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Paul Michael Levesque[1] (born July 27, 1969)[4] is an American professional wrestler, wrestling executive, and actor better known by his ring name Triple H (an abbreviation of the ring name Hunter Hearst Helmsley). Levesque currently works in the front office of WWE as the Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, and appears as Triple H on television as the Chief Operating Officer and part-time wrestler.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 early 1995 to late 1997.[5] 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.[2] 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,[2] and reformed DX with Shawn Michaels in 2006 and 2009.[6] He is heavily involved in the writing process of WWE programming, and holds complete creative control over his television character's storylines, win/loss record, and championship reigns.[7]Overall, Levesque has won 23 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] He was the first World Heavyweight Champion. In addition, Helmsley won the 1997 King of the Ring, the 2002 Royal Rumble, and was the second Grand Slam Championship winner. Outside of wrestling, Helmsley has made numerous guest appearances in film and on television. Record breaking WWE Champion (2007–2009)Triple H made his return at SummerSlam, where he defeated King Booker.[75] Two months later at No Mercy, Triple H was originally scheduled to face Umaga in a singles match. However, at the start of the night Triple H decided to challenge newly named WWE Champion Randy Orton, reigniting his rivalry with Orton that had been interrupted following his injury. Triple H won the match, winning his eleventh world championship and sixth WWE Championship,[76] and then defended his title against Umaga in his regularly scheduled match after Mr. McMahon declared the match to be for the WWE title.[77] After that McMahon gave Orton a rematch against Triple H in a Last Man Standing match in the main event, and Triple H lost after failing to beat the ten count when Orton hit his RKO onto the announcer's table.[77] Triple H's title reign at No Mercy is the fifth shortest reign in WWE history, only lasting through the duration of the event.[77] After winning the Raw Elimination Chamber at No Way Out, Triple H gained a WWE Championship match, by outlasting five other men, last eliminating Jeff Hardy after a Pedigree on a steel chair.[78] However, at WrestleMania XXIV, Randy Orton retained after punting Triple H and pinning John Cena following Triple H's Pedigree on Cena.[79] A month later, at Backlash, Triple H won the title in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match against Orton, Cena, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield, tying the record for most WWE Championship reigns with The Rock.[80] Triple H then retained the title against Orton at Judgment Day in a Steel Cage match and again at One Night Stand in a Last Man Standing match.[81][82] Orton suffered a legitimate collarbone injury during the match, thus ending the feud prematurely.