Triple H retires
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: <a href="https://twitter.com/TripleH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TripleH</a> announced his retirement from in-ring competition on <a href="https://twitter.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@espn</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FirstTake?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@firsttake</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/stephenasmith?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stephenasmith</a>. <a href="https://t.co/qnyw9NVtv4">pic.twitter.com/qnyw9NVtv4</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1507386044660035585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He's more or less been in the "part-time" rotation for ages. But yeah, health issues prevented him from getting a proper retirement match he probably would've otherwise had.

James Steele in ruins.

Game over.........in the ring.

Backstage, who knows.

So… who’s gonna be his opponent at next year’s WrestleMania?

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Suck my balls on the way out.:wave:

triple h vs cactus jack still some of my favorite matches of all time.

they needed someone to main next years HoF pretty badly

What he had to say about his health:

* He had viral pneumonia. Lungs were inflamed. Got worse day by day at home.
Coughed up blood. Got checked by doctors and had fluid in his lungs and around his heart.

* After being tested with an EKG and electrocardiogram, his ejection fraction -- measurement of the percentage of blood leaving your heart each time it contracts (supposed to be at 55-60%) -- was down to 30%. By the time he got to hospital, it was 22% and then 12% before surgery as he was experiencing heart failure. "I was at the 1-yard line of where you don't want to be."

* He thought it was over, wondered if he'd wake up from the procedures. Got really choked up thinking about his daughters. "That's tough to swallow. It makes you think differently about life. It doesn't make you any less driven for the things that you do, but it certainly makes you appreciate the things that you have more."

* Has a defibrillator in his chest and is still recovering.

Julie Hart's day has come

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnThisDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OnThisDay</a> in 1997: Julie Hart, then-wife of Bret Hart gives <a href="https://twitter.com/TripleH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TripleH</a> a piece of her mind after the Montreal Screwjob. <a href="https://t.co/icz2jrgbZD">pic.twitter.com/icz2jrgbZD</a></p>&mdash; Allan (@allan_cheapshot) <a href="https://twitter.com/allan_cheapshot/status/928639393660833792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I’m selfishly heartbroken that I won’t get to see him perform ever again, but I am thankful he is still alive and getting to be with his family for hopefully many more years. His career is prolific and full of many incredible matches and moments. He was the first heel I fell in love with as a smartass kid/teenager. Such an intense wrestler who could be a badass heel, chickenshit heel, and could be an effective babyface. Obviously, his heel work is his greatest work. I’ve done plenty of long winded threads in years past. I might make one final one down the road. Genuinely surprised at my guttural reaction to this, but all these moments and memories are flooding my brain at the moment.

He tagged with Shinsuke Nakumra against Roode and Samoa Joe in his last match at a house show.

His last televised match was against Orton at one of those Saudi PPVs in 2019.

What a legendary in-ring career.

If he's got a jump starter strapped in him, he should just get out of the E altogether. Probably take a load of stress off him. Stay home and be a full time Dad or find something easy going.

4/10 guy. No loss.

:y:

Never a Triple H fan. Sucks whenever something gets taken away from you like that, but in some ways it may have been better for him. Especially if he now enjoys life and the important things. Instead of trying to make himself an important thing.

Was his last match against Batista?

For the bulk of his career, HHH had 1994-1995 Hulk Hogan energy

There is some Triple H I like. It was a few matches in 2000.

Triple H had a banger against Chris Benoit at No Mercy 2000. It might actually be my favorite Triple H match. Either that or him against Taka Michinoku or D’Lo Brown in the Blindfold Match.

For Noid.

You know what actually does suck? D’Lo’s career getting muted. He was probably psyched out after Droz and getting caught trying to go to WCW or whatever that was, but from 2001 until when he eventually did leave, they could have done more of anything with him.

Thanks.

Hmm, those matches seem oddly fitting. The house show match, as weird as it is to imagine, does have very “NXT Daddy” vibes to it. Just weird to think of Nakamura as a Triple H partner and Roode as a Triple H opponent for whatever reason.

His last televised match being against Orton is darkly appropriate. Got that members of Evolution eating each other vibe. And Triple H so rarely put Orton over that it’s got a karmic snap to it.

