Happy 44th birthday to 'The Game' Triple H - A tribute

Triple H or ‘The Game’, ‘The King of Kings’, one of the greatest WWE champions of all time turns 44 today and what an opportunity to take a ride back and look at his career and accomplishments as a pro-wrestler and beyond.

Are you ready?

Paul Levesque, by all accounts, wasn’t someone who was destined to follow in the footsteps of some WWE greats into the business of sports-entertainment as his parents are normal folks and when asked for a possible career option for their budding son, pro-wrestling would have been the farthest thing on their mind. But then, fate had other plans and the ‘normal’ son would become a huge fan of this crazy world of pro-wrestling and dream of one day becoming just like the man he idolised, ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair.

Hunter in his autobiography talks about his fascination for everything Ric Flair – the talk, the walk, the lifestyle, and the gold. Barely in his teens, he figured out a way he could land in the world of his dreams and that was through the art of body-building. One look at HHH and it is pretty evident where the roots of his are. An avid body-builder, Triple H competed in various body-building competitions and was even crowned Teenage Mr. New Hampshire, when he was just 18 years old. But those were just sign of things to come.

After being trained in pro-wrestling by the legendary Killer Kowalski, Paul made his debut in WCW, where he was a villain named Terror Risin’, which was soon known as Terra Ryzing. At best a mid-carder, he was involved in a feud with Alex Wright and for a short duration was also paired up with Lord Steven Regal. But, nothing really came of note out of this time and very soon, he was in WWE, looking to try his luck at making it big as a singles’ competitor.

A slow starter, my initial memories of Hunter Hearst Helmsley were of him doing a stylish bow and teaching proper etiquette to the unwashed masses watching him on TV. He definitely had a bevy of beauties lined up to help him get out of his robe, one of them being future diva Sable. But on the wrestling front, he wasn’t anything of note as he was squashed in under a minute by the returning Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 12 and feuded with the likes of Marc Mero and Duke “The Dumpster” Droese for the remainder of 1996.

During this time, he was also involved in the infamous ‘Curtain Call’ at MSG where he was one of the members of the KLIQ who broke kayfabe in front of a live audience. But success didn’t elude him for too long and he won the King of the Ring the following year and aligned himself with real-life best friend Shawn Michaels to form one of the most popular stables of all time, Degeneration X.

DX was a prime part of the ensuing Attitude Era and after HBK’s exit, Triple H took over as the leader of the posse.Triple H as a character, also began to evolve during the hottest time in pro-wrestling in the late 1990s and long gone was the bumbling, goofy young guy and in his place came an intense, heavy-duty serious and rugged wrestler ready for a serious go at the WWE title. It was this transformation of his that prompted him to call himself ‘The Game’ because he was ‘that damn good’. With the dawn of the new decade, he had successfully transitioned into being the number one heel in the business and his work rate was up there with the best.

He became the first heel to walk out of WM after successfully defending it at WM 16. His smarmy bad guy act saw him associate with the McMahons, both as an ally and opponent (he is married to Vince’s daughter Stephanie in real life) and has never looked back ever since. Over the years, HHH has gone back and forth between being a heel and a baby-face and amassed an impressive tally of 23 championships in the company, but has been mainly a babyface over the past 7 years.

As Triple H moves on into a more prominent role backstage as the Developmental in charge, talks have been pointing at how he politicised his career for this very same day when he is on the cusp of being the next guy, after Vince McMahon. But people who have known him and worked with him close vouch for his passion for wrestling and his wide knowledge about the business and have no hesitation in him being the next guy in line to take over the company from Vince.

His time has already yielded some impressive signings of new talent from across the world and other accomplishments such as a state-of-the-art WWE training centre. Triple H continues to be an active on-screen personality and still has the ability to engage a crowd like very few can on the roster and it’s been a pleasure watching him over the years and hope to see more of him in the years to come.

Wishing a very happy birthday to the legendary Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque!