Triple H has had a lengthy, successful, and prominent career in professional wrestling, spending virtually all of his time with WWE, where he currently serves as the Head of Creative. However, the multi-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion spent some time elsewhere before entering the organization, wrestling in WCW right at the outset of his career, spending almost a year there before leaving to join WWE, where he would become an all-time great.
He started in WCW as a character named “Terra Ryzing” but the company found his real last name ‘Levesque’ intriguing. Hence, they rebooted his character and he became a French Canadian aristocrat named “Jean-Paul Levesque”.
Triple H spoke in a terrible French accent
The idea behind this persona was for Triple H to play an upper-class French aristocrat, drawing on his surname’s French heritage. He would carry this role throughout the remainder of his tenure in WCW, and even when he eventually joined WWE in 1995, his name would change to Hunter Heart Helmsley. He insisted on appropriate etiquette. That gimmick originated in WCW, and it began in quite a humorous manner.
In an interview with Bleacher Report, Triple H revealed the amusing details surrounding the birth of “Jean-Paul Levesque”. He was led backstage, where he met someone who would later become a personal friend and mentor in Ric Flair asked him about his surname and told him to cut promos on Alex Wright in French.
HHH, who was born in New Hampshire, couldn’t speak French at all, which he revealed to a puzzled Flair, who had seemingly ignored the fact that having a French name did not immediately equal being a French speaker.
Flair, then, asked Triple H to cut promos in a French accent. That is exactly what he did, with no forewarning or preparation. The outcome wasn’t terrific, but his bad accent made his heel gimmick even more unappealing. To make matters weirder, HHH was slated to conduct a live interview with an inebriated Gordon Solie in the coming minutes.
This type of thing demonstrates how different the wrestling industry is today in terms of show production and scriptwriting.
Triple H was picked up by WWE pretty soon after his WCW PPV debut
Triple H dominated WCW, winning the majority of his matches on shows like Saturday Night and Pro. His first loss under this gimmick occurred against Ricky Steamboat, which wasn’t a horrible way to start. From there, he feuded with Alex Wright, which led to the Starrcade PPV in 1994, Triple H’s first PPV appearance.
Vince McMahon was impressed by this encounter, prompting him to make an offer to Triple H, which he accepted, resulting in an acrimonious exodus from WCW, in which Eric Bischoff offered more money and fewer dates, despite Triple H’s preference for more dates to progress.
Towards the end of his WCW career, he had a brief partnership with another friend Lord Steven Regal, whose character was similar to Triple H’s. This would have been a fun act, but it wasn’t given much time because Triple H moved on to WWE, where he steadily climbed the ranks, through various ups and downs, on his way to becoming not only a certified Hall of Famer with countless World Titles, but also the man in charge of the creative direction of both Raw and SmackDown.
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