Triple H during his ring entrance.
Paul Michael Levesque[3] (born July 27, 1969)[4] is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling authority figure, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and actor, better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of the ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. As of July 2011, the Triple H character appears on WWE programming as the Chief Operating Officer of WWE and as a semi-active wrestler. He is heavily involved in the writing process of WWE programming, and holds creative control over storylines.[5]
Levesque began his wrestling career in the International Wrestling Federation as Terra Ryzing before joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994. After briefly using the Ryzing name, he changed his character to Jean-Paul Lévesque, a French-Canadian aristocrat[4] which would be similar to his character Hunter Hearst Helmsley, that he used in his early years with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1995 onward.[6] He later abbreviated his name to Triple H and adopted an alternative image in the D-Generation X (DX) stable. After the dissolution of DX, Triple H was pushed as a main event wrestler, winning several singles championships.[1] As part of a storyline Triple H married Stephanie McMahon, who later became his real-life spouse. In 2003, Triple H formed another stable known as Evolution,[1] and reformed DX with Shawn Michaels in 2006 and 2009.[7]
Overall, Levesque has won twenty-three championships in WWE. He is a thirteen-time world champion — the all-time record in the company — having won the WWF/E Championship eight times, and the World Heavyweight Championship five times.[8][9] In addition, Helmsley won the 1997 King of the Ring, the 2002 Royal Rumble, and was the second Grand Slam Championship wi winner. Outside of wrestling, Helmsley has made numerous guest appearances in film and on television.