Theres a certain irony in naming Paul 'Triple H' Levesque a magnificent bast*rd, as one of the aspects of the magnificence of his bast*rdry is his canny, Stalinist rewriting of WWE history and shoring up of kayfabe to craft the fiction that the character he plays on television is also a magnificent bast*rd, of a completely different sort. After all, today were told that Triple H was one of the prime movers in saving the WWF during the Monday Night Wars when he was an upper midcard heel for most of that time and sidelined with a nasty quad injury during the Invasion storyline. Today, were told that the Game was one of the major players of the Attitude Era when he didnt really begin to hit the big time properly until he teamed with Stephanie and feuded with Vince right at the end of 1999. Today, were told that Hunter Hearst Helmsley is the cerebral assassin, a canny manipulator but his genius-level chessmaster mind games mostly involve luring the babyface to the ring, having his heel stable administer a beatdown, and then slamming a sledgehammer between those blue eyes. And yet these days hes headlining WWF vs. WCW grudge matches against Sting and End Of An Era matches with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. The emperor has no clothes here, people: Triple H was never quite the superstar that Levesque has rewritten him to be, but thats just fine. After all, wrestling is a work, and the man who works hardest works for life. Paul Levesque just gets that better than most. Lets recap: the man who would be king (of kings) arrived in WWF on the back of a nondescript midcard run in WCW, determined to hack out a career in professional wrestling. To that end, he got in with the main event cabal that would later become known as the Kliq all reports have him carrying their bags, probably shining their shoes, that kind of thing. Knowing that its not what you know, its who you know, Levesque honed his admittedly great look, quality mic work and excellent in-ring instincts and schmoozed his ass off, to the point that (aside from a slight blip when he became the designated fall guy for the curtain call incident) a push to the moon seemed inevitable. As the husband of the only McMahon kid whos still in the family business, Levesque is now essentially the joint heir apparent to the WWE throne: accomplished through talent, guts, intelligence, being in the right place at the right time, and being a callous, selfish son of a gun. More than that whether youre talking about the man or the fictional character he plays, both men are completely different types of magnificent bast*rd. You cant help but be impressed at his chutzpah.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
