3, 2005 as part of WWE Homecoming to a tremendous ovation, even though at the time he took his absence, he was a heel. He teamed up with his good friend and idol, Ric Flair (who had turned face during Triple H's absence), against Chris Masters and Carlito. Triple H and Flair won, but the Game then turned on Flair with his sledgehammer, leaving Flair a bloody mess backstage.
Triple H would be get a highly negative reaction from both the crowd as well as numerous WWE superstars the next week on RAW, with Big Show, Shawn Michaels, and WWE Champion John Cena bowing their heads in shame and disgust at Triple H and what he had done to a "wrestling legend". Triple H would come out to the ring and state that he did what he did because he felt that Flair was a failure as of late; even going to say that "Flair was nothing but a shell of what he once was" and that he felt it was his responsibility to "end Flair's career for good". Ric Flair would return the next week to gain a measure of revenge against Triple H, chasing him with a baseball bat. It was during this time that a match against Flair and Triple H would be announced at Taboo Tuesday for the Intercontinental Championship. Flair begged the fans for a Steel Cage match, claiming to want to teach Triple H a lesson. The fans obliged and the stipulation received an overwhelming percentage of the votes. The two former friends would face each other in a bloody affair at Taboo Tuesday, in which Flair successfully defeated Triple H and retained the Intercontinental Championship. The tensions between the two friends however, remained and the issue was not fully resolved.
Eric Bischoff would announce the "end of an era" when he announced a Last Man Standing match at the 2005 Survivor Series between Flair and Triple H to settle the score once and for all. Many fans believe that the feud between Triple H and Flair was cut short suddenly because it wasn't as captivating as expected; more so, the main event feud between the SmackDown! and Raw superstars leading into the Survivor Series match had trampled over the Flair-Triple H feud in its importance due to a superior build-up. Still, another bloody affair ensued at Survivor Series, which saw Triple H emerge victorious after 3 Pedigrees and a violent sledgehammer shot to the head of his mentor. After dealing with Ric Flair, Triple H began to refocus on regaining the WWE Championship and did all he could to make sure he would regain the WWE Championship. He had many failed attempts to capture the gold, although he never stopped trying.
Along the way, he found himself in a feud with The Big Show, who called Triple H a "piece of shit, in reference to his selfish characteristics and his willingness to injure other superstars in his quest to regain the WWE Championship. Triple H then cost Big Show his Elimination Chamber qualification match against Shawn Michaels (for New Year's Revolution). Big Show got even when he screwed Triple H out of the same opportunity by assisting his then-partner Kane in qualifying. The two men would meet in a singles match at New Year's Revolution where Triple H won and "broke" Big Show's hand with a sledgehammer. Between the aftermath of New Year's Revolution and the Royal Rumble, Triple H set his mind on regaining the WWE Championship at all costs, even announcing that he would participate in the Royal Rumble. He even refused to be then-WWE Champion Edge's partner, claiming to be sick of "doing favors" and "handling charity cases".
Triple H participated in the 30-man Royal Rumble match, in which he entered at Number 1. Despite lasting a long time, he was eventually eliminated by eventual winner (and Number 2 entrant) Rey Mysterio. However, since the Royal Rumble was won by a SmackDown! superstar, an opportunity was presented to Triple H when he was invited to join the Road To WrestleMania tournament. He met Rob Van Dam and The Big Show in a triple threat match in the finals and emerged victorious, following a Pedigree on Van Dam. With this victory, Triple H was set to meet John Cena for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 22 and a rivalry between the two men quickly began.
Ironically, the fans backed Triple H and began a negative backlash against John Cena during this time, despite the fact that Triple H was a heel. Even when Triple H tried to generate as much heat as he could in order to put the fans' support with John Cena, the fans cheered for him instead.
Before the two men fought each other at WrestleMania, they were paired up together for the return of Saturday Night's Main Event where they faced the trio of Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton in the opening match. This marked the first time that the RAW main event for WrestleMania faced SmackDown!'s main event. Despite the fact Triple H and Randy Orton were co-operating effectively (despite being on opposing teams), Triple H and John Cena were able to win the match. In the weeks leading to WrestleMania, Triple H referred to himself as "The King of Kings" and claimed to get the WWE Championship back in his possession at WrestleMania.