I'm torn because I was so pissed he went over Sting in his big WM debut. That was def all Vince, tho. I always liked HHH outside of "The Authority" storylines. Great in-ring career

When that dry ice smoke or whatever hit him on that entrance...My eyes felt the pain.

*whichever ppv that was

We're talking like the man is dead. Tony probably will sell him RoH for some stock in XFL or something dumb

He has a very complicated and complex on-screen legacy. How much of that was directly the result of his own machinations vs. how much was the result of a backstage creative team will never truly be known. He provided me with a ton of memories in my teenage years and was THE guy for the early part of them - before that torch got passed to Cena, Barista, and Orton. So at this point there's always a tinge of nostalgia talking about him but I recall so much vitriol for the wins over Jericho, RVD, and then *especially* Booker T that I don't think I've ever had an unbiased opinion of him since.

I can't think of many matches of his that blew me away, and for a guy who spent so long on top that's really rough for an in-ring legacy. Sometimes the backstage politicians perform so well in front of fans they get forgiven, but I don't think HHH ever had that luxury. Outside of the period from when he retired Foley to tearing his quad his matches felt less like attractions and more like something we had to get through.

Just an extremely strange run, most of which was at the top. Nobody else lasted as long as a top attraction without truly feeling like a top attraction.

Then you look at his behind-the-scenes work running NXT and realize a lot of the parts that made NXT work so well were put in place by him. He had a certain affection for wrestling as a whole that never really translated to the screen, but in NXT it was very evident. While it had its flaws most of those felt more with the nature of the WWE beast than with the core aspects of NXT.

honestly thank god he didn't have a retirement match. He'd have done 45 minutes in front of a dead Wrestlemania crowd against Seth Rollins.

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Still the best of H/Paul's career here. XD

It's good for me to know that Warrior owned a nice, large piece of real estate in H's psyche for the rest of his life, and still does in the great beyond.

Oh, and one thing I know will make Jimmy Steele cry here....here's something that will never be heard.

D-Generation X Main Theme Cover Version performed by Motorhead.

Ha!

:rofl:

would be cool if given this news, cody decided to do the haitch throne smash again with a wwe budget

For all the shit people talk about the "reign of terror", it made the big gold belt mean something again.

And the era of NXT Takeovers being better than their corresponding WWE ppv every single time, was all triple h.

Clear to everyone that HHH felt able to retire due to his “spiritual successor” returning to the fold.

HHH's retiring from the ring has nothing to do with his backstage role in NXT. He'd lost that long ago, and other than a few talents breaking through, all his "guys" amounted to nothing on the main roster.

He had one great year in 2000 and some scattered good matches for the next 2 decades. For the most part, he was bland and mediocre and the product suffered when he was on top (or prominently featured). Just a fucking awful promo, too.

I appreciate that he tries to keep things old-school and "wrestling" focused, but it didn't make him any less boring and underwhelming while simultaneously sucking up airtime like the fun vacuum he always was.

Acting like the man did nothing other than his heel run in 2000 and only a handful of great matches is laughable.

This turned into The Roast of HHH quite quickly :lol:

That tweet above is hilarious (but does undersell his impact (which is generally oversold by the company)).

That's the thing. He's obviously better than let's say a Bob Holly (who was decent btw), but when the company just forces down your throat how monumental HHH was as an in-ring performer, it's like fuck off. He was okay.

Not even a knock on him as a businessman or a smart guy or anything. No doubt, a savvy dude and I don't think he married Stephanie for nefarious reasons. My hate isn't about his wife. He climbed up the ranks because he had a solid head on his shoulders. But as a top performer, he is eh. There have been much much worse--but he never really sparked one's imagination with his endless "THIS BUSINESS" promos and his drawn-out overcooked matches. And he also held down much more talented, dynamic performers.

You might say he’s a “B+ Player”.

and I refuse to "pay homage" to such a gaping, self-important asshole who already receives far more accolades than he deserves.

Fuck. If he'd stayed a B+ player instead of such a focal point he'd have been SO MUCH better.

On top of that, he was basically retired anyway. So who fucking cares?

