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00:00Welcome to the most spectacular live event in entertainment.
00:07Welcome to WrestleMania.
00:11When it comes to making an entrance,
00:13there's no bigger moment than walking out on stage at WrestleMania.
00:19No one understands the opportunity to connect with the audience better than my
00:24husband, WWE Hall of Famer and Chief Content Officer,
00:28Paul Triple H Levesque.
00:30Hey, Peyton, what's up?
00:35Hey, Stephanie.
00:36I'm glad I caught you.
00:37Listen, I wanted to run something by you.
00:39About the show?
00:40No, more of an idea for WrestleMania.
00:45This is kind of like your Super Bowl, right?
00:47And I know entrances are a huge deal,
00:49so I've been watching some tape of my old entrances.
00:52Check it out.
00:53I just texted it to you.
00:55Number two, Peyton Cameron!
01:00Peyton, I really appreciate your enthusiasm,
01:04but this is you just jogging onto the field.
01:08But there's a lot more to it than that, Stephanie.
01:11It's an intimidating jog onto the field.
01:13Never mind.
01:14Just check out the next one.
01:19Did you catch that?
01:20That little squirt, maybe?
01:21That's attitude.
01:24Honestly, Peyton, I think we've got this.
01:28WWE definitely knows how to do an entrance.
01:31Hey, that's where that company is an entrance!
01:34This is absolutely incredible!
01:39It'd be perfect for seeing it.
01:40You beat it.
01:41Thank you so much, but I've got to run, okay?
01:44No, no. It's a light jog.
01:47Wow.
01:48I'm Stephanie McMahon and I love WWE.
01:57Stephanie McMahon!
02:00I'm on a quest to hear the stories behind the biggest superstars and legends in WWE history.
02:07Here we go.
02:09So come join me on the trip of a lifetime.
02:19Welcome to the most magical live event in entertainment.
02:24WrestleMania, the showcase of the immortals.
02:29It's a spectacle from start to finish.
02:32But the grandeur doesn't just happen in the ring.
02:35There is no one in the WWE that evokes so much emotion as John Cena.
02:45Every great moment starts with an entrance that sets the tone of the entire match.
02:51That first beat of music.
02:58The blast at the pyro.
03:00There's nothing else quite like it.
03:02There have been countless iconic entrances.
03:05And I wanted to hear from the expert himself, Triple H.
03:11Triple H has been a creative trailblazer for more than three decades.
03:16With renowned branding and presentation, he set the bar high for generations to come.
03:22I am the game!
03:24And I am that damn good!
03:27And I've had the privilege of being by his side for some of it.
03:34Thanks very much for doing this today, honey.
03:37You made me.
03:39You didn't have a choice.
03:42Well, everybody knows you as Triple H, the game, the cerebral assassin, the king of kings, the 14-time world champion.
03:49But not everybody knows how you got your start with WWE.
03:56Can you take us through a little bit your first character and what your vision was for the presentation of that character?
04:04It's high time for all these superstars in the World Wrestling Federation to learn a lesson in class.
04:13I ended up being the American Blue Blood, which my original name was supposed to be Reginald DuPont Helmsley.
04:20Reggie?
04:21Yeah.
04:22I did not like the name at all, and so then I worked with them to create a different name, the Triple H, Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
04:29Coming down the aisle from British, Connecticut, weighing 246 pounds, Hunter Hearst Helmsley!
04:38We'd go to TV, and the taping would be like five hours long, and I'd work four times.
04:47All my stuff had to be pristine, right?
04:49So I'd finish my match, I'd go fix my hair perfectly, I'd have to iron my shirt, I'd have to iron my jacket from all the wrinkles of it getting thrown in the back.
04:57I'd throw that on.
04:58You did this yourself?
04:59Yeah, yeah.
05:00I mean, it's very rare that, you know, we didn't.
05:03I don't think I've ever seen you ironed.
05:05Yeah, because I don't like it.
05:06Like, ever.
05:07I don't like it.
05:08They were paying me to do it.
05:09That's why I did it.
05:10Nobody's paying me at the house to iron.
05:11Well.
05:12I don't see you ironing anything.
05:13Well, I used to iron a little tiny bit.
05:14What?
05:15On the road, a little bit.
05:16For you.
05:17Yeah.
05:18Because you told me you couldn't iron.
05:19Whatever.
05:20Anyway, I just liked it because of the three H's, and I thought there's something that you could create a logo out of that, a look.
05:26I don't know, I was always big into that.
05:28Art-wise, I'm fairly creative, can draw and paint a little bit.
05:35Very few people know you went to college for graphic design.
05:38Yes, for like a moment.
