5 current AEW stars who are close friends with WWE's Triple H
WWE's Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, better known by his ring name Triple H, is an industry veteran who has been a part of some of the most memorable matches and storylines in the company's history.
Some of the feuds from yesteryear even featured certain current AEW stars. Former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley left WWE in 2019, and has since went on to become one of the faces of the Stamford-based company's rival promotion. Despite this, The Game has been respectful of Moxley and extended support when the latter got injured in 2019, as revealed by Jon's wife Rene Paquette.
Read on as we take a look at five wrestlers with whom Triple H has had a close friendship despite being signed to WWE's rival promotion, Tony Khan's AEW.
#5. Jon Moxley and Triple H briefly entered a WWE program on television in 2016
Triple H returned at the 2016 Royal Rumble after being taken out the previous month by the Big Dog, Roman Reigns. While most expected The Game to have a showdown with WWE's poster boy of today, the company swerved by having Triple H eliminate Reigns second from last, paving the way for a clash against Moxley, then Dean Ambrose.
The two later met at WWE Roadblock in a WWE Championship match that Triple H won. In 2019, Rene Paquette revealed what the Chief Content Officer told her about her husband Jon Moxley:
“Even when Jon left, there was times that Hunter [Triple H] pulled me aside because Jon was injured when he came back from New Japan. Hunter kept checking in to make sure that Jon was okay. If he needed anything, they [WWE] would have been able to help him in any kind of capacity."
Moxley himself has mentioned that The King of Kings is a better choice than former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to run things in the Stamford-based promotion.
#4. Matt Hardy is all praise for the Chief Content Officer of WWE
In WWE, The Hardys made a name for themselves with their daredevilry and highly entertaining shenanigans as part of the tag team division. They won world championships and even feuded with one another.
Matt Hardy didn't reach the heights that his brother did in singles competition, albeit briefly, in the Stamford-based company. However, the former RAW Tag Team Champion is definitely content with what he was able to accomplish. Speaking to GiveMeSport he described how much of a role The Game played in their comeback at WrestleMania 33 in 2017.
"I pretty much dealt one-on-one with Triple H the whole while dealing with the process of coming back to the company. And I can't say enough good things about Triple H and how amazing he was to work with then and how he great has been since then. Being there, just working with him back and forth, he's been an amazing advocate for me. If there is something I need, some help or I need to make a tweak in something, he's been there. Just so successful and so great on so many levels - I can't say enough good things about Triple H and his help since we've returned."
On an episode of Chris Jericho's Talk is Jericho podcast, Matt Hardy spoke of The Cerebral Assassin's vision and how he would have succeeded better in WWE during his final stint in the late 2010s.
"I feel like if Triple H would have been the guy who was solely in power, I probably would have had a much better opportunity at getting to do what I wanted creatively, but it is what it is," he said.
Talking about the Game taking over in July 2022 to Fightful, Matt Hardy said:
“This deal with Triple H taking over WWE is a game-changer. I mean, on top of that, it also opens up the door for so many people to go back. "There are so many more people that have a better relationship with Triple H than Vince. Triple H, I have already spoken to people that are there, Triple H has already been so much more accessible from the people I've talked to there with the current experience. So it's great."
Matt Hardy briefly and sporadically, got involved in matches featuring Triple H during his early stint with WWE. This included a traditional Survivor Series tag team match in 2006, where D-Generation X, The Hardy Boys and CM Punk took on rival team Rated-RKO, John Morrison (then Johnny Nitro), Gregory Helms and Mike Knox.
They also met in a triple threat match in 2008, when Chris Jericho, Triple H and Matt Hardy were the World Heavyweight, WWE and ECW Champion respectively.
#3. Malakai Black could be a WWE mainstay if he's looking to return
Former WWE NXT Champion Malakai Black was seen as a top star by Triple H during his time in the company. His move to the main roster didn't go as planned, and he was released abruptly in 2021.
During his stint with the company, he managed to score a win over AJ Styles at Elimination Chamber 2020, and a subsequent WrestleMania win over Bobby Lashley.
Black, however, never reached the level at which The Game saw him. His wife, WWE Superstar Zelina Vega, spoke about both of their relationships with the Chief Content Officer and Stephanie McMahon.
“I remember when I first told Hunter, he was like, 'Wait, you guys are together?' I was like, 'Yeah, we're getting married.' He was like, 'Wait? So you and Andrade...' He was so confused. I was like, 'No, that's just the storyline.' He said, 'Well, you fooled me. My babies are getting married; this is so cool.' He was so happy and so supportive.”
