10 Wrestlers Who Had Heat With Triple H

Fans today might celebrate Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque as the kindly “Papa H” who made WWE good again as its chief creative force. For a long while, however, Hunter Hearst Helmsley’s reputation within the industry was that of a man whose skill inside the squared circle was mirrored by his expert politicking behind the curtain.

As a highly-paid and heavily pushed multi-time world champion who literally married the boss’s daughter, it’s no surprise that the list of people who had a bone to pick with The Cerebral Assassin is as long as Pinocchio’s nose.

These are 10 Wrestlers who had HEAT with Triple H.

10. Rob Van Dam

The Whole F’N Show caught on like a house on fire when he first showed up in WWE during the Invasion storyline, quickly becoming one of the most popular babyfaces in the company, which resulted in major matches and storylines with stars like Steve Austin, The Rock and The Undertaker.

When Triple H returned from his torn quad injury several months after the former ECW star’s emergence, RVD noticeably slipped down the pecking order.

According to reports at the time, The Game may have been responsible for Van Dam continually hitting his head off the glass ceiling. Rob himself certainly thought that to be the case, leading to a tense working situation while the two were stationed on Raw.

From RVD’s point of view, Hunter held him back from reaching his full potential at a time when he was extremely over with WWE fans.

From Triple H’s viewpoint, Van Dam didn’t put the extra work in required of a tippity-top guy and was reckless in the ring – something he discovered firsthand when RVD accidentally crushed his larynx with a Five-Star Frog Splash gone awry in the first-ever Elimination Chamber.

The heat has dissipated over time, although Van Dam did note in a 2024 interview that he still isn’t sure what Triple H thinks of him, noting it may prevent him from making an in-ring return to the company.

9. Edge

Similarly to RVD, Edge was another hot young up-and-comer that potentially threatened Triple H’s headline position during the so-called Ruthless Aggression era.

The Rated-R Superstar had finally established himself as a main-eventer thanks to his controversial character, partnership with Lita and feuds with the likes of John Cena and Mick Foley.

Funnily enough, it was reported that The Cerebral Assassin actually suggested that Edge be fired because of the adulterous affair – which is pretty rich considering how his own relationship with Stephanie McMahon started.

There were intermittent reports that Triple H would talk Edge’s credentials down in creative meetings, but Vince was a fan and so the push persisted, even if the Canadian did feel the need to flee to SmackDown to ensure that his upward trajectory would continue unimpeded.

Triple H continued to take shots at The Ultimate Opportunist even after he had retired, referring to him, Van Dam and Chris Jericho as good, popular wrestlers who were never ‘the guy’ during The Authority’s feud with Daniel Bryan.

Edge responded by questioning how many people ever were ‘the guy’ outside of Sammartino, Hogan, Austin, Rock and Cena, while openly wondering why Triple H would feel threatened by guys with long hair who were ‘better looking’ and ‘more athletic’ than himself.

8. Scott Steiner

A little over 18 months after the death of WCW, Scott Steiner showed up in WWE ready for the main event run of his life.

When he did, WWE asked the Genetic Freak to take a steroid test – something he agreed to do, if WWE would pick him and Triple H up in a limo so they could take the test together.

Clearly, Steiner was already a little weary of The Game and, well, his opinion of him certainly didn’t get any higher when the two worked a programme over Triple H’s World Heavyweight Title.

The Big Bad Booty Daddy accused Hunter of sabotaging him by purposefully dogging it in their match at the 2003 Royal Rumble. Now, it should be noted that Steiner was knackered and had drop foot syndrome at the time, while the champ was hampered by a muscle tear.

Regardless, Steiner would speak ill of Triple H – and Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair and anyone else close to Paul Levesque – for years, before finally letting the resentment go and accepting a WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2022.

7. The New Age Outlaws

Triple H really started coming into his own when he got the opportunity to lead a new version of D-Generation X following the first retirement of Shawn Michaels’ career in 1998.

But Helmsley always wanted to be a singles star in his own right and saw the popular faction as a means to elevate himself up the card. It worked like a treat, but his decision to leave DX behind rubbed Billy Gunn and Road Dogg – who felt there was a lot more life left in the group – the wrong way.

During an RF Video shoot interview recorded in 2005, the Outlaws both blamed their former stablemate for their WWE releases and expressed regret in not punching Triple H in his face while they had the chance to.

They also continually shot on him on TNA television and at one point the heat was apparently so intense that The King of Kings genuinely believed the tag team may show up to a WWE live event and attempt to beat him up for real, which convinced him to recruit Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch as backup.

Everyone made friends again in the end and Brian James is one of the key figures behind the scenes with Paul Levesque in WWE.

6. CM Punk

Even before CM Punk had made his proper main roster debut, there were reports that Triple H had buried The Straight-Edge Superstar’s performance during a dark match, setting the tone for a tetchy relationship.

The two men didn’t really interact with each other much until they began a feud following the Summer of Punk in 2011. Their promos together cut close to the bone, with Punk referencing Triple H’s past of allegedly holding other wrestlers back, while Hunter made fun of his physique. Triple H won the big blowoff match, of course, which can’t have made Punk too happy.

