Time to Play the Game: Triple H's 10 best WrestleMania entrances

Throughout the past 20 years, part of the fun of WrestleMania has been the increasingly intricate and over-the-top entrances.

We've seen how Superstars have used stadium settings to their fullest advantage and how one man, The Undertaker, has upped his game each and every year when he walks through the curtain.

While the Undertaker manages to find unique spins on the same entrance each year, though, one Superstar seems to reinvent the wheel each WrestleMania season, and come up with a wholly new way to introduce himself to fans prior to his match: WWE COO Triple H.

Here are the ten best ways the former 'Hunter Hearst Helmsley' has made his way to the WrestleMania ring. Where will his WrestleMania 34 entrance rank after Sunday's show?

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#10 WrestleMania XIX

The Game's standard arena entrance is enthralling all on its own, so it's only fitting that we include one WrestleMania entrance, that just shows Helmsley doing his usual schtick in front of double or even triple the usual crowd.

WWE's stadium setup at WrestleMania XIX, lent itself perfectly to dramatic entrances, and the lighting and camera angles set Triple H up perfectly to look as regal and intimidating as possible.

It's not the extravagant production he would later use, but it's the best possible use of his standard introduction.

#9 WrestleMania 25

Entering his WWE Championship match in Houston against Randy Orton, Triple H's blood was boiling over, due to Orton's constant attacks on The Game's wife, along with his WWE executive in-laws.

Orton used that rage to goad Helmsley into a match where 'The Game' could lose his title via count-out or disqualification, and the Champion's character seemed, understandably, trapped.

It's a common film trope that characters feeling trapped or enraged will attack their own reflections in a mirror, and that's just how Triple H enters WrestleMania 25: attacking a stadium-sized mirror to vent his frustrations before continuing on to the ring.

#8 WrestleMania XXIV

Like Ric Flair at this same show, Helmsley took full advantage of the outdoor setting to incorporate a sky display of pyrotechnics into his usual stroll into the arena.

WrestleMania is all about WWE doing its usual beats, only bigger and bolder, and the open-air fireworks definitely accomplish that here.

Little else is different from his usual walk to the ring, but when WWE puts fireworks on the top of its outdoor stadiums, the effect is always a grand one. It's a minor tweak that takes Helmsley's usual routine a few notches higher on the cool meter.

Before WrestleMania XXIV and after, Helmsley has better entrances, but WWE utilizing its outdoor opportunities at least earns this a top ten placement.

#7 WrestleMania XXVIII

This one keeps the sky pyro Triple H utilized in his previous outdoor Mania, but ups the spectacle with a custom spiked-and-crowned skeleton king entryway for Helmsley, to burst through on his way into his Hell in a Cell encounter with The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVIII.

That custom entryway made other appearances, but it's never used better than it is here. When Helmsley dressed up as a skeletal king at later WrestleManias, it was a come-to-life version of the crazy entrance gate.

There's nothing to quibble with on this entrance, but there's nothing beyond the gate to really shout out; however, the 'End of an Era' Match's entrances lived up to its billing.

#6 WrestleMania 33

WrestleMania 33's massive stage setup, lent an air of grandeur to many an entrance, and it afforded Triple H enough room to incorporate a full police escort into his ride to the ring with his wife on the back of his motorcycle.

A few tweaks could have improved this, had the police been outlaws (or had they played a part in the match itself), and had Helmsley been on a standard motorcycle instead of a tricycle, this could have gone far better.

Still, it was an impressive visual that used the space very well.

#5 WrestleMania 31

Paying homage to close friend and bodybuilding inspiration Arnold Schwarzenegger's upcoming entry in the Terminator film franchise, Triple H burst through the stage with an army of robotic allies, carrying the skulls of defeated droids in his fist with a crown made from the remains of another.

It would be the number one entrant on the list with one small change: it needs a darker setting to really pop.

WrestleMania 31 happened in the bright afternoon sun in California, and, had this match happened indoors or after sundown, the lighting and videos could have created something truly special.

#4 WrestleMania 22

Taking inspiration from Conan the Barbarian, Helmsley rose through the stage on a brutal-looking throne appearing as if he had just conquered a barren hellscape.

His opponent, John Cena, would go similarly over-the-top with an Al Capone-inspired ride to the ring (featuring CM Punk as a zoot-suited gangster), as WWE embraced its over-the-top tendencies in its last arena WrestleMania.

Bonus points to Helmsley for incorporating both of his Motorhead themes, 'King of Kings' and 'The Game', into this one.

#3 WrestleMania XXX

WWE got a lot of things right with Helmsley's WrestleMania XXX entrance.

There's the fact that it's two entrances in one, with the warrior king and his slave girls debuting to regal chants, as Stephanie McMahon announces her husband from the ring before, the lights cut out and Helmsley stands alone with his standard entrance music playing.

Then there's the incorporation of fresher displays in the stage and ramp setup, with one of WWE's best WrestleMania stages flashing Helmsley's various catchphrases and turning the entire Superdome, Triple H's signature shade of toxic green.

Bonus points, too, for being the WrestleMania debuts of Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, and Charlotte Flair, who played the executive's slave girls during the opening portion of the entrance.

#2 WrestleMania XXVII

Helmsley walked into the Georgia Dome to battle The Undertaker dressed as an ancient king, flanked by an army of shield-bearing soldiers, as Metallica's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' replaced his usual Motorhead entrance theme.

It was perhaps a jab at Undertaker's signature tolling bells, or perhaps just Helmsley using his influence to get his other favorite band involved in wrestling's biggest show, the booming pyro and sweeping lights in time with the song create a great effect.

Though it's the best part of the entrance, WWE's on-again-off-again relationship with Metallica, and the foursome's often-steep licensing fees, means that video releases and WWE Network streams of the event replace it with a sound-alike, which keeps many fans from experiencing this one in all its glory.

#1 WrestleMania 32

It has Stephanie McMahon as a wasteland queen, an army of Championship-bearing skeleton warriors, and Helmsley lording himself over an apocalyptic setting.

It perfectly befits his character and his status as lord over, not only the front office but also the active roster, and was a welcome bit of fun in a show that seriously dragged toward the end.