Everything about Triple H totally explained
Paul Michael Levesque
Before joining WWE, Levesque began his wrestling career with
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1993, wrestling under the ring name Terra Ryzing. In addition, he won the
1997 King of the Ring, the
2002 Royal Rumble, and was the second
Grand Slam Champion.
Early life and career
In his youth, Levesque was a fan of professional wrestling and his favorite wrestler was
Ric Flair. This
gimmick referred to his surname's
French origins and he was asked to speak with a French accent, as he couldn't speak
French. During this time, he began using his finisher,
The Pedigree.
Lévesque had a brief storyline
feud with
Alex Wright that culminated at
Starrcade.
Although he was heavily pushed in the first few months after his debut, his career stalled during 1996, starting off with being mired in a feud with
Duke "The Dumpster" Droese following a loss in the Free For All at the
1996 Royal Rumble. Up until that event, his
angle included appearing on television each week with a different female valet.
On
May 28 1996, Triple H appeared on
WWF Superstars against
Marty Garner. When Helmsley attempted to use the Pedigree, Garner mistook the maneuver for a double-underhook suplex and tried to jump up with the move, causing him to land squarely on top of his head and suffer neck damage.
Despite the punishment, Helmsley did have several successes following the MSG Incident. He found a manager in
Mr. Perfect and was
booked to win his first
Intercontinental Championship on
October 21 1996, defeating Marc Mero. When Mr. Perfect 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
dropping it to
Rocky Maivia on the
February 13 1997 special edition of
Monday Night Raw, called
Thursday Raw Thursday. For a very brief time, Helmsley was accompanied by
Mr. Hughes, who was his storyline bodyguard. After losing the Intercontinental title, he
feuded with
Goldust, defeating him at
WrestleMania 13. During their feud,
Chyna debuted as his new bodyguard and assaulted Goldust's wife and valet
Marlena.
D-Generation X (1997–1999)
Helmsley's push resumed in 1997, when he won the
King of the Ring tournament on
June 8 by defeating
Mankind in the finals. Later that year, Shawn Michaels, Helmsley, Chyna and
Rick Rude formed D-Generation X (DX). This
stable later became known for pushing the envelope, as Michaels and Helmsley made risqué promos, spawning the catchphrase "Suck It", along with a "crotch chop" hand motion, and sarcastically deriding
Bret Hart and
Canada. By that point, Helmsley had fully dropped the "blueblood snob" gimmick. During this period, his ring name was shortened to simply Triple H. Even after the DX versus
Hart Foundation storyline ended when Bret,
Jim Neidhart, and
Davey Boy Smith defected to WCW, Helmsley continued to feud with the sole remaining member
Owen Hart over the
WWF European Championship. This culminated in a match between the two at
WrestleMania XIV, with the stipulation that Chyna had to be handcuffed to then-Commissioner
Sgt. Slaughter. Helmsley won after Chyna threw powder into Slaughter's eyes, momentarily "blinding" him and allowing her to interfere in the match.
After WrestleMania, Michaels was forced into retirement due to a
legitimate back injury sustained at the
Royal Rumble, and on-screen, Triple H took over the leadership position in DX, claiming that his now-former associate had "dropped the ball". He introduced the returning
X-Pac the night after WrestleMania and joined forces with the
New Age Outlaws (
"Bad Ass" Billy Gunn and
"Road Dogg" Jesse James). Triple H led the "DX Army" throughout 1998, spawning a series of
vignettes in which the DX army "invaded" the
CNN Building and WCW Offices in
Atlanta, culminating in the group nearly crashing an episode of
Nitro in
Virginia. It was also during this time that Triple H began a feud with the leader of the
Nation of Domination and rising WWF
heel,
The Rock. This storyline rivalry eventually led to a feud over The Rock's Intercontinental Championship, which Triple H won in a
Ladder match at
SummerSlam. He didn't hold the title long, however, as he was sidelined with a legitimate knee injury. When The Rock won the
WWF Championship at the
Survivor Series, the rivalry between the two continued, as DX fought Vince McMahon's
Corporation stable, of which The Rock was the main star. 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 the match ended when Triple H was forced to quit or see his aide Chyna
chokeslammed by
Kane. This began a new angle for Triple H, as Chyna betrayed him by attacking him after the match and joining the Corporation.
As part of the storyline, at
WrestleMania XV, Triple H wrestled as a face for 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
Shane McMahon retain the European Championship. Triple H and Chyna then joined the Corporation, briefly placing them 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 crowd favorite. After Triple H's heel turn in early 1999, he moved away from his "DX" look, taping his fists for matches, sporting new and shorter wrestling trunks, and adopting a shorter hairstyle. His gimmick changed as he fought to earn a WWF title shot. After numerous failed attempts at winning the championship, Triple H and
Mankind challenged WWF Champion
Stone Cold Steve Austin at
SummerSlam in a
Triple Threat match, which featured
Jesse "The Body" Ventura as the special guest referee. Mankind was booked to win the match by pinning Austin, becoming a three-time WWF champion. The following night on
Raw, however, Triple H defeated Mankind to win his first WWF Championship.
