Real Name: Jean-Paul LeVesque
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 249 lbs
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Titles Held: WWF Heavyweight Championship(4), WWF Intercontinental Championship(4), WWF European Championship (2), 1997 WWF King Of The Ring, WWF Tag Team Championship
Federations Worked With: World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Federation
Finishing Manuevers: The Pedigree
Wrestling Aliases: Terra Ryzing, Jean-Paul Levesque, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Triple H


Career Sketch

From Boston, Massachusetts, Jean-Paul Levesque grew up loving the sport of professional wrestling. At a young age he decided that he wanted to do what his heroes inside the ring did. Once of age to start pursuing his dream, Hunter became obsessed with it. He became a gym rat, spending many hours each day in the gym, wanting to achieve the "Monster size" that the top names of the sport all had at that time.

During his religious training, Hunter's path crossed with that of wrestling legend Killer Kowalski. Hunter had accepted an invitation to a highly regarded wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts. Killer Kowalski, who taught at the school, took Triple H under his wing, noticing his great potential.

In March of 1992, Helmsley finally made his professional in-ring debut in an independent New England based promotion. His in-ring name was "Terra Ryzing."Four months into his professional career, he achieved his first gold. He defeated legend Mad Dog Richard for the IWF Heavyweight Championship. After defending the title successfully on many occasions, Hunter received a try-out with World Championship Wrestling.

HHH made a huge impression, gaining a job with the promotion. His first feud was with babyface Johnny B. Badd, WCW was happy with HHH's heel portrayal. After a while in WCW, Helmsley's name was changed to his real life name, Jean Paul Levesque. Helmsley then entered a feud with then United States champion, and current broadcaster Larry Zbysko, Helmsley came away from the feud with no title, but a double count-out draw with the champion. Hunter made his Pay Per View debut at WCW Starrcade 1994 with a loss to Alex Wright, the superstar now known as Berlyn. Soon following the loss, due to political issues, HHH left WCW and dropped out of the spotlight.

In mid-1995, HHH recieved a contract from the World Wrestling Federation. He was given the gimmick of a Greenwich, CT. blue-blooded snob, a heel character. Hunter played the role perfectly. Helmsley's first feuds were with stars such as Bob Holly, Duke Droze, and Doink the Clown. HHH then began to get matches with such established stars as Bret Hart and Razor Ramon. His matches with these superstars however, weren't regarded very highly by WWF officials, and Triple H began to slip back down the ladder of WWF success.

Helmsley's first real memorable feud was with Henry Godwin. This feud culminated with a "Hog Pen"match at In Your House V. HHH won this match, helping him to start to climb the ladder once again. He lost to Duke Droze at the 1996 Royal Rumble, the stipulation of this match was that, the winner would enter the Royal Rumble with the coveted Number 30 position, while the loser would enter with the dreaded Number 1 spot. This ended up being a blessing for Hunter, as he lasted 48 minutes in the Rumble, the longest of any superstar.

Wrestlemania XII was approaching, and the WWF had planned to book HHH vs. the returning Ultimate Warrior, the Warrior nixed the match however, claiming that he would only fight HHH if Hunter did a "squash", and lay down for Warrior early. Vince McMahon then scratched the match, not wanting to shatter the young up-and-comer's image. Hunter stepped in however, and agreed to do the job for Warrior, this was a big thing, because, considering this was a Wrestlemania, the card wasnt all that good, besides the match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. That match was also a blessing because, Sable debuted on HHH's arm in this match, and we all know what happened with her, even though this was her only go as HHH's valet.

The above started a feud with new-comer Marc Mero, over Sable, this was one of Hunter's most memorable feuds as the Greenwich blue-blood. It was around this time however, that Jean-Paul Levesque suffered the biggest set back of his wrestling career.

The night was May 19, 1996, and it was the night of one of the biggest non-planned events in WWF history. The WWF was holding a house show at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City. A few months earlier, WWF superstars Razor Ramon(now known as Scott Hall) and Diesel(now known as Kevin Nash) had signed lucrative contracts with WCW, this was to be their last show with the WWF. The show was stacked, Warrior was there, Vader took on Yokozuna and Steve Austin officially dropped the "Ringmaster" persona. Helmsley was given the honor of wrestling Hall in his last WWF match, Helmsley was given the win. The night culminated with a steel cage match for the WWF Championship between then champ Shawn Michaels and the departing Nash. Michaels retained the title and the match ended. That is where all hell broke loose. The two embraced in the ring, and Scott Hall then came to the ring to celebrate with them, he was followed by Hunter. These men shared a very special bond in real life, as they were known as "The Kliq" of pro wrestling. Each man climbed to a corner of the ring and flashed the "Too Sweet" sign. It was a great moment.

