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2000-2001
2000-2001
By January 2000, already a three time WWF champion, Triple H had dubbed himself
"The Game", implying that he was at the top of the wrestling world, and was
dubbed "The Cerebral Assassin" by Jim Ross. (He has claimed that "The Game" tag
was initially conceived for Owen Hart.) His feud with Vince McMahon was not
well-received, however, and even outraged fans after McMahon won the title from
Triple H during an episode of SmackDown!. However, the short-lived feud started
the Hunter Hearst Helmsley-Stephanie McMahon storyline that carried the WWF
throughout the next seventeen months, and this period was known as the "McMahon/Helmsley
Era".
Triple H worked a program with Mick Foley in early 2000, which ended in a Hell
in a Cell match at No Way Out 2000 that sent Foley into retirement. By the time
Triple H shockingly pinned The Rock at WrestleMania 2000 (becoming the first
heel to walk out of WrestleMania as champion), he was one of the hottest
characters in the WWF, being able to generate enormous heat for his entrance and
promos alone. He lost the title at Backlash to The Rock, but regained it in an
Iron Man match at Judgment Day only to lose it back to The Rock at King of the
Ring.
A later feud between Triple H and Steve Austin culminated in a Three Stages of
Hell match in which Helmsley defeated Austin. In 2001, Triple H also feuded with
Undertaker, who defeated him at WrestleMania X-Seven. He later teamed with his
former nemesis Austin to form The Two-Man Power Trip, capturing both the WWF Tag
Team Titles and the Intercontinental Championship once again.
The most difficult moment of Triple H's career occurred during the May 21, 2001
broadcast of RAW when he suffered a legitimate and career-threatening injury. In
the night's main event, he and Stone Cold Steve Austin were defending the Tag
Team titles against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. At one point, Jericho had
Austin trapped in his Walls of Jericho submission hold. Triple H ran-in to break
it up, but just as he did, he suffered a tear in his left quadriceps muscle,
causing it to come completely off the bone. Despite his inability to place any
weight on his leg, Triple H was able to complete the match, something that his
fans and fellow wrestlers saw as an admirable display of dedication to the
business. He even allowed Jericho to put him in the Walls of Jericho, a move
that places considerable stress on the quadriceps. The tear required an
operation, which was performed by famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, in
Birmingham. This injury brought an abrupt end to the McMahon/Helmsley Era, as
the rigorous rehabilitation process kept Triple H out of action for over seven
months, completely missing the Invasion storyline of WCW/ECW.
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