Triple H dropped the WWF Championship to Vince McMahon on the
September 16 1999 edition of
SmackDown! before regaining it at
Unforgiven in a
Six-Pack Challenge that included Davey Boy Smith,
Big Show, Kane, The Rock, and Mankind. He defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin at
No Mercy before dropping the title to The Big Show at
Survivor Series.
McMahon-Helmsley Era (2000–2001)
By January 2000, already a three-time WWF champion, Triple H had dubbed himself "The Game," implying that he was at the top of the wrestling world, and was nicknamed "The
Cerebral Assassin" by
Jim Ross. His storyline feud with Vince McMahon continued, with McMahon winning the title from Triple H during an episode of
SmackDown!. As a result of the feud, an
angle with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon began which carried the WWF throughout the next seventeen months; this period was known as the "
McMahon-Helmsley Era".
Triple H feuded with
Mick Foley in early 2000 in a storyline that ended with a
Hell in a Cell match at
No Way Out that sent Foley into retirement. Triple H pinned The Rock at
WrestleMania 2000 to retain the title, but lost it at April's
Backlash to The Rock. He regained it three weeks later, in an
Iron Man match at
Judgment Day, only to lose it back to The Rock at
King of the Ring. Hunter then entered into a storyline feud with
Chris Jericho, which culminated in a
Last Man Standing match at
Fully Loaded. He later teamed with his former nemesis Austin to form
The Two-Man Power Trip, capturing both the
WWF Tag Team Championship and the Intercontinental Championship (twice) by the end of the next pay-per-view.
During the
May 21 2001 broadcast of
Raw, he suffered a legitimate and career-threatening injury. At WrestleMania X8, Triple H beat
Chris Jericho for the WWF Undisputed Championship. When he learned that it was fake, he dumped her publicly on
Raw when they were supposed to renew their wedding vows. The divorce, and thus the storyline, was finalized at
Vengeance.
Meanwhile, Triple H's old
D-Generation X companion
Shawn Michaels had made his return to WWF and joined the
New World Order (nWo), and Michaels and
Kevin Nash planned to bring Triple H over to
Raw in order to put him into the group. Vince McMahon, however, disbanded the nWo following several backstage complications and brought in
Eric Bischoff as the Raw brand'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 the Raw brand, reuniting with Shawn Michaels, but on
July 22, he turned on Michaels by performing a
Pedigree on him during what was supposed to be a DX reunion. The following week, as part of the storyline, Triple H smashed Michaels' face into a car window to prove that Michaels was "weak". These events led to the beginning of a long storyline rivalry between the former partners and an eventual "Unsanctioned Street Fight" at
SummerSlam, in which Michaels came out of retirement to win. Afterwards, however, Triple H attacked him with a
sledgehammer, and Michaels was carried out of the ring.
Before
September 2 2002, WWE recognized only one champion for both the Raw and SmackDown! brands. 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 then received a push by having numerous successful title defenses, but he eventually dropped the belt to Shawn Michaels in the first ever
Elimination Chamber match at
Survivor Series. He regained the title from Michaels a month later in a Three Stages of Hell match at
Armageddon. Triple H held the
World Heavyweight Championship for most of 2003. At the 2004 Royal Rumble, Triple H and
Shawn Michaels fought in a
Last Man Standing match to a double
countout, so Triple H retained the title. and he was unable to reclaim the belt from Benoit in subsequent rematches, including a rematch of the WrestleMania main event between Triple H, Benoit, and Shawn Michaels at
Backlash. Triple H then regained the title from former associate Randy Orton at
Unforgiven. Following a triple threat World title defense against Benoit and
Edge on the
November 29 2004 episode of
Raw, the World Heavyweight Championship became vacant for the first time. At
New Year's Revolution, Triple H won the Elimination Chamber to begin his tenth world title reign. At
WrestleMania 21, Triple H lost the championship to Batista, and subsequently lost two rematches at consecutive
Raw pay-per-views:
Backlash and
Vengeance. Following this, Triple H took some time off from wrestling, suffering from minor neck problems.