Vince McMahon did not feel this way however, he put the two remaing men in his dog house. He could not punnish Michaels that severley, as he was the WWF Champion, and with Bret Hart's absense at that time, the top man in the company. So the punishment for both men was brought down on Helmsley. Helmsley began to do many J.O.B's and DQ's, he began to feud with a combination of Curt Hennig and Marc Mero, this feud actually had a good outcome though, because Helmsley came out of it with his first mainstream title, the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

HHH then aquired the services of his "bodyguard", Mr. Hughes, you may know him as Curtis Hughes, the man who did the same job for Chris Jericho for a short time. That relationship was short lived, and so was his title reign, he lost it humiliatingly to new comer Rocky Maivia in February of 1997, a mere glimpse of a feud that is considered one of the best today. He began to feud with Goldust, this was also a very important feud to his career, because during it he introduced the later to be world known, Chyna as his new bodyguard.

Vince McMahon let the grudge go, and began to push Hunter and Chyna highly as a duo. The most important victory of his career at that time occurred, he was crowned 1997 WWF King of the Ring, defeating Mankind in the finals. During the summer, in a tag team tournament, HHH teamed with Michaels, this was foreshawdowing another huge step in not only Helmsley's career, but the future of the WWF as well.

As the fall of 1997 began to approach, McMahon needed to do something desperate to compete with the much more popular WCW programming, he decided to go raunchy, and used HHH, Shawn, and Chyna to start that "revolution". The three, along with Rick Rude formed "D-Generation-X", a rule-breaking, anti-establishment heel stable. Rude left the stable soon after it's creation, and the other three took the WWF by storm. Hunter dropped his blue-blood gimmick, and aquired a, mean, rule-breaking persona. The group was a key figure in the now infamous, Survivor Series 1997 "screwjob" where Bret Hart was legitimately screwed out of the WWF title by Vince McMahon in favor of Michaels. D-X has always claimed they had nothing to do with the incident, but are doubted by many.

D-X were now very noticeable, and HHH might have been the second highest rated on the WWF's list of heels, a huge step from the J.O.B.ing he had been doing a year before. Hunter won the European Title when he defeated his buddy Michaels in a "squash" match. A feud with Owen Hart insued, HHH lost the title to Hart in early 1998, but quckly gained it back. It was at this time that Mike Tyson had entered not only the WWF, but D-X as well. At Wrestlemania XIV, Helmsley defeated Owen to retain his European title with the help of Chyna. Shawn would take on huge fan favorite Steve Austin for the Heavyweight title with Tyson as the ref in the main-event.

Austin defeated Michaels with the help of Tyson, who had been swerving D-X all along. At this time, Michaels decided to take a needed rest, to help his badly injured back. HHH was given the spot of leader of D-X by the WWF, the night after Wrestlemania XIV, he took the reigns. He reformed the faction, keeping Chyna, but bringing in the tag-team the New Age Outlaws, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn. He also brought in X-Pac, who was returing to the WWF after a stint in WCW that ended on bad terms. D-X was now a babyfaced group that played well to the fans. D-X began to rival with another stable, the Nation, led by then Intercontinental champion The Rock, formely known as the Rocky Maivia that HHH lost his IC title to over a year earlier.

The feud between Hunter and The Rock was a classic. It culminated at Madison Square Garden, where the worst setback of Helmsley's career occured, but this night would be one of the best in his career. The event was Summerslam 1998, and HHH and The Rock met in a ladder match for the Intercontinental title, the match was a classic, and with a little help from Chyna, HHH defeated The Rock, and won the title.

The title reign would be short lived however, because Helmsley severley injured his leg in the classic ladder match, so a feud with Ken Shamrock was scrapped, and the WWF gave the submission fighter the title in a tournament. Around this time, Shawn Michales returned to the WWF as the evil commisioner, soon after his return Helmsley and Chyna both returned from short absenses. Michaels turned face, but was still given a punnishment by D-X, allowing Shawn to be beaten by McMahon's evil Corporation. HHH started to challenge the then champion Rock for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, but it was not his time yet.

