Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, has formally announced his retirement from in-ring competition. The official WWE Twitter confirmed the news after his conversation on ESPN’s First Take.
Triple H is still the Executive Vice President of WWE and this gives him the time to focus on the behind-the-scenes operations of the company. He attributed his retirement to heart issues, especially a recent scare that put him in the hospital. In the interview he had this to say:
I had viral pneumonia. My lungs were inflamed, and as the next couple of days went on and I got home, it got increasingly worse. My wife [WWE executive Stephanie McMahon] saw some blood and stuff that I was coughing up, and I went and got checked, and it was coming from the viral pneumonia, but I had fluid in my lungs. I had some fluid around my heart so they followed up on it and did an EKG and Echo and everything.
Basically, the way your heart pumps out 55-60 percent of your ejection fraction is a good number. I was at 30 percent. I got a quick text message saying don’t take time, pack a bag real quick and head to the emergency room and I’ll fill you in on the way. So, by the time I got to the emergency room, my ejection fraction had gone down to 22 percent, which, ya know, I was in heart failure.
What Was Triple H’s Last Match?
Surprisingly, his last match was not televised or at an event like Wrestlemania. It was at a house show in Japan where he teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura against Robert Roode and Samoa Joe. His last televised match was against Batista at Wrestlemania. In that match he defeated Batista, retiring him.
It’s a sad thing to see one of the longest-tenured and best performers in WWE’s history have to retire due to health issues. However, the silver lining means that Triple H can focus on making the product of WWE/NXT the best it can be.
What do you think of Triple H having to retire? What are some of his best matches?
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