What I Think Series -- Featuring Hunter Hurst Helmsly (WWE)

At 37 years of age, Jean-Paul Levesque has had a number of aliases since his entry into World Wrestling Entertainment in 1992 from the eloquent but snobbish Hunter Hurst Helmsly to his present incarnation Triple H. A number of other monikers and titles have also followed him and fueled his career: A 10-time Champion (5-time WWE Champion and 5-time World Heavyweight Champion); The Connecticut Blueblood; The Cerebral Assassin; The King of Kings; and probably the most recognizable of them all, the aforementioned acronym—Triple H.

In all honesty, I am no fan of The Game’s move set (e.g., Knee Drop; Jumping High; Knee; 180 degree spinning spinebuster; and of course, his finisher known as “The Pedigree.”) with the exception of a couple of submission moves such as Ric Flair’s Figure-Four Leglock. But as an athlete, you have to respect his drive and determination to make back to the ring from the two separate career threatening quadriceps tears that he suffered on his left leg (2001) and right leg (2007).

As a “ground and pound” wrestler, the foundation of most, if not all, of “The Cerebral Assassins” moves come from his legs. One would think that much like the fictional Anakin Skywalker who had to change his lightsaber technique upon his rebirth as the mechanical Darth Vader, Triple H would be wise to do the same to avoid the possibility of future injury to is already damaged limbs. But not “The King of Kings,” as his routine has remained the same in every event that he has participated in through the years.

Last October 2006, Triple H, Batista, The Undertaker, and the rest of the Smackdown roster, held a two-night show in Manila, Philippines. During the second show, Levesque broke kayfabe (or the admission that wrestling is just one big business and that wrestlers are really friendly with one another outside of their “babyface” (good guys) and “heel” (bad guys) public personas) for what I know to be the second time in his career (after a Madison Square Garden “curtain call” with Big Daddy Diesel; Razon Ramon; and Shawn Michaels in the mid-90’s) when he came out of the performers area to greet and hug Ric Flair in public as the latter was celebrating his birthday that evening.

Fast forward to August 26, 2007 – SummerSlam: “The Biggest Party of the Summer” which incidentally also marked the return of Triple H to the ring after “8 or so months” of surgery and rehabilitation to his injured right leg. I cringed when he executed his patented spinning spinebuster (the move which ruptured the quadriceps muscle in his right leg early this year) and “The Pedigree” finisher—scary, gutsy, but that’s The Game and he is not about to change.

Note:

Levesque has been a longtime fan of the rock band Motorhead, the group responsible for cutting his signature entrance themes, “The Game” and “King of Kings.” Motorhead is also responsible for theme of Evolution (Triple H’s now defunct group) entitled, “Line in the Sand.”