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Triple H

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Paul Levesque
BornJuly 27 1969
Nashua, New Hampshire
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Triple H
Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Jean-Paul Levesque
Terra Ryzin
Billed height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Billed weight265 lb (120 kg)
Billed fromGreenwich, Connecticut
Trained byKiller Kowalski
DebutMarch 1992

Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27 1969)[1] is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name, Triple H, an abbreviation of his former moniker, Hunter Hearst Helmsley (also abbreviated to HHH). Triple H currently performs on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where, with Shawn Michaels, they are D-Generation X.

Early career

Triple H was trained to wrestle by Killer Kowalski. He teamed with fellow Kowalski trainee, Perry Saturn. In 1993, he joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW), wrestling as a heel under the ring name Terra Ryzin. Later, Levesque created the persona Jean-Paul Lévesque, 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. During this time he began using his finisher The Pedigree, now one of the most well-known finishing maneuvers in professional wrestling. Many newer fans who do not know about his Jean-Paul Levesque gimmick are unaware of the blue-blood character origins of the move's name. Under this persona, Levesque also briefly teamed with Lord Steven Regal. He left in 1995 for the World Wrestling Federation.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

1995-1997

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 how to use proper etiquette up until his wrestling debut which happened on the April 30, 1995 episode of Wrestling Challenge. 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 feud 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. 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 (Nash) 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 Rocky Maivia on the February 13, 1997 edition of a special Monday Night RAW, called Thursday RAW Thursday. For an very brief time, Helmsley was accompanied by Curtis Hughes, who played 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.

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 risqué 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.

1998-1999

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 "Bad 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. 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.

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. 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 a shorter hairstyle. His image and his personality 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 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 defeated Mankind to win his first WWF Championship.

2000-2001

By January 2000, Triple H had dubbed himself "The Game", implying that he was at the top of the wrestling world, and was dubbed "The Cerebral Assassin" by Jim Ross. (He has claimed that "The Game" tag was initially conceived for Owen Hart.) He was now known as The Game. He 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, and this period was known as the "McMahon/Helmsley Era".

Triple H worked a program with Mick Foley in early 2000, which 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. He lost the title at Backlash to The Rock, but regained it in an Iron Man match at Judgment Day only to lose it back to The Rock at King of the Ring.

A later feud between Triple H and Steve Austin culminated in a Three Stages of Hell match in which Helmsley defeated Austin. 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 Jericho to put him in 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.

2002-2003

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. At WrestleMania X8, Triple H beat Chris Jericho for the WWF Undisputed Championship. 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 continued to feud with Chris Jericho.

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 Michaels' face brutally into a car window to prove that Michaels was "weak". 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 due to the fact that he was the last person to hold that title before it was consolidated with the WWF Championship as the Undisputed Title (Y2J was the first Undisputed Champion but physically carried the WWF and WCW titles as separate belts on television). Triple H made successful title defenses against Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, Kane & others, 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 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). In one of Triple H's Title defenses, two other members of Evolution succeeded in helping Triple H not only retain the title, but also remove Kane's mask (the match was stipulated as Mask vs. Championship). 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 held the belt for most of 2003, feuding with and ultimately defeating former WCW talent including former WCW World Heavyweight Champions Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash, and Bill Goldberg in main events.

2004-2005

File:Triple h on raw 2.jpg
Triple H performing his trademark pose on the turnbuckles on RAW.

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. Triple H regained the title later that year from former associate Randy Orton at Unforgiven. Following a controversial triple threat World title defense against Chris 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 10th 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 2005 and Vengeance 2005). Following this, Triple H took some time off from wrestling, learning about the corporate side of WWE in preparation for a future full-time executive position as well as to film the future WWE films project Jornada del Muerte.

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 Ric Flair (who had turned face during Triple H's absence) against Chris Masters and Carlito. Triple H and Flair won, but H then turned on Flair with his sledgehammer. Triple H then began a feud with Flair.

2006-2007

Another championship opportunity came about for Triple H in the Road to WrestleMania Tournament, in which he won, thus granting him a number one contendership for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 22.

