"I would be embarrassed" – Ex-WWE star claims Triple H stole his gimmick

Triple H reinvented his WWE persona in the late 1990s when he became one of the top heel singles competitors in the wrestling business. More than 20 years on, former ECW and WWE star Shane Douglas has explained why he took exception to The Game's character transformation.

Douglas was among ECW's highest-profile names between 1993 and 1999, during which time he won the promotion's World Championship on four occasions. Toward the end of the decade, Triple H ditched his entertaining D-Generation X persona and began performing as a serious villain.

In a recent WSI interview, Douglas recalled the time he saw the current WWE Chief Content Officer allegedly steal one of his promos on television:

"I'm finishing up putting a sandwich together and I come around the corner and I hear, 'It's my belt, it's my belt, it's my damn belt,' and I went, 'That's why it [similarities] scratched my brain.' That was my promo almost verbatim, except I used the F-bomb, not damn. Borrowing's one thing, I would be embarrassed to take somebody's promo, especially a fairly famous promo, and word-for-word make it mine." [1:13 – 1:41]

The ECW legend performed as Dean Douglas in WWE in 1995. Triple H also worked for the company at the time, but the two never crossed paths in an official match.

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Shane Douglas also thought Triple H copied his appearance

In 1999, Triple H started wearing a backward leather hat during backstage interviews and in-ring promo segments.

Having worn a similar hat in ECW, Shane Douglas is convinced that the 14-time WWE world champion took the idea from him:

"I started getting the pictures of the sort of beanie caps that I would wear backwards, the kanga hats, I saw that and everything in the Attitude [Era]. My take on Hunter is he's an extremely intelligent guy. If you're gonna rip something off, rip something good off. If you're going to create a character in a company that's pretty much worldwide, you might as well rip that company off that's only locally seen in a few places and [by] tape traders and stuff." [2:05 – 2:38]

AEW star Daniel Garcia sometimes wears a leather hat when he appears on television. He revealed earlier this year that the look was inspired by Triple H's late 1990s/early 2000s appearance.

Do you think The Game copied Shane Douglas? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Please credit WSI and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.