With the announcement of Triple H headlining the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2025, it’s time to look back at the phenomenal career that he had. Since HHH started in 1992, there will be much to go through, so let’s enjoy this ride as we look back on his Hall of Fame career.
Triple H debuted on March 24, 1992, in the International Wrestling Federation, which was a promotion created by the legendary Killer Kowalski, who was also Triple H’s trainer. HHH debuted as Terra Ryzing and won his match and would ultimately win the world title in that organization. He signed a one-year contract with WCW in 1994 and soon changed his name to Jean-Paul Levesque.
He would end up having a small rivalry within the WCW and would end up being put into a tag team with Lord Steven Regal AKA William Regal before departing for WWE in January of 1995 after Triple H and WCW could not come to terms on a contract.
Triple H made his WWE debut as Hunter Hearst Helmsley on April 30, 1995, where he would win his first match. He would go on to be undefeated in his first few months before losing to the Undertaker at Survivor Series of that same year. HHH would have on-and-off feuds in the mid-card before making his WrestleMania debut in a loss against the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 12.
A controversial moment in 1996, known as the “Curtain Call” incident, in which Triple H and Shawn Michael broke kayfabe to say goodbye to their buddies Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, would end up costing Triple H the chance to be the King of the Ring, and that would end up going to Stone Cold Steve Austin. HHH would end up going on to win the King of the Ring the following year and have a reign as the Intercontinental Champion before the next step in his WWE career.
Later on, in that same year of 1997, Triple H would go on to form a faction with Shawn Michaels, Chyna, and Rick Rude known as D-Generation X. The group would ultimately become a fan favorite for decades to come as they were known to go the edgy route in wrestling and do risqué promos or segments, which would be one of the big reasons for the birth of the attitude era.
DX ran shop around the WWE for a few years, as Triple H would go on to win the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship again, and then he would become the leader of DX himself after Shawn Michaels ended up having an early retirement for a few years due to injury. HHH would become a heel, turn on his DX members, and join the Corporation run by Mr. McMahon.
When feuding with McMahon, Hemsley would go on to win his first-ever WWF Championship in 1999. He would go on to go back and forth winning the title and losing the title throughout 1999 and 2000. After feuding with the likes of Mick Foley and Stone Cold, he would end up forming a tag team with Stone Cold called the Two-Man Power Trip and they would go on to win the tag titles together, as well as Triple H winning the IC title along the way again.
Triple H sadly would suffer a career-threatening injury while teaming with Stone Cold in a match on May 21, 2001. HHH would end up being out of action for eight months after tearing his left quad muscle. HHH would go on to return on January 7, 2002, and would return as a face rather than a heel, winning the Royal Rumble and ultimately winning the WWF undisputed title at WrestleMania 18.
In February 2003, after having feuds with the likes of Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, and Kane, Triple H ended up forming another faction with the likes of Ric Flair, Batista, and Randy Orton known as Evolution. This is where HHH would have a long reign with the newly created World Heavyweight Championship, holding it for 280 days before losing to Goldberg. Triple H would go on to win the world title on a few more occasions while with Evolution.
However, the group would start to slowly disband once Randy Orton won the World Title from Chris Benoit at Summerslam 2004, as Triple H and the rest would turn on Orton the next night on Raw. After a few more months of Evolution, the group would lose another member, that being Batista who would powerbomb HHH through a table on Raw in 2005, ultimately choosing to face him for the World title at WrestleMania 21.
Evolution would eventually dissolve, and after losing to John Cena at WrestleMania 22, Triple H would then reunite with old friend Shawn Michaels and form DX once again. During this part of his career, HHH and Michaels would go on to have feuds against the likes of the Spirit Squad, the McMahons, and Rated RKO.
After an injury,y he would return to being a singles star. He would go on to have on-and-off stints with the world title after having matches with the likes of Jeff Hardy, Edge, and Vladimir Kozlov. He also had an amazing triple-threat match at WrestleMania 24 with Randy Orton and John Cena in which Orton retained the title.
Triple H would then go into a feud with Randy Orton in late 2008-mid 2009, with them having a WrestleMania 25 World Title match that would result in HHH winning. However, that feud would not stop there as Orton and Helmsley would go on to fight at Backlash, The Great American Bash, and Night of Champions, all matches for the WWE title in which Triple H would end up losing all three.
After this feud, Shawn Michaels and Triple H would have one more run as DX, which ended in a tag title win vs Jeri-Show. However, after a short reign with the titles, they would end up losing them to ShoMiz in a triple threat tag team match.
HHH would soon become the COO of WWE, and he would have rivalries with CM Punk, best friend Kevin Nash, and two WrestleMania matches with the Undertaker. He would also end up having another WrestleMania match with Brock Lesnar at the 29th Edition of the show and go on to win the match.
HHH would also later on become a heel and create the faction, the Authority after he betrayed Daniel Bryan in a match where Triple H was the special guest referee and would cost Bryan the WWE title by letting Randy Orton cash in on him. After a few WrestleMania matches, a Royal Rumble win, and another world title reign, the authority would come to an end after a three-year-long run.
Triple H’s time was coming to an end. After a rivalry with Seth Rollins, and competing in a Survivor Series match in 2017, Triple H would go on to have his final two WrestleMania matches. One was a mixed tag match with Stephanie McMahon in losing fashion against Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey, the other was a win against Batista in what would be his last WrestleMania match. HHH would officially retire in 2022 after a few sporadic matches at the Saudi shows the previous years, putting an end to his Hall of Fame career.
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