Indeed, Punk famously walked out of the company before their next scheduled meeting, telling The Game on his way out that he didn’t ‘need’ to work with him at WrestleMania 30, but that it was Triple H who actually ‘needed’ to work with him.

The heat apparently extended to William Regal, with Punk refusing to shake his hand while the two were in AEW together because, in Punk’s opinion, Regal was a ‘stooge’ for his pal.

Of course, the Second-City Saint is now back in WWE and works closely with Triple H, the two men having patched things up prior to Punk’s unlikely return.

5. Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho had one of the most iconic WWE debuts of all time, but it didn’t take long for reality to sink in after his verbal showdown with The Rock.

In his second week on the job, he legitimately irked The Undertaker during their promo segment and things just snowballed from there.

Coming over from WCW during the Monday Night Wars, Y2J didn’t have too many allies in the WWE locker room, but plenty of sharks looking for any reason to throw him under the bus.

According to Jericho, Triple H was one of those sharks. The two men simply didn’t get along, with things not getting any better when Jericho was tasked with working a programme with The Game’s then-girlfriend Chyna.

Despite their differences, the two had tremendous chemistry as in-ring opponents and were able to do great business together.

Years later, Hunter would chalk their rivalry up to tribalism. Jericho, meanwhile, has always given the devil his due as far as his work is concerned and the two have long since buried the hatchet.

4. Bret Hart

When it comes to beefers in the pro wrestling business, The Hitman might just be the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

If Bret decides he has a grudge with someone, you can bet he’s going to hold onto it and not be shy when it comes to discussing it publicly. The likes of Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Bill Goldberg and others have been on the receiving end of Hart’s scathing criticism in the past and so it’s no wonder that a man who has history with them all has also been bodied by the Excellence of Execution.

Bret got a bad taste for Hunter after witnessing the way in which the DX lads treated The Rock when he first came into the company and that distaste only got worse when Hart found out that the Montreal Screwjob was actually an idea thought up by Triple H.

The two-time WWE Hall of Famer has also continually talked down Helmsley’s in-ring abilities, calling them mediocre, and even grading his WrestleMania Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker a 4-out-of-10.

3. Goldberg

While Bret Hart has made no secret of his disdain for Goldberg’s recklessness, Triple H apparently questioned Da Man’s durability around the time of The Hitman’s career-ending injury.

Not long after that fateful match at Starrcade 1999, Goldberg injured himself in a stunt gone wrong when he attempted to smash a limousine window with his arm. According to Goldberg, word got back to him via mutual friends that The Cerebral Assassin was accusing him of faking the injury so that he wouldn’t be around as WCW’s rapid demise continued.

When Goldberg found himself at the same press event as Triple H months later, he paid The Game a visit and angrily hurled obscenities towards him in a rather lamentable incident.

Hunter poured fuel on the fire when he then dressed down a rookie on the first season of Tough Enough for picking Goldberg as his favourite wrestler.

The former WCW World Heavyweight Champion admitted to wanting to ‘rip his face off’ and later suggested Triple H may have made his first WWE stay more difficult than it needed to be.

As tends to be the case, the heat cooled down once Levesque became full-time office.

2. The Ultimate Warrior

When the Ultimate Warrior was brought back to WWE for the third and final time, a star-on-the-rise by the name of Hunter Hearst Helmsley was chosen as the man to sacrifice for Jim Hellwig’s big return.

Warrior (who got a huge reaction) proceeded to squash Hunter in 100 seconds at WrestleMania 12. Not only was it a completely one-sided destruction job, Warrior even no-sold The Pedigree.

According to those in the know, Triple H was actually chosen for the spot because higher-ups believed he could carry Warrior to something halfway decent, but Warrior changed the script on the day of the show.

Triple H would subsequently bury Warrior in interviews, branding him an unprofessional egomaniac who ruined the experience of his first WrestleMania.

Not one to back down, Warrior responded to these assertions and claimed that Triple H tried to get his own way via backstage agent Gerald Brisco and called him a puny bastard who should have addressed their issues man to man.

Somewhat ironically, Triple H was the main driving force in getting Warrior and Vince McMahon to mend fences in 2014 so that the former WWE Champion could be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

1. The Rock

Back during the Attitude Era, the WWE locker room was a much different beast.

While everyone, in some ways, wanted to help everyone else, there was also a competitiveness, particularly amongst those gunning for the top spots.

The Rock and Triple H went from promising mid-carders to legit main eventers at about the same time, leading to some friction when the two feuded over the WWE Title in 2000.

According to various people, Hunter (as well as Shawn Michaels) had tried to knock The Brahma Bull down a peg or two during his first couple of years in the company, with some claiming that The Cerebral Assassin was jealous of The Rock’s meteoric rise.

The two nonetheless had a great on-screen rivalry, something Bruce Prichard attributes to the genuine animosity between the pair of them.

The feud really helped make both guys and, over time, tensions thawed and they ended up becoming friends.