10 Gimmick Changes That Saved A Wrestler's Career
4. Hunter Hearst Helmsley To Triple H
After spending six months in WCW under the generic Terra Ryzing gimmick in 1994, Paul Levesque underwent an interesting persona change when he became Jean-Paul Lévesque, an upper-class Frenchman playing off the origins of his shoot surname. The run was brief and he quickly made the jump to the WWF in early 1995.
The snobbish heel character of Jean-Paul Lévesque was modified to become Hunter Hearst Helmsley, an aristocratic snob from Connecticut. The gimmick got over as a typical mid-'90s heel, however, losses to Duke 'The Dumpster' Droese and Ultimate Warrior in early '96 did nothing to help his momentum. Meanwhile, the infamous "curtain call" incident at Madison Square Garden saw his career stumble further and his planned victory at King of the Ring '96 was delayed for another year.
By mid-1997, Levesque started to drop some of the snobbish antics of his Helmsley persona and began replacing them with a cocky swagger. His feud with all three of Mick Foley's personalities helped evolve his character even further and his union with Shawn Michaels sealed the deal.
The riding jacket was replaced with a leather one and Hunter Hearst Helmsley became simply Triple H. Michaels and Triple H formed D-X, the 'Connecticut Blue Blood' was confined to history, and 'The Game' had only just begun.