05:40I was always fascinated with like, even bands that I like, like Kiss had very particular image and branding and iconography that supported what they were as a brand and it meant something.
05:54So I always felt like branding in these kind of things was very important.
05:58Triple H took his branding to the next level.
06:02And over the course of several years, his character evolved from the aristocratic blue blood to the degenerate badass.
06:10His transformation was cemented in one of the most pivotal moments in his career during a famous interview with Jim Ross.
06:18It makes me sick to think what you did to me, holding me back.
06:23You guys talk about being students of the game.
06:26I am the f***ing game, JR.
06:30With that, the game was born.
06:33And with his new edge and attitude, Triple H ascended main event status to become a legend.
06:40Triple H has won the World Wrestling Federation Championship!
06:46So can you take me through the evolution of the Triple H character in terms of the branding and the image?
06:53Because it's a big, it's a pretty dramatic evolution.
06:56Giant shift, yes.
06:57And why? Why did you change?
07:00Because the business changed.
07:03As the business begins to change, the world changes.
07:06Things need to be less cartoony, 1980s, larger than life.
07:11The world wants more real and more authentic and more serious.
07:16As the Triple H character changed, so too did his entrance.
07:21The character becomes more intense.
07:24You know, the water spit, which became iconic.
07:27I'm standing on the apron facing fans and like, spit water out of like, I'm the champ.
07:32It would get such a reaction when I would do it.
07:35I'm like, all right, I'm keeping that.
07:37So it just started to morph into different things.
07:40Like for example, when I would walk out onto the stage and the light was underneath me,
07:44that was me going back to something that Kowalski had told me very, very early when I was training,
07:50where he was like, always be present in what you're doing and where you are.
07:56That way he's like, your career will go by fast, but you'll always remember things because you'll have taken a moment.
08:02So it morphs over time, right?
08:05The light gets added, the water spit from, I'm now making a presentation out of that.
08:10Hey, I'm going to do that, but I'm going to do it more celebratory.
08:13Hey, can you guys light me from above?
08:15So when I do the water, it'll all glisten in the light and make a bigger, even bigger presentation.
08:20It just morphs along the way.
08:23So how important is music to the presentation of a character?
08:27Very.
08:28Finding the right fit, but also finding something that a talent likes and feels good about,
08:38where they feel empowered by that music.
08:42So it's really important to who and what you are.
08:45It all sort of has to match.
08:47Your look has to match.
08:48The music has to match.
08:49The lighting has to match the video wall presentations, because that's all the brand of who you are.
08:56My music when I was Hunter Hearst Helmsley had to change dramatically for me to then be taken as a different star,
09:03as Triple H and different presentation.
09:06I went to them and I said, like, I want it like Motorhead, like that raw, guttural feel.
09:12So they took like five or six stabs at it.
09:14It just was not, kept coming back.
09:17And I was like, that ain't it.
09:18That isn't it.
09:19That's not it.
09:20I don't like it.
09:21And Kevin Dunn came to me one day at TV and he said, hey, why don't we see if Motorhead can do it?
09:24And I was like, well, because I didn't know that was an option.
09:27So if that's an option, yeah.
09:29They called Motorhead.
09:30Lem said, yeah.
09:31And then he did it in one take, left the studio and they sent it to me.
09:35And I was like, damn, that's cool as .
09:52Triple H had badass new theme music and was the top villain in WWE.
09:57And what better way to celebrate than with a live Motorhead performance at the Show of Shows in 2005.
10:06I was in a pit underneath him.
10:08I was going to come up on a riser in the middle of them playing.
10:11And Lem is not even on stage yet.
10:14And they're counting down like 15 seconds.
10:16And I look at him and he's not even up there.
10:19And now he comes up in like 10 seconds and he's like, who's got my bass?
10:23Where's my bass?
10:25Like, I don't have my bass.
10:26And I'm like, holy this isn't going to work at all.
10:35Like, they're not going to be able to play and I'm going to have to crawl out of this hole or something.
10:39Like, this is like terrible.
10:41And then as they were saying like 2-1, he's like putting his bass on it.
10:45It was crazy.
10:46It was crazy.
10:54Trying to play the game.
10:56The presentation of WrestleMania entrances continued to grow.
11:14Adding to lights and live music were more cinematic level moments.
11:19I was a big believer in the theatrics of what we did.
11:23The first sort of over the top one I did was WrestleMania in Chicago when I wrestled Cena.
11:29And I had the Frazetta painting image in my head of this sort of Conan-y type character sitting on a throne and all that stuff.
11:36So I pitched that.
11:39He calls himself now the King of Kings.
