[85] At WrestleMania on April 3, Triple H lost the championship to Batista,[86] and subsequently lost two rematches on May 1 at Backlash[87] and on June 26 at Vengeance, where Batista became the first man to pin Triple H inside Hell in a Cell. The tenacious Triple H. The Injuries of Triple H Trauma to a wrestler can be severe and derail a career. Unique lists featuring pop culture, entertainment and crazy facts. [53] He feuded with Kurt Angle, initially over the WWF Championship, but then as a love triangle between himself, Angle, and Stephanie. weight on you from a few feet in the air and it hit you on the throat, it could crush your windpipe and kill you instantly. RELATED:Triple H: 5 Reasons He Was Better In DX (& 5 Reasons He Was Better In Evolution). I was still in my gear. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series. He struggled to breathe, could barely talk, yet still went the distance in the match, making it to the end. That, plus other nagging injuries, would keep him out of action for several months. [146] WWE later announced that Triple H had sustained a fractured vertebra, and would be out of action. After WrestleMania, Shawn Michaels was forced into temporary retirement due to a legitimate back injury sustained in January at the Royal Rumble,[41] with Triple H taking over the leadership position in DX,[34] claiming that his now-former associate had "dropped the ball". At the event, DX defeated The Brothers of Destruction, but the victory came at a great cost as Triple h tore his pectoral muscle during the match, and had to undergo surgery to repair the damage. Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff then awarded Triple H the World Heavyweight Championship, represented by the Big Gold Belt (which previously had been used to represent the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and WCW World Heavyweight Championship), making him the first World Heavyweight Champion. [44], The following night on Raw Is War, Triple H defeated Mankind to win his first WWF Championship. Head Is Struck. I rolled with the shot. Things changed after a knee injury in 1998. [129] On September 13 at Breaking Point, they lost to The Legacy in the first ever Submissions Count Anywhere match in WWE history. [84] At New Year's Revolution on January 9, 2005, Triple H won an Elimination Chamber match to regain the World Heavyweight Championship after last eliminating Orton, then retained the title against him on January 30 at the Royal Rumble to end their feud. Never one to do things halfway, Triple H decided the best option was to tear his right quadricep, five years to the day after returning from his left quad tear. In mid-September 1998, reigning Intercontinental Champion Triple H was sidelined with a serious knee injury. It led to a couple of matches between the two at WrestleMania 26 and Extreme Rules 2010. Triple H defended his World Heavyweight Championship in an Elimination Chamber match at the 2002 Survivor Series PPV against Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Kane, Chris Jericho, and Rob Van Dam. brand, leaving the Raw brand without a world champion. [13], Levesque was born in Nashua, New Hampshire. In April, he started to move away from his DX look, taping his fists for matches, sporting new and shorter wrestling trunks and adopting a shorter hairstyle. Regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he currently serves as the chief content officer for WWE. It was not to his spine as the WWE said but was to his face. After eliminating Reigns, he then eliminated Dean Ambrose to secure his second Royal Rumble win and 14th (and final) world championship. On the one hand, it was amazing innovation and professionalism from Shawn Michaels to keep the crowd happy in such an awkward spot, and on the other hand, insane fortitude shown from Triple H. A week later, on RAW, a segment aired about this Triple H injury. Mr. McMahon disbanded the nWo following several backstage complications and brought in Eric Bischoff as the Raw general manager. The match was a classic, and this could have motivated The Game to go that extra mile, but ultimately its down to his own sheer willpower that he pulled this off. Triple H suffered a knee injury in 1998 and when he returned, he left the group and joined the Corporation. Group B had a 46.3% LSI with a SD of 12.9. [81], At Bad Blood on June 13, Triple H defeated Michaels in the longest Hell in a Cell match in history, ending their feud. [175], The Authority were briefly removed from power after losing a five-on-five tag team elimination match on November 23 at Survivor Series after Sting made his WWE debut to assist their opponents. RELATED: 10 Things About Triple H's Life Outside Of Wrestling Fans Should Know. Just being off like that, BAM. [97], At SummerSlam on August 26, he defeated King Booker in his return match. The man didnt even know whether his throat was fully crushed or not. [1] Managed by John Rodeo, he wrestled for various promotions on the East Coast independent circuit until 1993.