While Triple H is now considered an icon in the world of pro-wrestling, that wasn’t always the case.
In the early days of the WWE, he was called Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and was a Connecticut Aristocrat that looked down upon the fans, and spoke with a posh accent.
This was slightly better than his WCW gimmick, where he played a snooty Frenchman, by the name of Jean-Paul Levesque (which is similar to his real name, Paul Levesque).
However, even before that, The Game was known as a different name.
And it was maybe the worst wrestling name of all time.
Why Was Triple H Called Terra Ryzing?
Triple H was given the name Terra Ryzing by his trainer, Killer Kowalski. He worked for Kowalski’s promotion, the International Wrestling Federation, from 1992 to 1994.
He was first given the name “Terrorising” for his gimmick name, something that the future WWE Champion would argue against. He noted that he only had one name, and all top wrestlers had two names.
In anger, Kowalski simply drew a line in the middle of the name, as it was written on a whiteboard, separating the words “Terror” and “rising”.
With some changes, the name stuck for the next few years. As Terra Ryzing, Triple H won the IWF World Championship, and was signed to WCW under a one-year contract.
He made his debut in WCW on February 1st 1994, under his previously assumed gimmick of Terra Ryzing.
However, for his debut match on WCW Saturday Night against Keith Cole, he was dubbed “Terror Risin'”, which was merely a different spelling to his gimmick name.
By his next appearance, his name was changed back to Terra Ryzing, which he kept until June 1994, when his gimmick was changed once again – to something arguably worse.
Why Did He Stop Being Terra Ryzing?
After a few months wrestling as Terra Ryzing, WCW changed Triple H’s gimmick completely.
Playing on his French heritage, they made him a French aristocrat who looked down upon the American fans in the audience.
Speaking in a faux-French accent (because Levesque could not speak French, being American), this gimmick brought him some success, but he ultimately left WCW within a year of signing with the promotion.
He would go on to sign for the WWF in 1995, and of course went on to huge success. He won multiple WWE Championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame (alongside DX).
Triple H is now the head of creative in the WWE.
