Before serving as the head of creative for WWE,
Triple H had a legendary wrestling career during which he accomplished pretty much every championship and accolade imaginable. A 14-time WWE World Champion,
The Game competed against several high-profile names during his time as an active wrestler.
10 Best Wrestlers Who Beat Triple H For A Championship
Triple H won countless championships in his WWE career. Thus, some of the greatest ever have defeated Triple H in title matches.
Hunter was at his best in-ring wise in 2000, before suffering a torn quad in May 2001. He tore his other quad in January 2007, and while those injuries unquestionably derailed his career, that didn’t stop him from still having classic matches here and there. Here are Triple H’s ten best matches in WWE.
Before becoming chief content officer and head of creative for WWE, Paul “Triple H” Levesque had an iconic career as an in-ring performer. Known as ‘The Game’ and ‘The Cerebral Assassin’ for his evil tactics and mind games, Triple H made a name for himself as one of the best heels in professional wrestling history. Throughout his iconic 25-year WWE career, Triple H competed in spectacular matches against some of the biggest names in WWE history. Find out which are Triple H’s definitive 13 best matches in WWE.
15 Triple H & Stone Cold Lose The Tag Team Titles (Raw Is War, May 21, 2001)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 8.5/10
| Storytelling | 1.75/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
- Dave Meltzer’s Rating: 4.75 Stars
- Cagematch.net Rating: 9.19
In the early 2000s, Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin had the most personal feud in WWE at the time. Shockingly, the two joined forces after Austin’s heel turn, forming a team called The Two Man Power Trip. In just a month, they picked up the WWE Championship (Austin), the Intercontinental Championship (Triple H) and the WWE Tag Team Championship. It seemed nobody could stop the two megastars until their egos eventually got in their way.
Stone Cold Steve Austin had a lackluster run as a heel in 2001. Here’s a look back at what went wrong with Austin’s failed heel turn!
After Austin accidentally helped Kane win the IC Title at Judgment Day, the two men had to defend the tag titles against Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho on Raw. The four talented workers delivered one of the very best tag team matches in WWE history, that ended with the Canadians pulling off an upset win after another accidental mistake by Austin. Unfortunately, Triple H tore his quad in this match which prevents us from ranking it a bit higher on the list.
14 Triple H Vs. The Undertaker – No Holds Barred Match (WrestleMania 27)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 8.5/10
| Storytelling | 2.5/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 1.75/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
- Dave Meltzer’s Rating: 4.5 Stars
- Cagematch.net Rating: 8.47
The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Streak was something else. For over 20 years, the biggest names in wrestling tried (and failed miserably) to take The Deadman down at The Grandest Stage Of Them All. Triple H knows this better than anyone else, as he challenged Undertaker at WrestleMania on three occasions. Ten years after their first ‘Mania encounter in 2001, the two legends went to war in a No Holds Barred Match.
Triple H did everything he could to take down The Deadman, especially after he’d ended Shawn Michaels’ career one year earlier. The Game was more aggressive than usual in this matchup, taking The Undertaker to his limit. In fact, The Phenom had to be carried back to the dressing room after the match. Even then, Undertaker still found a way to win as he forced Triple H to tap out to his submission move, Hell’s Gate.
13 Triple H Vs. Chris Jericho – Last Man Standing Match (Fully Loaded 2000)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 8.75/10
| Storytelling | 2/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.25/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.25/2.5 |
- Dave Meltzer’s Rating: 4.5 Stars
- Cagematch.net Rating: 8.63
Triple H had a great 2000, wrestling amazing matches during that year against several different opponents. After a spectacular feud with The Rock, Hunter had a brief rivalry with Chris Jericho which culminated with a Last Man Standing Match at Fully Loaded 2000.
Hunter’s wife, Stephanie McMahon Helmsley, played an important role in this feud and match. The two put on a violent back-and-forth contest at the July pay-per-view, with both men coming close to winning several times. In the end, The Game came out on top after delivering a backdrop suplex onto the announce table.
12 Triple H Vs. Ric Flair – Last Man Standing Match (Survivor Series 2005)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.25/10
| Storytelling | 2.25/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.5/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.25/2.5 |
- Dave Meltzer’s Rating: 3.75 Stars
- Cagematch.net Rating: 8.44
For over three years, Ric Flair watched over Triple H’s back during The Game’s long run as World Heavyweight Champion on the Raw brand. In late 2005, Hunter turned on The Nature Boy by brutally attacking him. After unsuccessfully challenging Flair for the Intercontinental Title inside a steel cage at Taboo Tuesday, the two went to war in a Last Man Standing Match at Survivor Series.
