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From 1995 to the present day, Triple H has been among the most prominent in-ring competitors on WWE programming. Granted, in recent years he has drastically cut back on the number of matches he works per year, but he always finds himself in a featured one-on-one match when WrestleMania comes around.
Off-screen, “The King of Kings” is the patriarch of WWE’s increasingly popular NXT ‘developmental’ brand, transforming the FCW system and turning it into an NFL-worthy process which allows men and women with little-to-no wrestling background to work on their characters and become the Superstars that we see today on Raw and SmackDown Live.
Given the power that HHH wields, it is only natural that Superstars can easily recall their first meeting with one of the most influential people in the wrestling industry. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five people within WWE – some past, some present – and find out what happened when they first met the 14-time world champion.
#5 Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe debuted in NXT in May 2015 and he quickly established himself as one of the most dominant Superstars on the brand. He won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with Finn Balor in October 2015 and he became NXT champion within his first year on WWE television.
Since then, he has become a two-time NXT champion, while he has gone on to feature in PPV main events against established names including Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, and he won his first singles title on the main roster in March 2019, when he dethroned R-Truth as United States champion.
Although Joe has had success on Raw and SmackDown Live, he revealed in a ‘WWE Chronicle’ documentary in 2018 that Triple H was brutally honest with him during their first meeting and he doubted whether a “late 30-something” would make it beyond the NXT system.
“He said, ‘Hey, you know, you coming in here, it will be a great help to NXT and you can do your own stuff, and I think we can have a good working relationship. But I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think Vince [McMahon] is looking to put a late 30-something, you know, looking to promote him up to the main roster. That was said within the first few sentences of us meeting.”
#4 Matt Riddle
Matt Riddle decided to make the bold switch from MMA to Pro wrestling/sports entertainment following his departure from UFC in 2013. He quickly made a name for himself on the independent scene, notably with Evolve, and questions were constantly being asked about when he will join WWE.
During an interview with Fightful in February 2017, Riddle revealed that he first met Triple H around the time of the 2016 Royal Rumble, two-and-a-half years before he eventually debuted on NXT television, but they only exchanged a few short words.
"He [Triple H] came up to me at an Evolve event and he goes, 'Hey, I appreciate what you're doing here' and I go, 'I appreciate what YOU'RE doing here.' Then he looked at me kind of weird and he goes, 'I just wanna thank you for everything you've done' and I go, 'I just wanna thank you for everything YOU'VE done', and he looked at me weird, shook my hand, and walked away."
#3 Toni Storm
Toni Storm first caught the attention of the WWE Universe when she made it to the semi-finals of the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament in 2017. One year later, with her reputation enhanced even further, she went all the way to the final and defeated Io Shirai at WWE Evolution in October 2018 to win the second-annual tournament.
The New Zealand-born Aussie has since gone on to star in NXT UK, where she became the NXT UK Women’s champion by defeating Rhea Ripley at TakeOver: Blackpool in January 2019, and she told 24 Wrestling that she has often grabbed advice from Triple H since their first meeting.
"It’s incredible. He’s the man. He’s been there and he’s done it all. He’s someone who I was such a huge fan of for so many years and then I get to meet him, get advice from him, work with him. And it’s just incredible. I feel like in just a short time that I’ve been able to grab some advice off him I’ve learnt so much just from those little bits. I’m very lucky; I’m very blessed to be able to work with literally the best of the best and it’s helped me so much."
#2 Steve Austin
It is not just the up-and-coming WWE talents who remember their first meeting with Triple H -- even “Stone Cold” Steve Austin can recall what he thought of his former in-ring rival when he encountered him for the first time during their days in WCW.
Speaking on his Steve Austin Show podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed that he instantly became friends with HHH and he respected the fact that he took the wrestling business seriously by not drinking alcohol.
He said (quotes via Wrestling Inc.):
"We hit it off right off the bat. Same sense of humour. I was a little bit older than him, but I hadn't been in the business too much longer, if any. So, man, we introduced ourselves to each other and I knew he had a bright future in the business. He was a huge bodybuilding, powerlifting fan, always hit the gym. He wasn't a drinker - I respected that. Good dude, great sense of humour, low-key, one of the boys."
#1 Alexa Bliss
It took a while for Alexa Bliss to establish herself as a prominent member of the women’s division in WWE, having mostly been used as a manager for Wesley Blake & Buddy Murphy throughout her on-screen appearances in NXT.
Although “Little Miss Bliss” was a fan of WWE growing up, she did not have any experience as a wrestler when she attended her first tryout with the company in 2013, and she recalled during an interview on NotSam Wrestling that she felt star-struck the first time she met Triple H.
She said (quotes via Ringside News):
"Like I walked in and I saw Triple H and I said, ‘Oh my god, do you know you’re Triple H?!’ Oh that was me – totally me. I did that. I remember these other girls in the tryout who walked in and didn’t know who he was and I almost had a heart attack – ‘Oh my god, you’re Triple H! Did you know you’re Triple H and you’re in the same room as me?!’… very embarrassing, but they asked me why I wanted to be in WWE. And to stand out I said, 'I really want to be Tinker Bell at Disney and I’m hoping this gets my foot in the door.'"
