Triple H retirement: WWE legend walks away from wrestling in stunning announcement

In an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Triple H announced his retirement from in-ring competition.

Triple H, former multi-time world champion and WWE executive vice president, announced his retirement from in-ring competition during an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on Friday morning.

This was Triple H’s first public update since he had suffered a cardiac event last September. Triple H revealed that he was dealing with viral pneumonia, which led to him being in heart failure. He then fully detailed his scary situation.

Triple H retirement: WWE icon walks away

"“From the viral pneumonia, I had fluid in my lungs, fluid around my heart,” said Triple H, h/t Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert and The EP. They followed up on it, did an EKG. Basically, the way your heart pumps out, it’s 55 to 65 percent of your injection fracture is a good number. I was at 30 (percent). I had a quick text message saying, ‘don’t take time, pack a bag, we’ll head to the emergency room. I’ll fill you in on the way.’By the time I got to the emergency room, my ejection fracture had gone down to 22 (percent). I was in heart failure. Bad. By the next morning, as they figured that out in the evening, the next morning as I was setting in to get an MRI done and about to go in for a heart cap, my ejection fracture was down to 12 (percent). I was nose diving and at the one-yard line of where you don’t want to be. For your family and your future, when they tell you it’s 99%, it gets real. We have three young girls; 15, 13, and 11 (years old). Suddenly, I come home and I’m a little bit sick, and their dad, who is strong, always, suddenly is in the hospital. I don’t know if they understood the consequences of it, but there are moments in there when they are putting you out for stuff and you think, ‘is this it? Do you wake up again?’ That’s tough to swallow. It makes you think differently about life. It doesn’t make you any less driven with the things you do, but it certainly makes you appreciate the things you have; your friends and your family.”"

Triple H revealed later on in the clip that he has a defibrillator in his chest. That was when he announced that he will never wrestle again.

Back in September, WWE announced that Triple H had underwent a medical procedure stemming from a genetic heart issue. As a result, he stepped away from his role of running the company’s NXT brand. His friend, Shawn Michaels, took over those responsibilities.

Triple H will go down as one of the more accomplished in-ring performers in professional wrestling history. He is a 14-time world champion, five-time Intercontinental champion, two-time European champion, two-time World Tag Team champion and one-time Unified WWE Tag Team champion. Triple H also main-evented WrestleMania seven times.

His last televised match took place on June 7, 2019 at WWE Super ShowDown, where he wrestled Randy Orton in a losing effort. Triple H’s last official match was in a live-event tag team match with Shinsuke Nakamura on June 29, 2019, where they defeated Robert Roode and Samoa Joe in Tokyo, Japan.

You can watch Triple H’s full interview with Smith on “Stephen A’s World” at this link.

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