14-Time World Champion And WWE Legend Triple H Has Retired From In-Ring Competition

Triple H, real name Paul Levesque, suffered a serious cardiac event that led to him having successful heart surgery in September.

'The Game' has been away from WWE from both an in-ring standpoint and in a backstage facility in recent times.

And today, on ESPN's First Take with Stephen A. Smith, Triple H announced he has had his final match and will not step inside the ropes again for health reasons.

Triple H was coughing up blood after contracting viral pneumonia and a check up uncovered that he had fluid in his lungs and around his heart.

Having had a frighteningly low ejection fracture of 12, he has now been fitted with a defibrillator.

'The King of Kings' won 14 world championships during a glittering career just short of 30 years and will go down as one of the best to ever lace up a pair of boots.

Triple H started his stint in wrestling as 'Terra Ryzing' in IWF, before moving to WCW in 1994 and being known as 'Jean-Paul Lévesque'.

But it was in the WWF, now WWE, where he truly thrived after his 1995 switch and the grappler has gone on to headline seven WrestleMania events and a slew of other pay-per-views.

He has had incredible matches and rivalries with the likes of Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Batista, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar and many more.

In recent years his in-ring appearances have been sporadic due to his position as Executive Vice President and overseeing NXT, the company's developmental system which turned into a phenomenon and a hotbed for talent.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the D-Generation X faction in 2019. His final match came against Orton, his stablemate in Evolution, in January 2021.