WWE legend Triple H announces in-ring retirement following heart scare
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
WWE legend Triple H, aka Paul Levesque, says he’ll never wrestle again after suffering a heart scare that nearly took his life, announcing his retirement on Friday.
Speaking with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s "First Take," the 14-time WWE World Champ detailed the scary cardiac event he suffered in December, which began with viral pneumonia and inflamed lungs.
Things then got increasingly worse, and when his wife, Stephanie McMahon, noticed the wrestler coughing blood, he promptly visited a doctor to identify the problem.
Once there, Levesque learned he had fluid in his lungs and around his heart; as he explained Friday, he was at a roughly 30 percent ejection fraction (when the normal rate is 60 or 65). The WWE star was then told to get to an emergency room ASAP and that's where he learned the rate was dropping at an alarming rate.
"I was nosediving and sort of at the one-yard line of where you don’t want to be for your family and your future," he said in a serious tone. "There’s moments in there where, when they’re putting you out for stuff, you think … is this it? Do you wake up from this? That’s tough to swallow."
Only a small portion of the interview was shown on First Take this morning — the rest will stream later today — but the clip concluded with Triple H being asked about the future of his in-ring career.
Without hesitation, Triple H said it’s over.
"I will never wrestle again," he answered, before admitting that he now has a defibrillator in his chest and doesn’t want to go out on live TV.
The 52-year-old wrestling legend has been a mainstay in WWE since signing with the company in the mid-90s. He’s been part of D-Generation X, Evolution, The Authority and has been involved in countless memorable moments over the years.
He was also pivotal in launching the original NXT brand and was responsible for bringing talent into the company such as Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Finn Balor and more.
Triple H’s return from injury in 2002 inside of Madison Square Garden to this day will go down as one of the biggest pops in WWE history.
Levesque is additionally WWE’s Executive Vice President of Global Talent and Strategy, but it was not said if he’d eventually return to that role.
We here at FOX Sports send our best to "The Game."
Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.