11:44His outfit, if you will, is reminiscent of King Conan.
11:48That's exactly what Triple H looks like right now.
11:53Entrances that people remember is because it made them feel a particular way.
11:58It's all about feel.
11:59It's all about emotion and experience.
12:01It can't be every single person on the show.
12:04It's got to be select.
12:05It's got to be right.
12:06It's got to be big.
12:07It's got to feel epic.
12:08But when you can do that in the overall show feels like a spectacle.
12:13To me, that's WrestleMania.
12:15It's why years later when I would do the gold stuff with the throne, you know, we'll get some extras for the women.
12:23I said, no, no, hold on.
12:24Don't get extras for the women.
12:25And I went and I asked Charlotte, Alexa Bliss, and Sasha Banks.
12:29And they weren't big names.
12:32They weren't big names.
12:33They were in NXT.
12:34And I felt like all three of them were going to be big stars.
12:37And I just thought, what a cool opportunity for them.
12:40And I told it to them right before we walked out on stage.
12:42I was like, guys, because they were nervous.
12:44And I was like, hey, when you get out there, like, take a deep breath and look around you.
12:50Enjoy that moment.
12:52Because the next time you guys are doing this in a stadium, and you will, you'll be about to go out there to feel that grandeur and the spectacle.
13:00And to me, that's what WrestleMania is supposed to be.
13:03It's supposed to be the ultimate spectacle.
13:06Use this as fuel and fire to get to where you want to be.
13:11That's a trip, right?
13:12Yeah.
13:13You guys will all be back.
13:15It's not your first, it's just your first rodeo.
13:17All right?
13:20Just as Paul predicted, each of those three women would get to walk that WrestleMania island.
13:27With Charlotte Flair making WrestleMania history as one of the first women to main event the granddaddy of them all.
13:35This is an incredible moment!
13:39Triple H competed in 24 WrestleManias.
13:43How could he possibly pick a favorite entrance?
13:47How cool was that?
13:49The 14-time world champion knows how to make an entrance.
13:53Do you have a favorite WrestleMania entrance that stands out to you?
14:02Oh, you know, there's a bunch.
14:03Look, you and I, with Rhonda and Kurt, was also one of my favorite ones just because it was, you did it with me and it was cool with the female biker gang.
14:14I remember, not only am I worried about this match, but then I find out I have to learn to drive the trike.
14:21Which we do, right?
14:22You drove it around the parking lot.
14:24Yeah, right.
14:25We'd get it, okay, great, all good.
14:29And then the most pressure was learning how to do the water spit.
14:34We know for a very long time I could never do the water spit.
14:38Oh, Steph's going to do my entrance.
14:40Do I have a water?
14:41Can you grab me water?
14:43You didn't tell me the trick, like if there's a trick, you know?
14:57So that day of WrestleMania when we have all this pressure, for like two hours I'm standing in front of the shower trying to do your water spit.
15:06I don't know if I water spit.
15:08You're about to find out.
15:10You didn't let me in on how to do it until like the very, very end.
15:26I told you how to do it, you just weren't paying attention.
15:29It's not as easy as you think, right?
15:30It's not.
15:31It is not.
15:32The 14 time WWE Champion Triple H flanked by his wife Stephanie McMahon.
15:45This is one of the coolest entrances I have ever seen.
15:52One of the greatest to ever don a pair of boots and one of the most powerful women in the world side by side.
16:05One of my most memorable moments being a part of an entrance was at WrestleMania in Dallas.
16:13This was AT&T Stadium with over 101,000 people.
16:18It was the last time you were main eventing WrestleMania as champion.
16:21Yeah.
16:22But the only way to position you really as a heel was me.
16:28Yeah.
16:29To use the ultimate heel.
16:30Nobody's ever liked me.
16:31You know, I had written the promo and it was all about the sheep that followed me.
16:41I tried to think of like the nastiest things I could say to make them boo you.
16:46You are merely the blind sheep who follow.
16:50You exist to serve us.
16:53We own you!
16:56That would have been one of my favorite entrances with the exception of I couldn't see any of the stuff you were doing.
17:00So I didn't get to watch it until later.
17:03I could hear you, but I couldn't see any of it.
17:05Triple A!
17:13It's one of those ones to me that afterwards I remember coming back and being like, how was that?
17:17Like I couldn't get a feel for it because I was just like, I just walked out, but it was after all the stuff had happened.
17:22Right, right.
17:23You know.
17:24Then the last time we were in Dallas, it was a very different entrance altogether.
17:31For all those headline grabbing moments that Triple H has created on the stage of WrestleMania, I would venture to say that the game feeling those same goosebumps since day one here tonight.