He benefits from being in the same “class” as Austin, Rock, Taker, Foley, etc. through the Attitude Era and then due to retirements (Austin/Foley) and moving on to other things (Rock) he became the “bridge” between to the next era. Without an Austin to pass the torch, and the guy that Rock passed the torch to (Brock) splitting within the year, HHH became the de facto current “top guy” with Taker, Hogan, HBK having short runs or setup with other things to do. He could have helped elevate the likes of Booker, RVD, and Kane instead of cutting them off at the knees but many would argue none of those were the right guy to get the nod. He cemented Batista as a top talent, and should have been able to do the same with Orton if not for bad creative (we’ll never really know how much of a hand HHH had in that though). Someone said it further up, he’s had a really interesting career.

If anything, he served as a great foil for the real stars.

Also, NXT guys not going anywhere on the main roster often has little to do with their own ability, and triple h's eye for talent. Its a wrestling themed nickelodeon show, and its a crapshoot whether anyone is used effeciently.

Absolutely correct that wwe overstates his impact, but that has led many fans to be so turned off by him, that they understate his impact. Like, that factually incorrect tweet on the last page.

Damn.... HHH is gone..... DX will always be my favorite faction/s. My favorite wrestling memory is DX attacking WCW.

The understating is to act as a counterbalance in the force.

I mean I'm definitely heaping on the shit because I really don't like him and he's one of the reasons I stopped being a committed fan. But he definitely opened things up with NXT and probably stoked a little bit of the AEW flame. Just as an in-ring performer, I can't wax all that nostalgic about him other than some late 90s stuff and that excellent 2000 run he had.

Last Triple H match I enjoyed was vs Bryan at WM30.

I grant that Bryan can work a great match against anyone but it was in no way a carry job, Hunter worked his ass off in that one too and they told a great story. Made Bryan look awesome in victory but then a beatdown after that didn't feel like it was Hunter just trying to regain heat, if anything it just increased the hype for the main event more because it was like "oh shit, they are actually gonna have Bryan be the ultimate underdog!"

Benoit tapping out Triple H was one of my favorite moments of fandom, it got ruined a few years later, and WM30 helped give me that moment back in a way.

I like the Bryan match, too. The problem is, for everyone one of those, there are about 5 of his drawn-out horseshit matches that go too long because he's obsessed with making himself epic. Fuck, I remember deciding to watch that awful match he had with Reigns where the audience looked on in sheer silence as 2 men engaged in acts of wanton mediocrity for over 30 minutes.

You need to be excellent to pair up with the greats and make money, and that’s what he did, continuously, for many years. In terms of his look, presentation, in ring ability, everything, he was an 8/10 guy and the best heel in the business for long stretches.

He is a far better overall package than anyone working in the WWE today (bar potentially Brock). It’s hilarious to build up someone like Roman Reigns and talk about this half decent heel run (a run after 5 years of torture and woeful returns), while talking down the best heel in the business at the hottest time in the business. One that did it for so many years against so many different opponents.

He understood psychology and what it was to get a response from the crowd in matches and he did it against HBK, Foley, Undertaker, Austin, Rock and peoplle paid to watch it every single time.

His error was something that all top guys fall into in the wrestling business, it’s ego and protecting your own spot and pushing for decisions which are counterproductive (RVD, Booker T, strangle hold on title), but that doesn’t take away from the performer he was and the presentation he had.

A top guy, and one that the greats of his generation were probably delighted to have had as a protagonist when they reflect on their careers today and see what’s out there.

Yeah, triple h doesnt excel as a star in any one area better than his peers, but he does a little bit of everything better than most. I have similar feelings about Charlotte Flair.

As for his in ring stuff, I actually enjoyed most of his work, but his style is slower and definitely not for everyone. Even though I mostly like it, I have to be in the right mood for his style.

Lol our very own M-A-G has gone on record of saying it was the last match he ever watched. WrestleMania 32 was so bad he's never watched another second of wrestling since.

If I had 2 favourites, it'd be Versus Jericho in that last man standing at Fully Loaded 2000 where even though Jericho lost, HHH actually made him look strong (a far cry from their match at Mania 18).

And of course, the street fight with Cactus is a masterclass.

I think to the casual or maybe a better term would be "trending" audience of Triple H's major run he's an absolute legend. I think in reality to any wrestling fan he should be considered a legend as well.