At WrestleMania 22, Triple H and John Cena fought in the main event for the WWE Championship, and despite The Game's best efforts, John Cena defeated him with the "STFU" submission hold. However, Triple H was cheered for overwhelmingly at WrestleMania 22, with the fans booing Cena loudly. WWE.com would use Cena's negative reaction and describe it as a "mind game" played by Triple H. Announcers described Triple H as "more appealing to traditional wrestling fans", but did not admit that fans genuinely did not like Cena as champion.
The next month at Backlash, Triple H was involved in another WWE Championship match, fighting Edge and John Cena in a Triple Threat match, but coming up short. In an act of frustration, a bloodied Triple H used his trusty sledgehammer to nail both Edge and John Cena with it, then performed a number of DX crotch chops, much to the delight of the fans.
Triple H continued his hunt for the title, but butted heads repeatedly with Mr. McMahon. McMahon repeatedly refused to give Triple H a title shot and gave him the duty of refereeing a championship match between Cena and Kenny on May 1, 2006. Triple H was unenthused with the job and eventually left the ring during the match. Vince would again interrupt his quest when Cena accepted Triple H's challenge for the title on May 8, 2006. Triple H was given the night off, however, he again disobeyed his orders and reappeared during the main event, hitting Cena with a Pedigree.
Triple H got a title match the following week and the one-on-one contest was set to open the show, but Vince changed the match at the last minute to include three other superstars to make it a three-on-two handicap match for both the WWE Championship and the WWE Intercontinental Championship (then-IC champ Rob Van Dam paired with Cena against the team of Triple H, Shelton Benjamin and Chris Masters). The match ended when Triple H hit Cena with a Pedigree and went for the cover. However, Shelton Benjamin covered a fallen Rob Van Dam (also the recipient of a Pedigree) and gained the pinfall to win the Intercontinental title. Triple H at first thought he had won, until the official announcement was made, at which point he became infuriated. Triple H was later informed that he would need to do something for Vince since he did give Triple H a title shot. McMahon, who had been feuding with Shawn Michaels, ordered Triple H to attack Michaels with a sledgehammer during a match against Kenny. Shane McMahon served as the special guest referee during the match, and Triple H "accidentally" hit Shane with the sledgehammer.
Triple H later apologized but McMahon would only accept the apology if Triple H finished the job on Michaels after the Spirit Squad destroyed him in a 5-on-1 handicap match. As Triple H came into the ring to do as he was told, he stalled around enough so that Kenny would get impatient and take the sledgehammer from him saying he would do it himself. Annoyed by this, attacked the entire Spirit Squad. Triple H was then put into first ever Spirit-Jack match on May 29th against Kenny, and overcame the odds by defeating him. After Triple H escaped a post-match beating, Vince McMahon came out and declared that next week The Game would have to join Mr. McMahon's Kiss My Ass Club.
The following week, Triple H declared that he would not kiss Mr. McMahon's ass, and Vince offered him an alternative - should he defeat Big Show, he would be excluded from joining the club; however, Vince McMahon would later screw Triple H by sending the Spirit Squad to attack The Big Show, thus causing Triple H to get disqualified. Triple H would later be visited by Shane, who slipped a mysterious substance in Triple H's water bottle. Triple H anticipated this, and countered this by switching the bottles around when Shane's back was turned. The night ended when a drugged Shane McMahon collapsed and Vince McMahon turned around and was Pedigreed with his pants still down. This was well received by the fans who wildly cheered for Triple H.
After ECW One Night Stand, Michaels returned from his knee surgery on the June 12, 2006 edition of RAW after Mr. McMahon picked out the final Spirit Squad member (Mitch) to finish the physical dissection of Triple H. Michaels hit the Sweet Chin Music on Mitch after tossing him out of the entrance ramp, then ran to the ring to help out Triple H. With the fans wildly cheering at the sight, (quote Jim Ross: "This crowd has come unglued here!") Michaels and Triple H easily cleared the ring of the Spirit Squad, except for two members, who would suffer Triple H and Michaels' finishing moves. Finally, they got in each other's faces, slapped double high fives to a raucous reaction, and both insulted Vince McMahon by doing their famous D-X taunt, the crotch chop. After Triple H exposed his rear for McMahon and some of the fans to see, his "King of Kings" theme came on, and the reunited D-X celebrated, much to the chagrin of a shocked and disgusted Mr. McMahon. Backstage, a seemingly disturbed McMahon booked a 5-on-2 handicap match at Vengeance between the Spirit Squad and D-Generation X. The return of D-Generation X had been alluded to since WrestleMania 22; Michaels and Triple had each performed "crotch chops" on several occasions, D-Generation merchandise had been re-issued by WWE, and a leaked promotional poster for Vengeance 2006 featured the D-Generation X logo.