18:00You came out and you left your boots in the middle of the ring.
18:10Can you talk a little bit about that and what it means to leave your boots in the ring?
18:15It means you're done.
18:16I got sick.
18:17And then, you know, I had my heart issue and everything that's been documented with that and, as you know, defibrillator.
18:27So, at that point, it's not...
18:29So, I don't want to just gloss over that either because it's well documented and you did the interview on Stephen A. Smith.
18:37Yeah.
18:38I had a viral pneumonia.
18:39I had fluid in my lungs.
18:40I had some fluid around my heart.
18:42So, they followed up on it, did an EKG and echo and everything.
18:46And basically, the way your heart pumps out, 55 to 60% of your ejection fracture is a good number.
18:57I was at 30.
18:58So, by the time I got to the emergency room, my ejection fracture had gone down to 22, which, you know, I was in heart failure.
19:06Wow.
19:07Bad.
19:08It's not something that you really talk about often, you know, and we nearly lost you.
19:19Yeah.
19:20How do you come back from that?
19:29How do you...
19:30I talk to everybody about obstacles in their lives and things that they had to overcome and there's nothing bigger to overcome than that.
19:40And how did you do it?
19:42Not a lot.
19:44Not a lot.
19:45There's a moment in that where you lose who you are.
19:54Like, just going from being sort of larger than life, you're strong, you're healthy, you know, you run through a wall anytime you want to and all that .
20:02You're all those things.
20:03It's your identity.
20:04And then that sort of goes away.
20:07You're seen as frail.
20:12It just all...
20:15It just all changes.
20:17I remember when they had a conversation with me where they said, you know, we're going to put a defibrillator in and the reasons why.
20:23So that means you would never wrestle again.
20:25Like, you can't.
20:26You have to...
20:27You have to not be due physicality.
20:29And it...
20:30That didn't even phase me.
20:32I was still alive, still at you, still with the kids.
20:35That's...
20:36That's what mattered.
20:38The rest of it was just stuff.
20:40In this really weird, up way, like, my heart issue was a gift.
20:47Made me see things differently.
20:49I've never heard you say that.
20:50Made me look at life differently.
20:52You can go through life, no matter how great it is, or all the things you're doing or something, and just... you're just doing it.
20:58And then it's...
20:59All of a sudden, you're part way through it, have a reset, and go like, holy , like, this doesn't last forever.
21:05It's that stoic of the coin that I have.
21:10I was just about to ask you about this.
21:15You gave it to me.
21:20Lemento mori.
21:23You can die at any second.
21:28This can all stop at any second.
21:30Basically saying, like, don't get caught up in all this bullshit.
21:35Life is f***ing fleeting.
21:37So, like, it can all go away at any moment.
21:42The moment in Dallas, you know, Vince asked me to go open the show.
21:47The idea of going and putting my boots in the ring was not what he had in mind.
21:53Like, why do you want to...
21:54Like, I don't open the show with a downer.
21:57And I said, I don't see it as a downer.
21:59Like, I sort of see it as...
22:02It's kind of a triumphant moment. I'm back.
22:04I'm not gonna wrestle anymore my f***ing back.
22:07I just wanted to come out here to say thank you.
22:20And to show you my love in the best way I know how.
22:26In the best way I know how.
22:30Welcome to Wrestlemania!
22:40It was celebratory.
22:42But it was bittersweet.
22:44It made such an impact on all of us.
22:48Your whole family, but not just us.
22:50Everybody.
22:52What goes through my mind, it's just this image I can't get out of my mind,
22:57is something that one of our daughters created.
23:01And it's a picture of your boots.
23:03It's from that night.
23:05You are their hero, and you are mine.
23:11It's all I need.
23:13Seriously.
23:14It's all I need.
23:17Worked out in a wonderful way of me being able to sort of
23:21just close the door on a chapter of who I was
23:26and start the process of who I could become.
23:30In the months that followed Wrestlemania 38,
23:33Paul Triple H Levesque evolved again,
23:36becoming the Chief Content Officer of WWE.
23:40Welcome to a new era!
23:44This new role allowed Paul to tap even further into his passion
23:49for characters and storytelling.
23:51And come up with a cool moment with the two of you,
23:54whether it's a stop, whatever that is.
23:57We talked a lot about the process.
23:59At Wrestlemania, why don't you come be a part of the process?
24:01And let's go make some memories that last a lifetime.
24:05So off to Vegas we went to get a behind-the-scenes look
24:09at how to make an entrance worthy of the spectacle of Wrestlemania.
24:15This is the walk that WWE First Star does
24:18to make their entrance for Wrestlemania.