[20]. [187] This began a feud with Rollins, which culminated in a "non-sanctioned match" at WrestleMania 33 on April 2, 2017,[188] where Rollins defeated him. Thankfully the swelling went down. [181], On January 24, 2016, Triple H made his return during the Royal Rumble match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as the unannounced 30th entrant. Ironically, on that very same date five years later, Triple H would suffer the very same torn quad injury on his right side. [74] Triple H later threatened to show video footage of Kane committing the act in question; the footage that finally aired showed Triple H (dressed as Kane) simulating necrophilia with a mannequin in a casket;[74] Kane's tag team partner The Hurricane responded the following week by showing a video of Triple H (rather, someone wearing a Triple H series of masks) getting an enema. [22] The team was short-lived, however, as Levesque left for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in January 1995 after WCW turned down his request to be promoted as a singles competitor. New, Top AEW Star Has "Zero Interest" In Going Back To WWE It was just one of those things. The Game suffered bad swelling in the throat, and hes lucky it wasnt any worse than what it was. Although he counted a pinfall for CM Punk to win, John Cena's leg was on the ropes, which would break the pin. Ex-WWE referee Marty Elias held up the dreaded X sign to signal that a legitimate injury had taken place, and the quality of the match had come to a screeching halt, as Triple H was visibly struggling. On August 18 at SummerSlam, Triple H served as the special guest referee for the WWE Championship match between champion John Cena and Daniel Bryan. [117] At No Way Out on February 15, Triple H won the WWE Championship in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match, setting the record for most reigns at eight. After winning his first WWF Championship in 1999, he became a fixture of the company's main event scene,[4][6] and was widely regarded as one of the best wrestlers in North America by the turn of the millennium. If these injuries werent enough, Triple H suffered a torn pectoral muscle during his tag team match with Shawn Michaels against The Undertaker and Kane at Crown Jewel on Friday, November 2nd, 2018. He returned on December 12, as part of the Slammy Awards. In the end, the healing process took seven months, one month less than his first quad injury to the opposite leg. [34] Despite the punishment, Helmsley did have success following the MSG Incident. The August 17, 1998 episode of Raw featured a Street Fight between DX and The Nation that saw Triple H left bloodied and brutalized at the hands of Rock, Brown, Mark Henry and Kama. Nothing specific in the match appeared to cause the injury but years of wear and tear must have weakened it. Perfect became his manager and he won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time on October 21, 1996, defeating Marc Mero. I put it back together, its back together as good as it can go, but now its on your rehab. On the February 23 episode of Raw, Triple H confronted Orton, before attacking him, Ted DiBiase, and Cody Rhodes (a group known as The Legacy) with a sledgehammer and chasing them from the arena. So I called the office [of WWE] and was like, I need to stay down here. A wrestler can become a perfect heel when he combines various aspects like power, cunning, and wisdom in his efforts in taking down his adversaries. An unstable feeling knee. [136], On February 21, Triple H eliminated then WWE Champion Sheamus from the Elimination Chamber match, though he did not win the title. Even though Triple H was in the best physical shape out of the four veterans, he wound up tearing his pectoral muscle early in the match. Helmsley held the title for nearly four months before dropping it to Rocky Maivia on the February 13, 1997 special episode of Monday Night Raw, called Thursday Raw Thursday. [16][17] While working as a manager of a gym in Nashua, he was introduced to world champion powerlifter Ted Arcidi, who was employed by WWE at the time. a literature review, an expert panel, and a pilot study. No one had ever tried jumping off one of the pods before, and nobody really knew what it would feel like to bump on the steel and all the surroundings the Elimination Chamber came with. On December 18, he defeated Nash at TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs in sledgehammer ladder match, after attacking him with a sledgehammer. A rumor worth noting is that Stephanie McMahon was absolutely devastated backstage when the injury occurred and was inconsolable as staff awkwardly looked on. [83] The following night on Raw, Triple H turned on his protge Randy Orton (who became the youngest world champion in WWE history at SummerSlam), expressing jealousy over Orton's title victory. A popping or tearing sound at the time of injury. The two men laid an absolutely brutal beating on each other, with Sheamus picking up the victory. He suffered a storyline concussion and was deemed to have forfeited. Triple H returned to the ring after his first torn quad injury on January 7, 2002. Triple H did more than his part despite the significance of his injury, hitting not one but two pedigrees! With that said, let's take a look at all of those injuries in detail in the run down below. 