It’s officially “Game Over” with Triple H announcing his retirement from in-ring competition following his cardiac event last year.
Triple H has had one of the greatest runs of any WWE star to walk in the squared circle.
This includes a litany of memorable WrestleMania matches. Whether it be for championship gold, bitter rivalries or glory, The Game has left his mark on the Show of Shows.
With his in-ring career in the rearview mirror, it seems like the perfect time to look back on the best The King of Kings offered at the Showcase of the Immortals.
Here are the top 10 best Triple H matches at WrestleMania.
10. Triple H vs. Sheamus – WrestleMania 26
Triple H had a run from WrestleMania 18-25 of being featured in strictly championship encounters.
By the time WrestleMania 26 came around, he found himself targeted by a young upstart who had skyrocketed up the card in a year.
Sheamus debuted on Raw in the fall of 2009 and ended the year as WWE Champion. Thanks to The Game, the Celtic Warrior lost his title inside the Elimination Chamber and was looking for revenge.
The two men had a bruising bout where Sheamus dominating for the most part. He used his strength to batter Triple H for the majority of the contest.
The Game was savvy enough to wait for his opening and hit the Pedigree to win in the end. This was a perfectly solid match on a somewhat middle-of-the-road Mania.
9. Triple H vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship – WrestleMania 21
In what may have been the best buildup of any Triple H WrestleMania match, The Game faced his Evolution protege Batista in the main event of Mania 21.
The Animal had risen out of the shadows of Hunter and won the Royal Rumble Match to earn this opportunity.
This was a little slow and plodding at times, but it definitely had intensity and emotion throughout.
Batista used his strength to launch Triple H into the ring post to bloody his former mentor.
As hard as Triple H fought, The Animal just had more in the tank to overcome the more experienced champion.
Batista finally vanquished The Game with the Batista Bomb to claim his first World Heavyweight Championship.
8. Triple H vs. The Undertaker – WrestleMania 17
Triple H and The Undertaker were one of two pairings to face at three different WrestleMania events.
Their first meeting at the Showcase of the Immortals went down at arguably the greatest edition of the show, WrestleMania 17.
This started out physically and only escalated as the match went on.
After the referee was knocked out, this became a wild brawl that went into the crowd and around the Houston Astrodome with Taker delivering a massive chokeslam off a scaffolding at one point.
Despite Triple H using his sledgehammer for a close nearfall, Taker delivered an emphatic Last Ride to finally put The Game away.
7. Triple H vs. Randy Orton vs. John Cena in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship – WrestleMania 24
WrestleMania 24 marked only the second time the WWE Championship was defended in a multi-man match and the first time in a Triple Threat.
Randy Orton was the defending champion against the 2008 Royal Rumble winner John Cena and the winner of the Elimination Chamber, Triple H.
This started as a brawl with all three men going at it. When things settled, the fans saw some signature offense from each competitor.
Orton hit a double rope-hung DDT for the first time here and was able to use his cunningness to get the advantage constantly.
Each challenger had their chances to win with Cena locking on the STFU on Orton and then later Triple H hitting the Pedigree.
However, Orton came in at the right time to deliver his Punt Kick to Triple H and pin Cena to retain the WWE Title. This was a fun three-way that solidified Randy Orton as the top heel at the time.
6. Triple H vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship – WrestleMania 22
WrestleMania 24 wasn’t the first time Triple H and John Cena faced each other with the WWE Championship on the line at the Show of Shows.
At Mania 22 in Chicago, Cena defended the title against The Game in the main event.
This occurred at the height of the fans rejecting Cena and the Chicago crowd was hostile to say the least.
This made Triple H the de-facto babyface and he relished in this role. It created an electric atmosphere that made this headliner truly memorable.
Both The Game and the Doctor of Thuganomics were in top form and had a thrilling main event showdown.
It was also a rare occasion where Triple H truly put over his opponent, tapping out to the STFU for Cena to retain the WWE Title. This bout is one of the more under-appreciated Mania main events.
5. Triple H vs. The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred Match – WrestleMania 27
There goes the Deadman again!
Ten years after their encounter at WrestleMania 17, Triple H returned to WWE on the same night as The Undertaker to have a legendary segment where neither man said a word to set up this Mania showdown.
The two men brought the same brawling element as their previous meeting at the Show of Shows, but shifted the intensity and chaos up to 10.
Triple H delivered a spinebuster into Michael Cole’s Cole Mine setup and Taker took to the air to take out The Game.
Both men brutalized each other for the enjoyment of the Atlanta fans.