In January of 1999, the WWF scripted Chyna to turn on Hunter and D-X and turn Corporate, it was all a big swerve, because HHH turned on his D-X mates, and re-united with Chyna at Wrestlemania XV. The heel turn was very new for HHH, and he had to re-invent himself, he was kind of unoticeable for a few months as he did this. Chyna was also reinventing herself, she was being pushed as a singles wrestler against men, while doubling as Hunter's valet.

During the summer of the WWF, with star Mick Foley absent, with Steve Austin in need of time off, and with a lack of heels in the WWF, they began to push the heel Triple H towards the title. He was supposed to have won the title from Austin at Summerslam 1999, but Austin claimed he did not want to do the J.O.B. to HHH, so teh WWF brought Mankind in to take the title in the Summerslam match refereed by Governor Jesse Ventura. The next night however, in Ames, Iowa, HHH won the title from Mankind, he had finally become the top man in the business.

HHH carried the title well, he lost it to Vince McMahon, but won it back from vacancy a week later. He began to feud with Rock and the returning Austin. At this time, the WWF chose to split Chyna from HHH, allowing her to pursue a singles carrer, there was no defining break-up moment, it just gradually happened.

Without Chyna, the WWF Champion, reformed D-X with X-Pac and the Outlaws. A huge triple threat match was booked for Survivor Series 1999 between HHH, The Rock , and Steve Austin. Austin was injured before the match however, and The Big Show was substituted for him, and The Show took the title.

HHH began to feud full fledged with Vince McMahon in late 1999. During this match HHH date-raped and married McMahon's daughter, Stephanie. This was a swerve, as Stephanie was in cahoots with Hunter, doing it for revenge on her father.

HHH, with his "new wife" then focused on regaining the WWF Title from The Big Show. On January 3, 2000, the first Raw of the millenium, HHH won the title from The Big Show with no help from Stephanie or D-X. HHH was now, for all intensive purposes, in-charge of the WWF, taking ownership as Vince and Shane McMahon left in disgust. Hunter focused in on Mick Foley who had changed back to the Cactus Jack persona. The two locked horns in a memorable street fight at the 2000 Royal Rumble. Helmsley retained the title, and he gained alot of respect for putting on such a great match with the hardcore legend.

After a few weeks of battling Cactus Jack and The Rock, with The Big Show as his ally, a big shake-up occured. On Raw, January 31, WCW Superstars Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Eddy Guerrerro, who had been recently released, showed up on Raw as guests of Cactus Jack. On Smackdown, HHH told "The Radicals" that if they could win 2 out of their matches on Smackdown, they would get contracts. In the first match, Malenko lost to X-Pac, in the second, Guerrerro and Saturn lost to the New Age Outlaws. Even though it would not matter, HHH still fought Benoit, and won.

The next week on Raw, Cactus Jack challenged HHH to a Hell in a Cell match. HHH agreed on the stipulation that if Jack lost, he must retire. With Jack in the ring with the Radicals. HHH ordered the Radicals to attack Cactus, and they did, revealing that HHH had signed them to contracts. After many 6, 8, and 10 man tags, No Way Out came. Early in the night, Big Show, with the help of Shane McMahon, defeated Rock for #1 contendership. In the main event Hell in a Cell match, Hunter fought excellent, and defeated Cactus Jack, retaining the belt, and retiring Foley.

After that event, Shane, Hunter, Stephanie, and Big Show formed an alliance. On an episode of Raw, Rock finagled his way into a WWF #1 contender match with Big Show, with Shane as ref. Shane was favoring Show, until Vince McMahon returned, and helped Rock win. Hunter and Shane announced that the main event for Wrestlemania 2000 would be Hunter defending against Big Show and Rock in a triple threat. However, on the next Raw, that exact match was booked, which HHH won. Linda McMahon then came to the ramp, and announced that the Wrestlemania main event would be a fatal four way with Hunter, Rock, Big Show, and Mick Foley for one more match.

At Wrestlemania, Big Show and Foley were eliminated first, and it was Rock and Hunter. It appeared Rock would win, until his ally, Vince McMahon appeared, and nailed Rock with a chair, helping Hunter retain the WWF title. Hunter then announced, that he and Rock would meet again at Backlash, and Vince would be in Triple H's corner. Linda McMahon then made a blockbuster announcement that Steve Austin would return to be in Rock's corner. On the same Raw, Triple H lost the WWF title to Chris Jericho, but threatened the ref to reverse the decision, and he did, voiding Jericho's title victory. At Backlash, with Austin's help, Rock defeated Triple H for the WWF Title.