At WrestleMania 22, Triple H and John Cena fought in the main event for the WWE Championship, where Triple H lost via submission. Later that month at Backlash 2006, Triple H was involved in another WWE Championship match, fighting Edge and John Cena in a Triple Threat match, where he lost again. In an act of frustration, a bloodied Triple H used his sledgehammer to attack both Edge and John Cena and then performed a number of DX crotch chops, much to the delight of the fans. Triple H would unsuccessfully attempt to win the WWE title from Cena on numerous occasions, and blaming his shortcomings on Vince McMahon, eventually he turned face and leading to a feud between the McMahons and Triple H.

File:Triple h making the dx x.jpg
Triple H displaying the DX "X".

Shawn Michaels returned on the June 12, 2006 edition of RAW and soon reunited with Triple H to reform their previous wrestling stable, D-Generation X. DX defeated the Spirit Squad at Vengeance 2006 in a 5-on-2 handicap match. DX 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 2006, withstanding the attack of several handpicked WWE superstars by Vince McMahon. At Unforgiven 2006, D-Generation X overcame the odds once again, defeating The McMahons and ECW World Heavyweight Champion The Big Show in a Hell in a Cell match (the seventh Hell in a Cell match for Triple H and the third for Shawn Michaels). DX embarrassed Vince by shoving his face in Big Show's backside during the match, and DX won when Triple H broke a sledgehammer over the shoulders of Vince McMahon.

At Cyber Sunday 2006 during their feud with Rated RKO (Edge and Randy Orton), DX was defeated. The fan selected special guest referee, Eric Bischoff, allowed the illegal use of a weapon to give Rated RKO the ill-gotten win, and the plaudit of being the first tag team to defeat DX in a tag team match since their reformation in June 2006. At 2006 Survivor Series, DX got their revenge when their team defeated Edge and Randy Orton's team in a Classic Elimination Match with a clean sweep. DX continued its feud with Rated RKO after the event.

On January 7, 2007, Rated-RKO defended the World Tag Team Championship against D-Generation X at New Year's Revolution. During the match, Triple H suffered a tear of one of the four tendons in his right quadriceps, similar to the injury he sustained in May of 2001. Triple H finished the match, which ended in a No Contest, and then was taken backstage to be examined by the WWE doctor, Ferdinand Rios. On January 8, 2007, it was confirmed that Triple H did indeed suffer a tear of one of the four tendons in his right quadriceps. The injury required surgery, which Triple H received on January 9, 2007, and Triple H will need four to six months to rehabilitate the injury. Because of Triple H’s injury, the future of D-Generation X is uncertain at this time. At 7:30pm on January 9, 2007 in Birmingham Alabama, Dr. Andrews reported that Triple H's surgery went well with no complications. Also, it is reported that Triple H could begin wrestling in about six months.


Wrestling facts

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Managers
  • Nicknames
  • The Connecticut Blueblood
  • The Game
  • The Cerebral Assassin
  • The King of Kings

Championships and accomplishments

  • Independent Wrestling Federation
  • IWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • IWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Perry Saturn
  • PWI ranked him # 139 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
  • PWI ranked him #1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the 2000 PWI 500
  • 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)
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Personal Information

In 2003, Levesque married Stephanie McMahon. He became a father on July 24, 2006 when Stephanie gave birth to an 8 lb, 7 oz (3.8 kg) baby girl, Aurora Rose Levesque.

Levesque has appeared as Triple H on MADtv and Saturday Night Live and as professional wrestler "The Disciplinarian" on an episode of The Drew Carey Show.

Levesque appeared in the movie Blade: Trinity, as a vampire enforcer named Jarko Grimwood.

In late 2004, Levesque 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. Hunter was also featured in an episode of The Bernie Mac Show.

In May 2006, Levesque 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 fellow wrestler John Cena leaving a sunburn enhanced handprint on Triple H's back. He has also been featured in an advertisement for Stacker 2's YJ Stinger, and commercials for bodybuilding supplements such as Joe Weider's Dynamic Muscle Builder and No X-Plode.

Levesque has also briefly appeared in a Wendy's commercial; he holds up a Triple Classic Burger and calls it the "Triple H Burger".

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". [2]

Levesque has been a guest announcer for the Mr. Olympia since 2004.

He has appeared in every game in the WWE Smackdown! / WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW series.

References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0505391/
  2. ^ Adam Bernard (2006-11-14). "The Game Interview". Retrieved November 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Triple H.
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