24:22Around the corner, hear the music.
24:25You're walking up the ramp.
24:26I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.
24:28How are you?
24:30Good, how are you?
24:31He comes in to focus, he gets here,
24:33and now it's just our business.
24:34He's pretty brilliant.
24:36You know, and I love how his mind works
24:38to understand, like, why he's doing what he's doing.
24:43If you start to go and he can come forward...
24:46It's just a feel, it's an innate feel like,
24:49that needs something more, that needs something less.
24:53That's not working, this is working.
24:56What if you did this?
24:58When he puts the wings out,
24:59he's gonna go, like, five, six seconds.
25:01He's with the guitarist for Slayer.
25:03Okay, awesome.
25:12Talk about, like, the dream scenarios,
25:13like, cool entrance at Wrestlemania has always been, like,
25:16a thing that I wanted to do.
25:18I wanted, like, an elaborate one.
25:20Yeah, this is badass.
25:21Yes.
25:22It's really badass.
25:23Under the gun, by the way.
25:26Yeah.
25:2745 minutes to doors, we still got Bianca's to do,
25:29and Cody's.
25:30And they're both elaborate.
25:38Oh, .
25:40Didn't even realize the bikes were coming.
25:42I was like, ah!
25:43In addition to the dirt bikes, Cody's entrance included a very tricky custom helmet.
25:50See?
25:51And then press B.
25:53Super complicated.
25:54It is.
25:55Yeah.
25:56That is truly complicated.
25:57On the kaboom, he'll hit the flipper.
25:59Yes, sir.
26:00It's okay if it doesn't flip up.
26:01No, but I mean, if it doesn't work, it's okay.
26:03You still have to take it out.
26:04It's pro wrestling, so my assumption is it will not work.
26:06That's what I'm saying.
26:07And I would stand there.
26:08I would stand there long enough to go.
26:09Just sitting ahead of it.
26:10It's not gonna happen, all right?
26:11Yeah, yeah.
26:12But if it does, it's okay.
26:13That's a wrestling school rule.
26:14The prop will always defeat you.
26:16Up next was Bianca Belair's special presentation,
26:20which included its own kind of theatrics,
26:22using the 40-plus double dutch club and mini-shock.
26:26Woo!
26:27I'm like a big-time jump roper, so I...
26:31With kids using Bianca's signature braids
26:35that she had made herself.
26:37The white shirt was Montez's daughter.
26:39Oh, really?
26:40So, Bianca's stepped in.
26:42After watching back the entrance rehearsals with Paul,
26:46it was showtime.
26:48Good luck.
26:52And I was ready to welcome fans
26:55to the grandest stage of the moment.
26:58Welcome to Night 2 of Wrestlemania!
27:09Over 60,000 WWE fans will be in attendance
27:13as we welcome you to the greatest event in entertainment.
27:18This is Wrestlemania.
27:21I'm on my own against the wall.
27:24The pressure's building up.
27:26Double dutch happening.
27:27Nothing short of impressive,
27:28which is everything that revolves around Bianca Belair.
27:33Bianca Belair has always shined on the big stage.
27:38This is emotional for Bianca as well.
27:40That is her stepdaughter enjoying this entrance.
27:44Bianca's entrance was everything she wanted it to be,
27:48and it set the bar for the rest of the night.
27:51And though she didn't win her match...
27:53Cover on Belair!
27:55Theo Sky wins!
27:57...she had a pretty cool Wrestlemania moment in private.
28:08You just double dutched.
28:09I just double dutched.
28:10Yeah, for the first time.
28:11Yeah, yeah.
28:12Yeah.
28:13Yeah?
28:14And I'm blown.
28:15That's all it took, right?
28:16You wrestled this incredible triple threat.
28:19And then you come back here,
28:20and what blows you up is the double dutch.
28:21Double dutched.
28:23It was such an amazing experience
28:25witnessing hard work pay off.
28:28My face is melting toe!
28:31With some of the most creative entrances I had ever seen.
28:35I'm still humble.
28:36Words can't express how proud I am of Paul
28:40and his unrivaled passion for this business.
28:43This is surreal!
28:46It's so cool to watch him and his team at WWE
28:50crack more intricate entrances every year,
28:53helping today's superstars amaze audiences around the world
28:57and create memories that last a lifetime.
29:06Crazy-eyed.
29:12Crazy-eyed.
29:17Yeah, the only thing is just the look in your eye.
29:24It's actually slightly taller than me, too.
29:33Come on, honey.
29:37It's so creepy.
29:38She's got freaky boots.
29:39Oh, please send it.
29:49Omaha!
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