It was one of the most violent matches in WWE history, with Hunter doing everything he could to end Flair’s wrestling career. To his credit, Flair put up a fight against the Cerebral Assassin but that wasn’t enough to come out on top. An underrated match that deserves more credit.
11 Triple H Vs. The Rock – WWE Championship (Backlash 2000)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.25/10
| Storytelling | 2.25/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.25/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
As we mentioned in the intro, Triple H was on top of his game (no pun intended) in 2000 and he was WWE’s top heel that year. Meanwhile, The Rock was the top face during Steve Austin’s absence, so a feud between the two megastars over Triple H’s WWE Championship was only natural.
The McMahon Helmsley Faction did everything to prevent Rock from winning, including having Shane McMahon as the special referee. Linda McMahon evened the odds by putting the returning Steve Austin in Rock’s corner. Austin only appeared in the end, destroying the heels and allowing Rock to hit the People’s Elbow to win the title.
10 Triple H Vs. Shawn Michaels Vs. Rob Van Dam Vs. Chris Jericho Vs. Booker T Vs. Kane – Elimination Chamber Match, World Heavyweight Championship (Survivor Series 2002)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.5/10
| Storytelling | 2.5/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.25/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
After a failed babyface run in early 2002, Triple H brutalized his former friend Shawn Michaels and turned heel. A surprising loss to the returning HBK at SummerSlam couldn’t stop The Game’s momentum, who ran roughshod over the Raw roster as the first World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history.
Michaels returned just in time to compete in the inaugural Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series – a concept that had been introduced by RAW GM Eric Bischoff. Unsurprisingly, this awesome match came down to Triple H and Michaels, with the latter superkicking The Game to capture his last singles title.
9 Triple H Vs. Daniel Bryan (WrestleMania 30)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.5/10
| Storytelling | 2.25/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.5/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
Triple H stopped wrestling full-time in early 2010, becoming an official authority figure on WWE TV the following year and forming The Authority as a heel in 2013. The group’s biggest foe was, by far, Daniel Bryan, whom The Authority didn’t want as WWE Champion. Bryan clashed with Triple H himself at WrestleMania 30, with the winner moving on to the WWE Title match in the main event.
They had a spectacular match that is widely regarded as one of the best WrestleMania openers in history. Bryan and Hunter went back-and-forth, trading breathtaking nearfalls and impressive sequences. Bryan put Triple H away with his Running Knee finisher, and closed the show holding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
8 Triple H Vs. Batista – Hell In A Cell Match, World Heavyweight Championship (Vengeance 2005)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.5/10
| Storytelling | 2.5/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.5/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
For over three years, Triple H used Evolution to help him remain champion. Unfortunately for The Game, he ended up protecting and grooming his own successor, as ‘The Animal’ Batista went solo and took the World Heavyweight Championship from his former mentor in the main event of WrestleMania 21.
10 Things You Forgot About The Triple H Vs Batista Rivalry
Batista vs Triple H was one of Monday Night Raw’s headlining rivalries of 2005. Let’s relive what fans forgot about this main event feud!
The feud intensified from there, culminating with a brutal Hell in a Cell Match for Batista’s World Heavyweight Championship at Vengeance. The former partners went to war in a brutal bout, ending with Batista putting The Game away with a Batista Bomb for the third consecutive pay-per-view.
7 Triple H Vs. Cactus Jack – Title Vs. Career Hell In A Cell Match, WWE Championship (No Way Out 2000)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.5/10
| Storytelling | 2.5/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.25/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
Years before Triple H helped establish Batista as a main eventer, it was Mick Foley who played a huge part in elevating Hunter to the main event scene. Their longer feud happened in 1997, during which they had a series of matches, but their best work came in early 2000 over the WWE Championship.
While Hunter won two world titles in the second half of 1999, something was still missing to establish him as a de facto main eventer in the eyes of the fans. Enter Mick Foley. They had two of the best WWE Title matches of the decade in early 2000. The second one, at No Way Out, saw Triple H beat Cactus Jack in a hard-hitting title vs. career Hell in a Cell Match.
6 Triple Threat World Heavyweight Championship Match (WrestleMania 20)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.5/10
| Storytelling | 2.25/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.5/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.25/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
- Dave Meltzer’s Rating: 4.75 Stars
- Cagematch.net Rating: 9.54
The Game and Shawn Michaels had a great feud during the early years of the Ruthless Aggression Era. Their feud was far from over after a draw in a Last Man Standing Match at the Royal Rumble. However, Chris Benoit won the Royal Rumble Match and jumped to Raw to challenge Hunter for the World Title.