There are lots of wrestlers in history who've worked their way into power positions with companies. Monsoon, Bruiser Brody, Dusty, Cody, Gedo, Muta, Michael Hayes.... Sure it's not all the same story as Triple H, marrying the daughter of the boss. But HHH likely would have been on the same path regardless of Stephanie. He'd have still main evented Mania's and been a multiple time champion.

I think of him almost exclusively as a heel, I can't even remember any time he was a baby face that I "liked him". But as a heel he had a lot to offer. To the casual he was just a bad ass hor type character that dominated, to the internet fan he was a the ultimate snake in the grass conquering every battle in the booking room before it ever got to the ring!

Ton's of classic matches and programs, a plethora of them. Thinking of his series of matches with The Rock, Foley, Austin, Taker, Shawn, Angle, Danielson... some really classic stuff.

Then you have NXT which if you really take the time to think about it was amazing. I was in a regular work environment in my day to day once several years ago when I learned that like all of my co-workers were rabid NXT fans. They didn't care much for WWE at the time but LOVED NXT. So weird. This was around the era where Bailey and Sasha main evented the Barclays Takeover. There was a group of people in their late 20's early 30's that were total marks for NXT. It shocked me. They were just regular people, not ashamed of their love for NXT because they didn't really even know that much about wrestling and how bad it could be.

NXT was a real force in wrestling when it started and got really big really fast. Vince really fucked Triple H by not letting it continue and build a new audience for wrestling. Vince has elements of his product that are better sure, but Tripe H was taking wrestling to the next level and Vince really just shushed him.

It's fucked up. And now WWE will always be the same, when Vince is gone it will be an even worse version of Vince's vision, someone trying to book like him. Triple H would have taken it to the next level if he had taken the company.

The triple threat match against hbk and stevie richards at wm20 is the greatest triple threat match of all time

2000 HHH was the perfect hybrid. Built like a brick shithouse and he could move quickly enough that his methodical approach didn't bore me.

Then he put on too much size and was never really the same. I remember in that meaty 2000 era, his punches were incredible.

That was a good'n. Couldn't believe my eyes when H jobbed to the Stevie kick. Never knew you could tap out to knockout strike.

I remember the one time I heard a girl talk about wrestling at school post-2000. She said she stopped watching because of Triple H. She hated him. This was when he was a babyface in 2002.

Overall, wrestling never needed him and the WWE acted like they did. Jamming him into that spot for years on end has done more damage than a good match with Bryan at WrestleMania can repair.

Triple H had the luxury of presenting NXT as pro-wrestling for a while. He used that to get himself over as some savior, even though he never would have worked with so many of the guys he pushed there in his actual run. It was a great little vanity project, but Raw nor SmackDown, at their length, were never going to be managed like a one hour NXT. And talent were not going to be coddled to like he could down there. And that created a reality vs. expectation schism that Vince takes all the criticism for, but Triple H didn’t seem to actually prepare a lot of guys for the main roster.

:y::y::y:

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Steven Richards may have been an odd choice to put in that match but at least it wasn't during his Pegasus Kid run. That would've been way too distracting.

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I swear to Lzzy, virtually every minute of that show seemed specifically booked to piss me off and that main event finally broke me. Oh, the fans aren't buying Roman Reigns? Well clearly that's only because he hasn't been presented with the honor of headlining WrestleMania with the great HHH and one of his 30-minute snoozefests!

Triple H just had to jam himself in front of that record attendance, didn’t he?

What the fuck else happened at that Mania? I remember the Women’s Title was introduced in Charlotte, Becky and Sasha and Zack Ryder winning that Ladder Match.

Is this where The Rock “beat” Erick Rowan?

The League of Nations beat New Day. It’s all slowly coming back to me.

WrestleMania without Triple H was better than WrestleMania with Triple H. Triple H was in a World Title match for five straight years. Then when he’s gone they crack 1 million buys again.

2008 goes above 1 million with Triple H kind of shoved in as an afterthought, but when he’s front and center again in the 2009 main? They’re back under.

Let’s not forget his crowning achievement of fucking up CM Punk’s push because he was obviously jealous someone he didn’t like was getting over.

