“The Game” is over inside the squared circle, but he still goes on and it sounds like that is a blessing considering how things could have ended.
That’s because WWE personality Triple H, whose real name is Paul Michael Levesque, told Stephen A. Smith during a “First Take” interview Friday that his in-ring career is over because he now has a defibrillator in his chest after suffering a cardiac event last September.
The WWE also issued a Tweet acknowledging that Triple H has retired.
The 52-year-old, who is married to Stephanie McMahon, the daughter of WWE chairman and executive officer Vince McMahon, reportedly said he had viral pneumonia, and when he began coughing up blood, he went to the emergency room. While there, he said he was suffering from heart failure.
In an interview with @stephenasmith, @TripleH officially announces his retirement from in-ring competition. pic.twitter.com/MQcBAIb4gv
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 25, 2022
“I was nose-diving and, sort of, at the 1-yard line of where you don’t want to be for your family and future,” he said as he got emotional while also referencing his three daughters.
“There’s moments in there when they are putting you out for stuff, when you think, ‘Is this it?’” he told Smith, with his voice cracking. “Do you wake up from this? It’s tough to swallow.”
Triple H, who is WWE’s Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy and Development, was one of the company’s most popular wrestlers across the past two decades. He was a leader of the popular group “DX” along with Shawn Michaels.
He is considered among the greatest wrestlers of all-time, and was a 14-time WWE champion, a five-time Intercontinental Champion and a three-time tag team champion. He was a two-time Royal Rumble winner, and also won WWE’s King of the Ring tournament once.
Triple H began wrestling in 1990 in the International Wrestling Federation, and then moved on to the WCW in 1994. He signed with the WWE in 1995.