The Official DX reunion took place on the June 19, 2006 edition of RAW. HBK and Triple H sent various "gifts" to Mr. McMahon at the top of the show, including a rooster (because Mr. McMahon loves cocks), male strippers, and a penis enlargement pump. Mr. McMahon, adamently wanting to seek revenge on DX during the night, was notified that his daughter, Stephanie, was in labor, and left the arena, leaving Jonathan Coachman in charge (later that night, Triple H even made a joke out of himself as he said that: "Who ever made Stephanie pregnant must be a stud!"). Afterwards, DX proceeded to dump green slime on the Spirit Squad, strip Coachman to his thong and spray "DX" on his buttocks after throwing him through a wall, admit that Stephanie being in labor was a hoax, and mock the Squad with a midget squad, who all had "Suck It" written on their buttcheeks while mooning the Spirit Squad.
On June 25, 2006 at WWE Vengeance, DX defeated The Spirit Squad in a 5 on 2 Handicap Match. After the match, HBK forced the face of Mitch into Triple H's butt, starting the DX Kiss My Ass Club.
On the June 26, 2006 edition of RAW, Triple H and Shawn Michaels were up to their DX mischief again when they did satirical impersonations of Mr. McMahon (Triple H) and his son Shane McMahon (Shawn Michaels). Michaels did the Shane dance, and said he sucks up to Vince so he will get the McMahon empire. HHH said he won’t leave the money to Shane, but rather Stephanie and the guy that knocked her up (again referring to himself). Michaels and Triple H also mocked Vince by showing his Stand Back music video. Before the video ended however, the real McMahons came out with the Spirit Squad, but quickly fell victim to another one of DX's pranks: Getting covered in "holy shit" (refering to HBK as a born again christian).
On June 28th, WWE.com announced that him and HBK were banned from the July 3rd edition of Raw.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Pedigree (Double underhook facebuster)
- Facebreaker knee smash (back body drop counter)
- Figure four leglock
- Indian deathlock
- Jumping high knee
- Falling neckbreaker
- Knee drop
- Sleeper hold
- Spinebuster
- Signature foreign object: sledgehammer
- When Triple H uses a sledgehammer as a weapon, it is in fact a real sledgehammer, and not a prop as is widely believed. Triple H covers the head of the sledgehammer with his hand just before it strikes his opponent, and usually uses it in a spearing motion instead of over-hand strikes. On one occasion when Triple H did use a fake sledgehammer he accidentally injured his opponent, the Undertaker.
- Managers
- Nicknames
- The Game
- The Cerebral Assassin (accredited to him by Jim Ross)
- The King of Kings
- Monarch of the Mat (accredited to him by Jim Ross)
- The Connecticut Blueblood
- The Measuring Stick of this Business (self-proclaimed)
- The Wrestling Aristocrat (accredited to him by Jim Ross at Saturday Night's Main Event)
- Trips
Theme songs
Throughout his career, Triple H used several different pieces of music as his theme. While wrestling in WCW as Terra Ryzing, Triple H's theme was a piece of guitar music called "Road Master". During his early days in the World Wrestling Federation as the blue-blooded Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Triple H's first theme was a piece of harpsichord music. He would later change his music to the fifth movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9". After the formation of D-Generation X, Triple H used the D-X theme, titled "Break It Down", performed by The DX Band. When Triple H (or any other member of D-X) approached the ring, camera shots would typically alternate quickly between the approaching wrestler and their entrance video.
Following the creation of Triple H's "The Game" character after WrestleMania XV, WWF composer Jim Johnston created a new theme entitled "Higher Brain Pattern". "Higher Brain Pattern" was later recreated with lyrics (again sung by The DX Band) and renamed "My Time". "My Time" was distinguished by a recurring "bleeping" noise and contained numerous inside jokes and instances of kayfabe breaking, including the addressing of WWF backstage personnel and executives by name. The song was included on WWF The Music, Vol. 4, however is not the exact same one he used during his time using the music. The original theme can be heard on the PC version of the video game WWF Raw. In early 2000, Triple H appeared in the music video of the new rap D-X theme, "The Kings", performed by Run-D.M.C..
