"Vince wanted three names" - former WWE Champion recalls the origin of Triple H's old ring name (Exclusive)

Triple H may be one of the coolest names in wrestling, but the real-life Paul Levesque had his fair share of different ring names. From Terra Ryzing to Hunter Hearst Helmsley, WWE's Chief Content Officer lived quite a few gimmicks before becoming what fans love (and hate) to this day.

Speaking on the latest edition of What Were They Thinking on Backstage Pass, Gerald Brisco discussed the origins of Levesque's former Hunter Hearst Helmsley ring name. The former Hardcore Champion recalled Vince McMahon wanted three names for Levesque when he signed with the Stamford-based promotion back in the nineties.

"We had the character Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Hearst came from Hearst. Leona Helmsley, Helmsley came from Leona Helmsley. Hearst, of course, is a big billionaire name. So when he came in, we wanted a fancy name. Vince wanted three names. He wanted three names. The way we had, we had come up with all types of combination." [From 24:14 onwards]

Brisco proceeded to praise Triple H for putting in the work to establish himself as a major player for WWE for years to come.

"I forgot who come up with Hunter, but Helmsley and Hearst was easy to come up with. But you know, I always look back on that math as a math where Triple H kind of separated himself from just being one of the guys to, to being a team player to get out there and become a main event player." From 24:39 onwards]

Triple H will be overseeing WWE RAW's debut episode on Netflix tonight. Fans can check our last-minute predictions for the show here or wait to see how the episode turns out.

Get the full episode of What Were They Thinking? With JBL and Gerald Brisco on Backstage Pass. You can also unlock our exclusive content via YouTube membership.