Triple H returned to
Raw on
October 3 2005 as part of
WWE Homecoming. He teamed up with Flair to defeat
Chris Masters and
Carlito. After the match, as part of his new storyline, Triple H turned on Flair with his sledgehammer, sparking a feud between the duo. They met in a
Steel cage match at
Taboo Tuesday for Flair's
Intercontinental Championship, a match that Flair won. Subsequently, Triple H defeated Flair in a non-title Last Man Standing match at
Survivor Series to end their feud. Later that month at
Backlash, Triple H was involved in another WWE Championship match, fighting
Edge and Cena in a Triple Threat match, where he lost again. In an act of frustration, a bloodied Triple H used his sledgehammer to attack, in storyline, both Edge and Cena and then performed a number of DX crotch chops. Triple H unsuccessfully attempted to win the WWE title from Cena on numerous occasions, blaming his shortcomings on
Vince McMahon, which eventually lead to a storyline feud between the McMahons and Triple H.
Shawn Michaels returned on the June 12 edition of
Raw and soon reunited with Triple H to reform D-Generation X, turning Triple H face once again. DX defeated the
Spirit Squad at
Vengeance in a 5-on-2 handicap match. They continued their feud with Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and the
Spirit Squad for several weeks. They then defeated the Spirit Squad again at
Saturday Night's Main Event in a 5-on-2 Elimination match. They then again defeated the McMahons at
SummerSlam, withstanding the attack of several handpicked WWE superstars by Vince McMahon.
At
Cyber Sunday during DX's storyline feud with
Rated-RKO (Edge and
Randy Orton), special guest referee Eric Bischoff allowed the illegal use of a weapon to give Rated-RKO the ill-gotten win. In January 2007, at
New Year's Revolution, DX and Rated-RKO fought to a no-contest after Triple H suffered a legitimate torn right quadriceps (similar to the one he suffered in 2001 but in the other leg) fifteen minutes into the match. A successful surgery was performed on
January 9 2007 by Dr. James Andrews. After his return, he won the
WWE Championship at
No Mercy after beating the newly named Champion,
Randy Orton, making Triple H an eleven-time world champion. In the same event, Triple H also defeated
Umaga in his first title defense after
Mr. McMahon declared his already-scheduled bout with Umaga, a title match. McMahon then announced, Orton would receive a title rematch in a
Last Man Standing match in the final match of the event, which Orton won after an
RKO onto the announcement table, thus ending Triple H's sixth reign. In the Raw
Elimination Chamber at
No Way Out, Triple H gained a WWE Championship match at
WrestleMania XXIV, by outlasting five other men. However, at
WrestleMania XXIV,
Randy Orton retained after punting Triple H and pinning
John Cena following Triple H's Pedigree on Cena. A month later, at
Backlash, Triple H won the title in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match against Orton, Cena, and
JBL, tying the record for most WWE Championship reigns (7) with
The Rock.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
Signature foreign object
Managers
Signature taunts
- Crotch chop ("Suck it" taunt)
- Showing off his muscles, put together with Shawn Michaels
- Arms crossed (the DX "X")
- Throwing his arms up and back, and expanding his chest
- Spitting out water during his entrance
Nicknames
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1Triple H's fifth reign was as WWF Undisputed Champion.
Acting
Commercials
His commercial appearances include ads in May 2006 for Miller Lite where he debates "Man Laws" 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. Hall's character, a psychic, touches Triple H while he lounges beside a pool and has a vision of him falling asleep in the sun, and fellow wrestler John Cena slapping Triple H's sunburned back and leaving a handprint. He has also appeared in commercials for bodybuilding supplements such as Stacker 2 and YJ Stinger. Levesque also appeared in a Wendy's commercial holding up a Triple Classic Burger calling it the "Triple H Burger".
Film
Levesque appeared in the movie,, as a vampire enforcer named Jarko Grimwood.
Levesque has also appeared in several WWE Home Video releases, including Triple H: The Game and Triple H: That Damn Good in 2002, D-Generation-X, a reissue of the VHS version, in 2006, and The New and Improved DX in 2007. Triple H: King of Kings, a DVD covering his career so far, was released on March 25 2008.
Guest appearances
Levesque was featured in the August 14, 2005 episode of MTV's Punk'd in which he was led to believe that he'd 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. His television appearances also include guest appearances as Triple H on MADtv and Saturday Night Live, as a professional wrestler character named "The Disciplinarian" on an episode of The Drew Carey Show and as a character on an episode of The Bernie Mac Show. Levesque also won the WWF edition of The Weakest Link, in which he and Stephanie McMahon were the final two contestants. Levesque has also been a guest announcer for the Mr. Olympia competition.
Personal life
Before marrying Stephanie McMahon, Levesque was in a relationship with Joanie Laurer (who appeared as Chyna). On February 13, 2008, WWE.com announced that Levesque and his wife Stephanie, are expecting a second child in the summer of 2008.
He has a sister named Lynn,
In a November 14, 2006, interview with rapper The Game, it was revealed that Levesque is involved in a lawsuit with him over the rights to the name, "The Game".
Further Information
Get more info on 'Triple H'.
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