9 Quad Injury - 2001 Triple H sustained the most gruesome injury of his career in 2001 when he suffered a tear in his left quadriceps muscle, causing it to come completely off the bone. The unhappy triad, also known as a blown knee among other names, is an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, and meniscus. [143] Triple H defeated Punk at Night of Champions despite interference from John Laurinaitis, Nash, The Miz and R-Truth. The ailment would keep him out until late November, and necessitated the vacating of . During the course of the match, Triple Hs quad just gave out. The thought of Triple H sitting in the hospital all night in his gear still covered in blood and confetti is a heavy one. He's been a fan of the sport since 2004, and also has a little experience by wrestling pillows in front of an imaginary crowd. He officially retired from in ring competition at WrestleMania 38, leaving his boots in the ring and signaling the end of his in ring career. Triple H then defeated Chris Jericho for his third Intercontinental Championship on the April 5 SmackDown!,[64] and won it for a fourth time two weeks later by defeating Jeff Hardy. After SummerSlam, then WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar became exclusive to the SmackDown! Triple H and Stephanie McMahon", "D-Generation X def. His next three were as simply WWE Champion, while his ninth reign was as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. When RVD went for the Five-Star Frog Splash off the top of one of the pods, he accidentally landed with his knee on Triple H's throat. I remember packing my bags; the vignettes had been playing of my return. [216] That year, he earned a combined salary of just over $1.5 million from his front office job and as a wrestler. "Wrestling's historical cards" (p.119), Pro Wrestling Illustrated presents: 2007 Wrestling almanac & book of facts. [126], On the August 10 episode of Raw, Triple H met with Michaels at an office cafeteria in Texas where Michaels was working as a chef; throughout the show, Triple H tried to convince Michaels to return to WWE from hiatus. Chris Jericho refers to it as: "The match that doesnt exist anymore because of the circumstances that happened after.". When Triple H returned to action a few months later after that injury he looked a lot bigger. The unfortunate receiver to the splash was, as the article suggests, Triple H. Rob did his signature RVD taunt and leaped off the pod, but his leg connected with Triple Hs throat instead of hitting the mat. [160] The following week, Triple H issued a challenge to Lesnar, requesting a rematch with him at WrestleMania 29 on April 7, which Lesnar accepted on the condition that he could choose the stipulation. He is signed on the RAW brand. [224] They have three daughters: Aurora Rose Levesque (born 2006),[225] Murphy Claire Levesque (born 2008),[226][227] and Vaughn Evelyn Levesque (born 2010). At the 1998 Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels suffered a debilitating back injury that would keep him retired from in-ring competition until 2002. Increased vertical and posterior ground reaction forces (GRFs) are associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. In the midst of the match being slowed down, Shawn Michaels dived to the outside through the middle rope onto Orton to excite the fans while the crowd was relatively silent. However, he made his triumphant return in January 2002 to one of the loudest crowd receptions in WWE history. brand on the March 22 episode of Raw and failed to capture the WWE Championship from Eddie Guerrero. But RVD misjudged the timing and ended up landing hard on The Game's throat, which caused a swelling inside the throat that put pressure on his esophagus and trachea. New, AEW Revolution 2023: 10 Things That Must Happen, Why It's Time To FINALLY Kill The Worst Trope In Wrestling, AEW Talent Set To Leave, Contract Not Being Renewed. "Wrestling's historical cards" (p.114), Pro Wrestling Illustrated presents: 2007 Wrestling almanac & book of facts. Triple H won the match, winning his eleventh world championship and sixth WWE Championship,[100] then defended his title against Umaga in his regularly scheduled match after Mr. McMahon declared the match to be for the WWE title. 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