The crowd was fully invested in the biggest highlight of this contest when Triple H busted out Taker’s own Tombstone Piledriver to give us one of the best nearfalls in Mania history.
Just when The King of Kings looked to put the Phenom away, Taker caught Triple H with his Hell’s Gate submission to get the win.
Despite walking away with the win, The Undertaker wasn’t able to walk out the match and was instead stretchered out, while Triple H walked out on his own power.
4. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey – WrestleMania 34
Ronda Rousey couldn’t have had a better first professional wrestling match than she did at WrestleMania 34.
The UFC Hall of Famer teamed up with WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle to face Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
The New Orleans crowd was molten hot and fully behind Rousey. Angle took the heat from The Game before a hot tag to Ronda.
The Rowdy One came in and surprised everyone for how natural it came to her. She dominated and tossed around McMahon with ease.
When Triple H entered the ring, Ronda didn’t back down and instead lit The Game up with strikes. She then lifted Hunter on her shoulders in a show of strength.
Rousey then attempted to lock her signature armbar on Triple H, but Stephanie broke it up.
However, it didn’t take long before Ronda locked Stephanie in her armbar to give herself and Angle the win. This was the best mixed tag team bout in Mania history and one of the best debuts in WWE history.
3. Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan – WrestleMania 30
Four years before Mania 34 in New Orleans, Triple H opened the show in the same stadium and faced the hottest babyface in recent history.
At SummerSlam 2013, Triple H screwed Daniel Bryan after his WWE Title win, delivering a Pedigree and allowing Randy Orton to cash in Money In The Bank to win the title immediately after.
This created The Authority of The Game, Stephanie McMahon and Orton with Kane and others joining along the way. The group put obstacle upon obstacle to keep Bryan from the WWE Title.
It took the fans rallying behind the underdog with the Yes Movement to force Triple H to give him a match at WrestleMania 34 for a chance to advance to the main event.
This was probably The Game’s purest wrestling bout at the Show of Shows.
Almost everything in this encounter was masterfully executed. Everything had a purpose and was smartly worked throughout. Even, Stephanie McMahon played her role superbly.
Triple H delivered a Pedigree late in the bout, but Bryan kicked out for a great nearfall.
After a series of counters, Daniel Bryan caught The Game with a running knee to win.
2. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit in a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship – WrestleMania 20
Triple H competed in the first Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 20 against Shawn Michaels and the 2004 Royal Rumble winner Chris Benoit.
The contest started with both Michaels and Benoit taking out their frustrations on The Game.
However, this led to them fighting more with one another in the long run. None of the competitors ever held an upper hand for long with everyone trading offense.
There were several great moments like Benoit locking on the Sharpshooter on Shawn or the former DX members teaming together to deliver a double suplex on Benoit through the commentary table.
This led to HBK and HHH going at it one-on-one before the Canadian Crippler returned to the fold.
Benoit got rid of a bloody Shawn Michaels and eventually locked on the Crippler Crossface on a bloody HHH who tapped out for Benoit’s first World Heavyweight Championship win.
This is not only one of the best WrestleMania main events ever, but also one of the greatest Triple Threat matches of all time.
1. Triple H vs. The Undertaker in the “End Of An Era” Hell In A Cell Match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee – WrestleMania 28
Following The Undertaker being stretchered out the year before, the Deadman looked for revenge against HHH the following year at WrestleMania 28.
In a match billed as “The End Of An Era”, the two legends battled in a Hell In A Cell Match with Shawn Michaels serving the special guest referee.
This had the big fight feel right from the onset.
The Game and The Phenom slugged it out with Taker gaining the upper hand in a reversal of the year before.
Steel steps and steel chairs were used to brutalize one another. Triple H once again used a steel chair and his sledgehammer to batter The Undertaker to the point of forcing HBK to consider stopping the match.
To stop Michaels, Taker put the special ref in the Hell’s Gate submission. He then kicked Hunter low and locks him in the Hell’s Gate as well.
What followed was one of the best nearfalls in wrestling history when Michaels hit Sweet Chin Music on Taker and HHH followed with the Pedigree for two.
HBK’s facial expression afterwards was truly iconic.
The two legends traded their finishers for nearfalls. After battering The Game again with a steel chair, Taker looked to put him away.
A defiant Triple H crotch chops The Deadman before he delivered two more Tombstone Piledrivers to win.
The final image of all three icons exiting the stadium shoulder to shoulder will be remembered for years to come. This is truly one of the greatest WrestleMania classics in the event’s history.
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