But Michaels didn’t let it fly, adding himself to the main event of WrestleMania by superkicking Benoit and signing the contract. The three men put on a terrific match at ‘Mania inside Madison Square Garden, which ended with Benoit winning the World Heavyweight Championship by forcing The Game to give up to the Crippler Crossface.
5 Triple H Vs. The Rock – Iron Man Match, WWE Championship (Judgment Day 2000)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.5/10
| Storytelling | 2.25/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.5/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.25/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
As noted earlier, Triple H had a great feud with The Rock after retiring Mick Foley, with the two trading wins at WrestleMania and Backlash. Rocky finally won the title at Backlash, but the two would meet in a rematch at Judgment Day. Much like at Backlash, it wasn’t just any match – it was a 60-minute Iron Man Match, with Shawn Michaels as the special referee.
While they’d had awesome matches in the past, fans wondered if Rock and Hunter could go for an hour. Long story short: yes, they could. They had one of the best Iron Man Matches of all time. Ultimately, The Game reclaimed the gold after The Undertaker made his iconic return (debuting as The American Badass) and attacked all the heels, including Triple H, causing a last-second decision in Hunter’s favor.
4 Triple H Vs. Shawn Michaels – Unsactioned Street Fight (SummerSlam 2002)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.75/10
| Storytelling | 2.5/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.5/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
In 1998, a serious back injury forced the great Shawn Michaels to end his career early. Fortunately, The Heartbreak Kid was allowed to come back, making his return to WWE four years later. However, HBK was brutally assaulted by his former D-Generation X partner, Triple H, setting up an unsactioned street fight at SummerSlam.
SummerSlam 2002 is widely seen as one of the best pay-per-views in WWE history, with an elite roster featuring amazing matches.
The storyline heading up to their encounter was awesome, but few people believed Shawn Michaels could deliver an iconic performance after so many years. After stealing the show and having one of the best matches in SummerSlam history, Michaels picked up the surprising win, but Triple H got the last laugh by smashing Micheals’ crippled back with his trusty sledgehammer.
3 Triple H Vs. Cactus Jack – Street Fight, WWE Championship (Royal Rumble 2000)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.75/10
| Storytelling | 2.5/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.5/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
As good and memorable as the career-threatening Hell in a Cell Match from No Way Out 2000 was, the Street Fight from Royal Rumble 2000 was the match that really put Triple H on the map. The Game found out the hard way what it was like to compete in a brutal match with Cactus Jack, but he somehow managed to come out on top.
He beat Mick Foley at his own game in Madison Square Garden, surviving everything from garbage cans, to chairs, to barbed wire boards and more. Eventually, Hunter found a way to hit the Pedigree, but Jack still kicked out. Triple H knew he had to take it one step further to put this crazy man away, so he followed it up with a second Pedigree… onto thumbtacks.
It was brutal, but in a weird wrestling way it was perfect, because it was exactly what Triple H needed to take that next step in his career.
2 Triple H Vs. The Undertaker – Hell In A Cell Match (WrestleMania 28)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 9.75/10
| Storytelling | 2.5/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.25/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.5/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
For four consecutive years at WrestleMania, The Undertaker battled Shawn Michaels twice and Triple H twice at The Grandest Stage Of Them All. It was one of the best long-term stories in WWE history, with HBK even risking his own career for a second chance to end Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak. It all came to an end at WrestleMania 28.
It was a Hell in a Cell Match, and Shawn Michaels was the special guest referee. Even though he was retired, Michaels technically had the power to end the Streak. That resulted in one of the best nearfalls ever, with Michaels superkicking Undertaker right into a Pedigree from Triple H. However, The Deadman won yet again, putting an end to this awesome feud.
1 Triple H Vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin – Three Stages Of Hell Match (No Way Out 2001)
Overall Rating From TheSportster: 10/10
| Storytelling | 2.5/2.5 |
|---|---|
| Technical Ability | 2.5/2.5 |
| Character Work/Psychology | 2.5/2.5 |
| Crowd Reaction | 2.5/2.5 |
As we all know, the ‘who ran over Austin?’ program turned out to be very confusing. However, it did at least give us one of the best wrestling matches of all time – and Triple H’s very best match of his career – in an intense Three Stages of Hell Match at No Way Out 2001. The first fall was a normal singles match, won by Austin. Triple H retaliated by winning the second fall inside a steel cage, leading to the final fall – a Street Fight.
That’s where the match picked up, with every single fan on their feet. Their finishers weren’t enough to get the job done, until it came time for the brilliant finish. Triple H and Austin simultaneously hit each other with a sledgehammer and chair, respectively, knocking each other. Luckily for The Game, he just so happened to land on top of Austin, picking up the pinfall victory.
