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Trained by the legendary Killer Kowalski, Paul Levesque
first made the national spotlight when he debuted for World
Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994.
He debuted with the interesting name of Terra Ryzing
before being repackaged as Jean-Paul Levesque, a blueblood who
teamed briefly with Lord Steven Regal.
In 1995 Levesque left WCW for the World Wrestling
Federation (WWF) where he was renamed Hunter Hearst
Helmsley. He kept his blueblood character though and
began a program with Marc Mero wherein he won the
Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Later
on, Triple H began coming to ringside with a huge female
bodyguard known as Chyna, "the Ninth Wonder of the World" (At
the time Chyna and Triple H were involved romantically).
During his time in the WWF, Hunter formed
a friendship with several wrestlers known as "the Klique"
(Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Shawn Michaels being among
them). However his friendship with them nearly cost him
his career in 1996 when he participated in the infamous
"curtain call" at Madison Square Garden (MSG). The match
at MSG was to be the last for Hall and Nash (who were on their
way to rival WCW) and the Klique decided to mark Hall and
Nash's departure by all standing in the ring together and
saluting the fans. The problem was that Hall, Nash,
Michaels, and Helmsley were not portrayed as being friends in
the wrestling world and this broke one of the cardinal rules
of kayfabe. Vince McMahon was furious and he punished
Hunter by putting his career on hold (Helmsley was reportedly
scheduled to win the King of the Ring tournament that year but
instead it went to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin).
Helmsey's career began to pick up
again and in 1997 he won the King of the Ring tournament,
defeating Mankind in the finals. Hunter would go on to
feud with Mankind over the next few months, one of the most
intense feuds of Hunter's careeer.
In addition to his real-life friendship
with Michaels, Helmsley also formed a wrestling alliance
(along with Chyna) known as Degeneration X (DX).
Helmsley abandoned his blueblood image and began referring to
himself as "Triple H". Degeneration X was a much hated heel
faction, especially when they brought in professional boxer
Mike Tyson to help protect Michaels WWF Championship from
contender "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. However DX' racy
promos also won them the admiration of some WWF fans.
After Shawn Michaels lost to Austin
at Wrestlemania, things didn't look good for DX in 1998.
Not only did Michaels lose the WWF Title but he also had to
retire due to a career ending injury he had suffered against
the Undertaker. However
Triple H bounced back by putting together a new and larger
version of DX by bringing in the New Age Outlaws (Jesse James
and Billy Gunn) along with Sean "Xpac" Waltman. DX was
back and better than ever as the five wrestlers tore through
their competition and began to win over more and more fans
with their risque behavior and irreverant attitude. It
was only a matter of time before DX became babyfaces.
During this time, Triple H feuded with the Rock over the
Intercontinental Championship while the members of DX feuded
with the Rock's group the Nation of Domination. DX
performed a hilarious skit in which each member of DX
impersonated a member of the Nation.
In 1999, DX seemed to have done all that it could and so
Triple H turned his attention to the one goal he had not
reached- the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Triple
H turned his back on DX and turned heel. It was a year
of accomplishments for Triple H. Not only did he find a
powerful ally in Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie
(after drugging and marrying her) but he won his first ever
WWF World Championship.
Over the next two years, Triple H was a top level star who
was either competing for the WWF Heavyweight Title or holding
it. He battled with other superstars like the Big Show, "Stone Cold" Steve
Austin, and the Rock over the belt. The lengths to which
Triple H would go to keep his WWF Title was seen when an
unknown driver ran down "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and put him
out of action for one year (the next year it was revealed that
Triple H had talked Rikishi into running down Austin).
Triple H renewed his feud with Mankind and the two wrestlers
fought bloody battle after bloody battle which culminated in a
Hell in the Cell (HIAC) match where Mick Foley put his career
up against Triple H and lost.
Things were looking good for Triple H after
Wrestlemania X-7. Not only had he won the WWF Tag Team
Titles with longtiime rival now turned ally Steve Austin but
Triple H also held the Intercontinental TItle. However
during a tag title defense against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, Triple H suffered a quad
injury when his quad muscle in his leg snapped off the
bone. Triple H would spend the next eight months in
rehabilitation and he was absent from the WWF during the
Invasion angle.
When Triple H returned to the WWF in January 2002, he was
more competitive than he had ever been. He had only one
goal in mind- regaining the WWF Title (now the WWF Undisputed
Title). When his on-screen wife Stephanie McMahon tried
to manipulate him into thinking she was pregnant, Triple H
pedigreed her and her father Vince McMahon on national
television after learning of the deception. After
winning the 2002 Royal Rumble, Triple H met Chris Jericho at
Wrestlemania and became the second Undisputed Champion in WWF
history.
Later that year, Triple H teamed up with the legendary Hulk
Hogan. Not long after, Hogan would challenge Helmsley
for the WWF Title and win it from him. For several
months Triple H was out of the title picture and when the WWE
split into the RAW and Smackdown brands, it appeared as if he
would not be able to challenge for the title since it was held
by Smackdown wrestler Brock Lesnar and Triple H wrestled for
RAW. However in September 2002, Eric Bischoff decided to
form his own world heavyweight title and created the RAW title
which he awarded to Triple H (since he was RAW's #1
contender.)
