Triple H Reflects On Heel Turn And Leaving D-Generation X In 1999

Triple H turn on D-Generation to start the McMahon-Helmsley Era in 1999, and he recently looked back on that moment. The WWE CCO was a guest on Flagrant and during the conversation, he spoke about his asking to turn heel and exit the group when it was hot as babyfaces because he felt WWE needed a heel opposite Steve Austin and The Rock, and he felt he could be that guy. You can see the highlights below:

On his trying to escape the Hunter Hearst Helmsley gimmick: “Like DX was way more us, but I still wasn’t fully — like, I was trying to get out of the Hunter Hearst Helmsley stuff. I didn’t feel like it was right for me just to one day stop and be something totally different. You have to build to it.”

On turning heel on DX: “So when we get to the end of DX, the run as baby faces. There’s a moment where I go to Vince and I’m like, ‘I want out of the group.’ And he was like, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘I want to turn heel. Austin is white hot. Rock is on his way up , but he’s going to be a babyface, a white meat baby face. Like there’s no — he’s so charismatic There’s no way he doesn’t become that baby face. We need the Darth Vader in this, right? You got two good guys, you need the bad guy. I’m confident enough in myself, I can be that bad guy. But I got to get out of this group and I’ve got to make the shift now.

“And the other guys were like, ‘What are you doing. Don’t — ride this into the ground. We’re making a fortune on merch and everything else. Don’t do this, don’t do it. And I was like, ‘But this is not what I want to do.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Flagrant with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.