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Triple H is, without a doubt, one of the most influential names in WWE history and has been associated with the company since the mid 90's. Needless to say, ol' Hunter has quite the collection of unbelievable stories to tell from his time in the locker room; from the consequences of his first pedigree to his part in one of the most controversial endings of a match in the history of pro-wrestling. Let's take a quick dive into the craziness that is the legacy of Paul "Triple H" Levesque.
#1 His first pedigree ended in legal trouble
Triple H debuted his version of the facebuster, more accurately, the double underhook facebuster, which he dubbed 'the pedigree' on an episode of Superstars in 1996. On the receiving end of the finisher was a jobber by the name of Marty Garner, who was quite unfamiliar with the move and tried to sell it as an underhook suplex: jumping up and landing straight on his head, damaging his neck.
Garner sued the company immediately after and the dispute was settled out of court. Both Superstars went on their merry way and thankfully the iconic move was never banned.
#2 He was confronted by RVD after making a joke
We know Triple H as the Cerebral Assasin, the crazy badass character he plays onscreen, but according to many shoot interviews, he was quite insecure, at least in his early days with the company. Robert Alex Szatkowski, better known as Rob Van Dam, recalled in one such interview that Hunter once made a joke about RVD's smoking habit during a meeting with the writers. According to the Superstar, Trips was the only one to laugh at his own joke but not for long as RVD confronted him right after for being an insecure bully seeking validation.
According to the interview, RVD's exact words were: "Are we friends? Do you think we have a relationship where you can make jokes about me like that?". Needless to say, Triple H rarely messed with RVD after the event.
#3 Triple H and Daniel Bryan almost fought in real life
Back in 2013, Daniel Bryan faced off with Randy Orton on the June 17th episode of RAW and Bryan was booked to win the match. The victory, at the time, would have been instrumental in establishing Bryan's career but unfortunately, he suffered an injury early into the match and while the medical team was tending to Bryan, Triple H called to the referee instructing him to end the match.
The match was called off and Bryan was not happy about it, to say the least; the man had finished a match with a detached retina in ROH and strictly believes in finishing a match no matter what. Harsh words were exchanged between HHH and Bryan immediately after and it almost led to fisticuffs according to those that were backstage.
#4 He saved Stone Cold from being attacked by a fan
Germany, April 1998; Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H were squaring off at a house show when a member of the audience ran out to the ring and started beating down on a very confused and defenceless Austin. Trips did not waste a moment before taking the attacker to the mat with a gnarly suplex and pummeling him into oblivion before they were separated by security staff. Helmsley set an example of the audience member for disrupting the show and the fan totally deserved it.
#5 The Montreal Screwjob was conceived by the Cerebral Assasin
The Montreal Screwjob was definitely one of the most controversial moments in wrestling history and there are many varying accounts of who really came up with the idea to screw over Bret. Depending on who you ask, they'd tell you Gerald Brisco or Vince Russo or even Vince himself came up with it but in his book, Heartbreak & Triumph, Hunter's real-life best friend HBK claims that it was HHH who first pitched the idea. Not many facts are known about the incident but I doubt the man who was in the ring with Hart that fateful night would lie about such a thing.
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