Malakai Black as of December 2022 is still signed with AEW. It was reported that he requested his release in September, but Black himself debunked the rumors in his Instagram live stream.
#2. The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla once headlined WrestleMania with the 14-time World Champion
Chris Jericho and Triple H feuded in the early 2000s and were bitter enemies on-screen. Among their great battles included a Last Man Standing match at Fully Loaded 2000, and a Hell in a Cell match at Judgment Day 2002.
They even closed WrestleMania X8. However, their match was underwhelming as the crowd was exhausted and awe-struck by The Rock and Hulk Hogan's first-time-ever bout earlier in the night.
In an interview last year, Chris Jericho talked about his relationship with the WWE Chief Content Officer.
“I think there were guys, in the past, that I had issues with. I mean Triple H is one of them. He’ll tell you the same. In the early 2000s, we didn’t have much [likeness] for each other, but we always had great matches, and I think that’s one of the reasons why."
The first-ever AEW World Champion further spoke about how much they've evolved over the years and remained friends.
“We just had this professional rivalry, maybe a bit of a personal dislike [for each other]. But fast forward five, six, seven years, you get to be older and wiser and think back. Why did we have so many problems? Why did we hate each other? Why didn’t we like each other? And now we’re friends.”
Chris Jericho and Triple H are two of the most recognizable and loved wrestlers owing to their distinctive character work on-screen and their hellacious battles inside the squared circle.
Happy 25th Anniversary to @TripleH! https://t.co/ntEZN118b5
Two of the industry veterans who more or less burst into the scene around the same time, Jericho and H are still friends behind-the-scenes despite being on rival promotions.
Honorable Mention: AEW's Daddy Ass, WWE's Billy Gunn of D-Generation X
Billy Gunn and Triple H are probably not as close as they once were. The former D-Generation X member received an opportunity in WWE due to his connection with Triple H. Despite Gunn burying him in past shoot interviews, Triple H gave him another chance.
Gunn became one of the top coaches at the Performance Center teaching the new prospects and signings. Baron Corbin and Tyler Breeze have referenced Gunn playing a huge role in their development.
However, he was relieved of his duties when Daddy Ass was found using performance-enhancing drugs for his side gig as a powerlifting competitor. WWE drug tests the coaches just like their wrestlers and what Gunn did was against what the company wants their talents to do.
#1. The former leader of Yes Movement has Triple H to thank for his superstardom
Bryan Danielson rose to superstardom in 2014 when he organically found himself to be the center of The Authority storyline alongside Triple H.
The "B+ Player" subplot was one of the main aspects of the success of the story, and The Game was the perfect foil for Bryan. Originally booked to face CM Punk at the Show of Shows but called off due to Punk's abscond in early 2014, Bryan benefitted from it and headlined WrestleMania 30 pulling double duty.
Among the two matches he fought, his singles bout with The Game remains a classic, possibly one of the greatest openers in the show's history.
In 2015, Bryan was forced into retirement succumbing to injuries. But that was not the end for the former American Dragon. He got cleared to compete in-ring and returned in 2018 at WrestleMania 34, tagging alongside Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
"There's a certain point in time when Daniel is not still cleared by us, but he's gotten clearance from his team and his people and all his things, and I'm sure he was already training and doing things. Maybe not taking bumps, but training and doing the things he wanted to do to get himself back in shape just in case this did happen. So while we were making him go to additional doctors ... and running more tests and doing all these things to ensure that everything was all right, he was preparing."
The Game further went on to talk about how much he admired Bryan's work ethic and prepping prior to returning to the ring. He even reflected on his WrestleMania XXX clash with the leader of the Yes Movement.
"I put so much more pressure on myself to [lose] to somebody than I ever did to win a title because ... I just want it to be [such a big moment] for this guy."
Bryan and Triple H got involved in a heated feud that started in 2013 when The Game hit the pedigree on his adversary soon after he won the WWE Championship from John Cena. This allowed Randy Orton to cash-in his MITB contract, and the rest was history.
"Watching that story evolve over that long period of time -- from a behind-the-scenes standpoint -- being behind it with him and being like, 'Man, I know this is not the plan right this moment, but this is where we need to go.. Just seeing that feeling and getting to that moment, having that match with him and having that moment, and knowing what's coming later and being out there in that moment for him ... when you have the circumstances that all work out to make this fairy-tale moment -- it's just awesome."
Bryan was last seen in WWE losing a major world championship match to Roman Reigns, after which he left the company based on prior stipulations of the match. WWE used this story to write him off of television. Bryan joined AEW later that year.
Where would you rank "The Miracle on Bourbon Street" in 2014 among WWE's greatest moments? Let us know in the comments section below.