In late 2000, Triple H began using "The Game", a song performed by Motörhead, a band of which he was a long-time fan. Motörhead performed his theme live at WrestleMania X-Seven and at WrestleMania 21. The song was covered by Drowning Pool, who performed it live at WrestleMania X8, and The DX Band; the latter cover contained the "bleeping" sound from "My Time." "The Game" was the opening track of WWF The Music, Vol. 5.
While a member of the stable Evolution between 2003 and 2005, Triple H used the Evolution theme, "Line in the Sand" by Motörhead, whenever approaching the ring with at least one other member of Evolution. When approaching the ring alone, Triple H continued to use "The Game". After Evolution disbanded in early 2005, Triple H reverted to using only "The Game".
At WrestleMania 22 Triple H debuted a new theme called "King of Kings", also performed by Motörhead. On the April 23, 2006 episode of RAW he began alternating between "King of Kings" and "The Game", using the new theme when approaching the ring to conduct an interview and the older theme when entering the ring in order to wrestle. "King of Kings" was featured on the WWE Wreckless Intent album.
Championships and accomplishments
- Independent Wrestling Federation
- 1-time IWF Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time IWF Tag Team Champion (with Perry Saturn)
- PWI ranked him # 139 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
- PWI Most Hated Wrestler (2003, 2004 and 2005)
- PWI Match of the Year, versus Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels, (2004)
- PWI Feud of the Year, versus Kurt Angle (2000); versus Chris Benoit (2004)
- 5-time World Heavyweight Champion
- 5-time WWF Champion
- 2-time WWF European Champion
- 5-time WWF Intercontinental Champion
- 1-time WWF Undisputed Champion
- 1-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin)
- 1997 King of the Ring winner
- 2002 Royal Rumble winner
- Seventh Triple Crown Champion
- Second Grand Slam Champion
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 2005)
- 2000 Wrestler of the Year
- 2000 Feud of the Year (versus Mick Foley)
- 2002 Most Overrated Wrestler
- 2003 Most Overrated Wrestler
- 2004 Feud of the Year (versus Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels)
- 2004 Most Overrated Wrestler
- 2005 Feud of the Year (versus Batista)
Championship succession
Personal life
Prior to his relationship with Stephanie McMahon, Levesque had previously been in a relationship with Chyna. Following his first WWF championship run, Triple H was put into a program with Stephanie McMahon that culminated in Triple H "marrying" McMahon. During the program, in which Triple H and Stephanie were heels, Levesque and McMahon became personally involved in real life (while Triple H was still in a relationship with Chyna). On October 25, 2003, long after the couple had divorced in the storylines, they married for real.
On January 8, 2006, WWE.com announced that Triple H and Stephanie are expecting their first child in July 2006 Triple H stated on CNN's Showbiz Tonight that their child is due on his 37th birthday, July 27, 2006 and that the sex is not known - they had preferred to be surprised by it. On WWE Raw there are hints to the child being born soon. Triple H also jokes that the father must have a "large you know what" referring to himself of course seeing that he is married to Stephanie in real life.
Television, films and books
Levesque appeared as Triple H on MADtv and Saturday Night Live and as professional wrestler 'The Disciplinarian' on an episode of The Drew Carey Show.
He also had a role in the movie Blade: Trinity, as a vampire enforcer named Jarko Grimwood.
He is scheduled to star in the WWE-produced movie entitled Jornada del Muerte ("Journey of Death").
In late 2004, Triple H released a book entitled Making the Game: Triple H's Approach to a Better Body. Mostly devoted to bodybuilding advice, the book also includes some autobiographical information, memoirs, and opinions.
Levesque was featured in the August 14, 2005 episode of MTV's Punk'd. He was led to believe that he had ruined a wedding by hitting the bride in the face with a door and damaging her nose, until Ashton Kutcher and Stacy Keibler showed up. Levesque was also featured in an episode of The Bernie Mac Show.
In May 2006, Triple H appeared in commercials for Miller Lite where he debates "Man Law" with the likes of Burt Reynolds, Eddie Griffin and Jerome Bettis. That same month, he also appeared in a commercial for USA Network with Anthony Michael Hall, which cross-promoted RAW and Hall's show, The Dead Zone; the main comedic factor being Cena leaving a sunburn enhanced handprint on Triple H's back.
Triple H has also appeared in a Burger King "Have It Your Way" commercial; he holds up a Triple Whopper and says, "The Triple H Burger."
Video and DVD releases
- D-Generation X (1998)
- It's Our Time (1999)
- Triple H - That Damn Good (2001)
- Triple H - The Game (2002)
External links