During his career, Triple H has feuded with many wrestlers
but no feud has come close to matching the intensity of the
feud between Triple H and Shawn Michaels. When Michaels
refused to follow the orders of Eric Bischoff, Triple H
attacked Michaels out of self-interest and the two faced off
at Summer Slam. While Michaels won the match, he didn't
fare so well after the match when Triple H destroyed him with
a sledgehammer.
However Michaels was far from finished and he was one of
several participants in the first ever Elimination Chamber
Match at Survivor Series. Michaels won the WWE Title
from Triple H but dropped it a month later in a Three Stages
of Hell Match.
After regaining the WWE World Title, Triple H decided to
surround himself with some of the best wrestlers in the
business. He combined the experience of Ric Flair, the desire of Randy Orton,
and the sheer power of Batista by
combining them in a group known as Evolution. For the
next ten months Triple H maintained a stranglehold on the RAW
Title until Bill Goldberg finally defeated him in Spetember
2003. Triple H chased Goldberg for the title
before winning it back in December of 2003. He also
renewed his feud with Shawn Michaels, battling the Heartbreak
Kid over the WWE RAW Title. However at Wrestlemania XX,
Triple H lost the title to Chris
Benoit in a Triple Threat Match with Shawn Michaels and he
failed to regain the belt in a rematch the next month.
After months of feuding, Triple H and Shawn Michaels decided
to see who the better man was by settling their differences in
a Hell in a Cell match. Both men beat each other nearly
to death but in the end, Triple H came out the winner.
The night after their HIAC match, RAW announcer Jim Ross
attempted to get Triple H and Michaels to reconcile, fearing
that their next match might be both men's last. However
before a reconciliation could be arrived at, Kane interrupted
the two and laid out Michaels while Triple H did nothing to
stop him.
With Michaels out of the picture, Triple H looked to regain
the RAW title. However his plans went astray when fellow
Evolution member Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit for the RAW
Title. A jealous Triple H promptly kicked Randy Orton out of
Evolution and with the help of the remaining Evolution
members, he defeated Orton for the WWE Title.
In December 2004, Triple made his film debut in the Wesley
Snipes vehicle Blade: Trinity. There are rumors
that this may just be the beginning of Triple H's film
roles.
History repeated itself not long after when Batista won the
2005 Royal Rumble. When Triple H plotted to trick Batista into
challenging for the Smackdown Title rather than the RAW Title,
his plan backfired and Batista chose to face Triple H at
Wrestlemania XXI.
Triple H fought hard to kep his title but Batista was
unstoppable. Since then, Triple H has come up short
in his bid to reclaim the title but time has shown that Triple
H is a persistent man and that he will do whatever it takes to
regain the WWE RAW Title. Triple H faced Batista in two PPV
rematches, culminating in a "Hell in a Cell" match with
Batista at the Vengeance PPV which Helmsley lost.
After the loss, Triple H took time off to recover from the
match and to refocus. When he returned to wrestling on
October 3, 2005, he teamed with longtime advisor Ric "Nature
Boy" Flair against Carlito and Chris
Masters. After defeating Carlito and Masters, Triple
H attacked Flair and beat him to a bloody pulp. The next
week, Helmsely claimed that the Ric Flair he knew was dead and
that he was going to end Flair's career for his own good.
Hunter met Flair at the Taboo Tuesday PPV in a
steel cage match. Triple H did everything he could to
take out Flair but came up short. The feud continued at
the Survivor Series where they squared off in a "Last
Man Standing" match. With the help of the sledgehammer
and several Pedigrees, Hunter won the match.
The next night on RAW , Triple H told the fans he
had done what he had promised to do-take out Ric Flair.
To Hunter's surprise, the Big Show came out and confronted
him, warning him that his time was coming. Two weeks
later, both men interfered in one another's matches, costing
them an opportunity to participate in the "Elimination
Chamber" match at the New Year's Revolution
PPV. The two men signed a contract to face each other at
the PPV and during the contract signing, the ever crafty
Triple H stuck a pen into the Big Show's eye, then proceeded
to break his hand.
"The Game's" strategy seemed to backfire though because the
next week the Big Show came out with his hand wrapped in a
giant size cast which he used to break Triple H's
sledgehammer. At New Year's Revolution Hunter
prevailed against the Big Show. Triple H broke the cast
off and then used the sledgehammer to help win the match.
In early January, Triple H and his wife Stephanie McMahon
Helmsley announced that they were expecting their first
child. Triple H also made it clear that he was going for
his eleventh world championship. He entered the Royal
Rumble at number 1 and was the third last man
eliminated. When Rey Mysterio won the Royal Rumble,
Vince McMahon announced a tournament to decide which RAW
superstar would get a title shot against the WWE Champion at
Wrestlemania. Triple H defeated the Big Show and
Rob Van Dam in the final round to advance to Wrestlemania XXII
and challenge John Cena.
At Wrestlemania XXII, Triple H had a lavish ring entrance
in which he was dressed up as a barbarian (resembling Conan)
sitting on a throne. Triple H gave Cena a fierce battle
but in the end, he underestimated Cena and ended up tapping
out to Cena's STFU.
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