Top 7 Triple H Moments

We are all celebrating twenty-five years of Triple H in WWE. A quarter-century of non-stop entertainment. The Game. The King of Kings. Some call him a Cerebral Assassin. Others call him the NXT Dad. You can’t argue against the fact that Triple H has been one of the most important people to WWE in the past twenty-five years & part of some very memorable moments.

Today, we’re looking at Triple H’s seven most magnificent moments.

7. The Curtain Call

For a minute, it looked like Triple H’s career was dead. The WWF higher-ups were furious over HHH, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon & Diesel celebrating at the end of a Madison Square Garden house show when they were on separate sides of the face/heel divide. Somebody had to get punished. Razor & Diesel were heading to WCW. Shawn was the WWF Champion, and untouchable at that point. So Hunter Hearst Helmsley had to eat a lot of crap for the next several months. That proposed 1996 King of the Ring win? Gone. That push up the card? Gone. Helmsley was jobbing for everybody under the sun. I think I got a win over him at a house show in Cincinnati.

Triple H did the best thing he could do in the situation: Nothing. He shut his mouth and took his punishment without complaining. In the process, he earned the respect of his peers in the locker room. And honestly, the whole Curtain Call business improved his standing with 12 year olds like me who were wondering why Shawn, Razor & Diesel were celebrating with that jabroni. If those guys approved of Hunter, he must have brought something to the table, right?

6. Winning the 1997 King of the Ring

Hunter had to wait a year. Hindsight being 20/20, things couldn’t have worked out better. Steve Austin won the 1996 King of the Ring, recited a little-known Bible verse and became a household name. Triple H came more into his own, to the point where his 1997 win felt deserved. It was a star-making moment, which I realize to younger fans is difficult to believe. Nowadays, the KOTR is an albatross. Back in the 1990s, it made stars.

Mankind was the runner-up. Spoiler Alert: This isn’t the last time one of Mick Foley’s personalities will pop up in the countdown.

5. Coming back from injury

Triple H had been one of the least popular people in WWE for the past couple of years. All it took to get him on the fans’ good side was a devastating injury. Hunter tore his quad in a match teaming with Steve Austin against Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho, and after finishing the match had to take several months off. By the time he was ready to make his official WWF return, the fans were ready to love him.

Seriously though, find me a bigger audience reaction for Triple H at any point in his career. You won’t find one, and that’s not a knock against Triple H because I’ve seen few audience reactions like that one.

4. Winning WrestleMania 2000’s Main Event…as a heel!

Until the Undertaker’s WrestleMania win streak reached epic porportions, there was only one WrestleMania win streak to go over ten. The first fifteen WrestleMania main events saw good guys winning in the main event. WrestleMania IX almost spolied it, but Mr. Fuji booked Yokozuna into a impromptu match with Hulk Hogan because he could never have nice things like champions. The odds were against Triple H at WrestleMania 2000 for a couple of reasons. He was the heel champion in a WrestleMania main event. In a Fatal 4-Way. Sure, Big Show & Mick Foley didn’t stand much of a chance, but The Rock was in the match too. Rock getting the big win and soaking in the adulation of the millions & millions of Rock’s fans was the smart bet.

That didn’t happen because Triple H was an unstoppable monster in 2000, laying waste to anything in his path. OK, it actually didn’t happen because Vince McMahon shockingly screwed the Rock. Meaning those months of McMahon family drama we sat through was largely a waste of time…until the next round came a few months later. In any event, Triple H was able to break a long-standing WrestleMania streak. No wonder he tried to break Undertaker’s three times.

3. Taking over leadership of D-Generation X

Becoming Shawn Michaels’ sidekick in D-Generation X was the biggest thing to ever happen to Hunter’s career. That put him that much closer to HBK’s level. Of course, for Triple H to take the next step and surpass his mentor, he was going to have to step up to the plate when Shawn dropped the ball. Shawn did just that at WrestleMania XIV, and disappeared from in-ring action for four years. Some thought that meant the end for DX, and who knew what would happen to Hunter & Chyna?

It was far from the end. Triple H took Shawn’s spot as leader of DX and injected some new blood into the group. X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws took DX to a level even higher than it had been at when it was HBK, HHH & Chyna. Hunter proved during this time period that he was deserving of a higher spot on the card than he had been given to that point.

2. Defeating Cactus Jack in Madison Square Garden

The Triple H WWF Championship push happened in the second half of 1999. Most of that time period was dedicated to trying anything to make Triple H a main eventer. A lot of it didn’t work, but putting Hunter in the ring with Cactus Jack at Madison Square Garden in a street fight? Well, it worked pretty well back in 1997, and it worked even better at the 2000 Royal Rumble. Foley was nearing the end of his full-time career, in fact at one point he had planned on the street fight being his final match. They got a couple more out of him afterward, and they were fine, but this one still stands out from the pack today.

Hanging with Cactus Jack in his environment and more than holding up his end of things earned Triple H a ton of respect from people watching that night. It showcased a different side of Hunter that we would see more of in the years ahead. The Royal Rumble helped put Triple H on the map as a true champion & main event talent.

1. Marrying Stephanie McMahon before Test could

It’s one of the greatest What Ifs in pro wrestling history. We all know the odds of Stephanie & Test’s marriage getting broken up were pretty good. After all, it is a WWF wedding. They don’t have a high success rate. Somebody was breaking that thing up. What if Triple H wasn’t the one? Or, hell, what if the wedding goes off without a hitch? Triple H doesn’t spend a bunch of extra time with Stephanie, so maybe they don’t get the chance to fall in love. I know Hunter was claiming recently that he was going to be an executive even if he didn’t marry Stephanie, but there’s no way he or anybody else can guarantee that.

He was still getting a huge push at the time, so he would have been a top guy either way. It’s a stretch to say he would have been anything other than a top guy at that time. Whoever married Stephanie (in real life, not on Raw, unless Test swept her off her feet) would have the spot Triple H has now. How fortunate Hunter was to get the spot.

Also, it still holds up as being kinda funny in a ridiculous, totally sexist kind of way.