After Backlash, Rock departed to film a movie, and HHH booked he and Rock for the WWF title in a 60 minute Iron Man Match. With Rock gone, HHH, D-X, and the McMahons battled Jericho, The Dudley Boys, Big Show, and Rikishi Phatu. Rock accepted the challenge for Judgement Day and the Iron Man Match. Shawn Michaels then returned, resigned as WWF commisioner, but not before making himself special ref for Judgement Day.

Judgement Day came, and Triple H and The Rock put on one of the best matches in WWF history. With the score tied at 5, Micheals was knocked out, and D-X and The McMahons attacked Rock. Then, The Undertaker returned to the WWF, and beat up The McMahons and all of D-X, including Hunter. Michaels saw this, and awarded a point to Hunter, and time expired, so Hunter won the match 6-5, and became WWF champion for a fourth time.

Hunter was booked at King of the Ring 2000, along with Vince and Shane, to take on Kane, Undertaker, and Rock, with his Championship on the line. Just as Triple H predicted, a McMahon cost him the match, when Vince was pinned by the Rock, putting Hunter's belt on Rocky.

Hunter then began a full fledged feud with Jericho, which resulted in HHH beating Jericho in a last man standing match-up at Fully Loaded 2000. Then, Triple H tried to refocus on the WWF Championship, and The Rock, but Kurt Angle got in the way. So, Mick Foley(the WWF Commisioner), booked Rock to defend against HHH and Angle at Summerslam 2000. HHH looked good at Summerslam, but because of the sharade between Angle and his wife, Rock took advantage and won the match. Then at Unforgiven, HHH got his revenge when he defeated Angle.

Chris Benoit then involved himself in the Angle-HHH feud by attacking Stephanie. Angle was then distanced and it became Benoit-HHH. At No Mercy 2000, Benoit and Triple H did battle. Stephanie, who was no longer allowed to accompany HHH at ringside, interfered, giving Triple H the victory.

HHH closed out 2000 respectably, bowing out to an injury for the rest of the year after the Armaggeddon PPV. He returned on Raw to screw Steve Austin out of the WWF Championship. At Royal Rumble 2001, however, Austin returned the favor, screwing HHH as he fought Kurt Angle for the WWF Title. This set up Austin-HHH for No Way Out 2001. Stipulations were made that Austin and HHH would not touch each other until NWO2001, which both reluctantly complied to. The match was 2 out of 3 falls, the first under normal wrestling conditions, the second under street conditions, and the third in a steel cage, after splitting the first two, HHH to many peoples suprise, took the third, defeating the man who would go on to main event for the title at Wrestlemania XVII.

After NWO2001, HHH teased for a few weeks at getting into Rock v Austin for the title at XVII, but instead, began to develop a feud with the Undertaker. After average build-up to the match, Hunter faced Taker in the undercard match, which Undertaker ended up taking, improving his Wrestle Mania record to 9-0.

The night after Wrestle Mania, Triple H appeared very displeased that Steve Austin and Vince McMahon had alligned the night before without Trip's knowledge. When Austin had his first defense against Rock, it appeared Triple H was coming to help Rock, but it was a swerve, he helped Austin. Triple H then defeated Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental title, only to lose it to Jeff Hardy soon after. However, Triple H regained it right after he lost it.

At Backlash, Triple H and Austin took on Kane and the Undertaker for the Tag Team Titles. HHH and Austin won, making Hunter only the second grand slam champion in WWF history, the first being Shawn Michaels. Hunter and Steve carried the heel roles throughout the spring, until HHH lost his IC belt to Kane at Judgement Day 2001. The next night, in a tag title defense against Benoit and Jericho, which HHH and Austin lost, HHH severley injured his leg, even though he continued the match. He went immediatley to surgery.



That brings me to today. Hunter may be the best professional wrestler today, and is one of the best physical specimens you'll ever see. He won one of the greatest, in my opinion, matches in WWF history. He carried the WWF title better than most, for longer than most, and I expect him to do it again. His rivalry with The Rock is one of the best of all time, and HHH may indeed be the man that helped Rock get big. Whatever the case, Hunter is now one of the best wrestlers, and WWF champions of all time, and no one can take that away from him.

Pat McGregor
Send feedback to PatMcGregor@tpww.net

RETURN TO MAIN PROFILES PAGE >>>