The summer of HHH

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Didn't that culminate in a ladder match between him and fucking Kevin Nash, which had to have been someone's idea of a sick joke?

Yeah. Triple H wasn’t even a heel for all this.

HHH was definitely at his best when he was paired with Chyna. Terrific pairing.

Triple H said that going forward he is in development of talent in NXT. If I was him, I'd retire. Why be away from home and kids just for office work? He'd made a fortune, enjoy it, forget about the circus for a while. Maybe not forever but man take a few years.

Punk shook Hunter’s hand on the way out the door but also told him that he still resented him for what he did in 2011. Can’t say I blame him.

Hilarious that Punk going over Hunter at WM30 was supposed to be an angle that enticed him to stay.

love the idea of HHH trying to sell how beating him was some kind of honour.

:y::y:

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"I don't need to work with you. You need to work with me."

Triple H standing as the fallen hero in the ring after losing to Brock at SummerSlam while the crowd chanted “You tapped out!” was an amazing moment.

The fact that he still felt the need to triumphantly get his win back and make Brock a “50/50 booking” guy was insane.

I think this is a fair statement.

Lol was the horrible match with Scott Steiner at whatever Royal Rumble not mentioned yet?

HHH should burn that tape.

thread is wildly underrating H right now.

he's not a GOAT tier worker but he's had a dozen or two unforgettable matches. hes not a hack or anything

most guys never have 1

this thread is probably 4/10

I don't think anyone dumping on him in here would call him a hack. It's universally accepted the guy was competent and had some "moments" as you said. Just, I think it's pretty obvious why people would be so eager to shit on him given the chance. The overstated accomplishments practically beg for the pushback.

@Destor

I just like to annoy James Steele

It's kind of odd how H/Paul, the one who used Owen Hart's fatal fall to build his rise in the main event picture in WWE, would see his career end due to a heart defect.

Bitter irony.

Strange how karma's a cunt like that, huh?

:cool:

Such a weird thing to say. I have no idea what you're talking about.

I think he’s referencing Triple H mentioning “people giving their life for this business” in a promo soon after Owen died.

Personally I don’t mind Triple H but he’s done a good enough job hyping himself up over the years. It’s more fun to make fun of him.

No....Paul, both in character and in real life, opportunistically used the vacuum that Owen's death left behind to insert himself into the main event picture.

That's no better than pissing on a man's grave.

Paul should've had his main event push disallowed until May 24, 2000, the day after the 1st year since Owen was killed.

In fact, if I ran WWE then, the WWF Championship would stay vacant until June 2000's King of the Ring, as a long-term year-long dedication to Owen, where it's winner would've become WWF Champion too, and H not getting his 1st until SummerSlam 2000, and not as a heel.

To me, Owen's death will forever be the one and only single reason Paul/H came to power. That's it. Anything else he did(including world title wins) are thrown out and ignored by me.

It's that easy.

o.o

thats completely in your head

lol what?

To pick up where Fignuts left off: in tarnation?

There was always a rumour that “The Game” gimmick was to be Owen’s and HHH only got it as a result of Owen’s death. No idea what that stuff about holding the title in “abeyance” for a year comes from though. That’s a bit much.

No, most of the fans knew that HHH was probably going to get to the title in 1999. It was quite obvious. He signed a new contract at the end of 1998 that may have even had a guaranteed title run in one of the clauses due to him entertaining the idea of going to WCW, if dirt sheet reports are to be believed.

Meanwhile, Owen was in mid-card world dressed as The Blue Blazer and feuding with the likes of Steve Blackman & The Godfather and also teaming with Jeff Jarrett when he unfortunately passed away.

This, too.

Although I've never read a post as spot on as RaginRonic's

I have a lot of good memories of Owen Hart on TV, but his is definitely a case of an early death lifting his legacy as a performer.

Owen didn’t have the look and he was a pretty poor promo. He was given a chance after Montreal to become a big player and he just wasn’t at that level.

Triple H was a way better overall package than Owen and he would have moved higher up the card regardless of whether Owen fell or not.

Again, absolutely no disrespect to Owen, he was great! But he was never going to be a top player and Triple H’s rise would have happened regardless. At his peak, he was better at every single facet of the game.