10 Biggest Regrets From Triple H's WWE Career
Moments the Cerebral Assassin still thinks about.
So at long last, it’s Game over. On 25 March, Paul “Triple H” Levesque announced that he would be hanging up his sledgehammer and retiring from an in-ring career that spanned 30 years, 14 world titles, and plenty more notables besides. After his 2021 cardiac event, the 52-year-old has made the smart decision to prioritise his health.
While opinions on Triple H differ, there’s no denying the numerous incredible matches he packed into his career. Against the likes of The Rock, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, and Daniel Bryan, at his best he was capable of sensational work.
That’s a mighty long career, though, and it would be nigh impossible to get through it without some serious regrets. From angles that left a bitter taste to positions he politicked himself into, ill thought-out comedy and flat-out misfortune, Hunter experienced some significant lows alongside the moments of incredible success.
Sticking solely to the man’s in-ring exploits, these are the moments that the older, wiser Helmsley of 2022 might just look back on and think “I probably shouldn’t have done that”.
10. The Curtain Call
Ultimately things worked out for Triple H in the aftermath of the 1996 incident. At the time, though, he must have felt like a promising career was about to come to a grinding halt due to something easily avoidable.
That April, Kevin Nash and the late Scott Hall were poised to leave WWE for WCW. In a moment of unusual charity, Vince McMahon allowed the future Outsiders to share an in-ring hug with Helmsley and Shawn Michaels so that the Kliq boys could say goodbye.
The problem was that Nash and HHH were working heel, and HBK and Hall weren’t. What’s more, the hug went on for far longer than agreed, to kayfabe-busting proportions. Add in the fact that the moment was captured on camcorder and this was blown up into an incident.
Hall and Nash were gone; Michaels was the champion and thus untouchable. Accordingly HHH bore the brunt in full. A push was kiboshed, and back down the card he went. Ultimately, though, Triple H turned this disaster into a positive, taking his punishment stoically and earning the respect of the roster.