When Triple H steps foot in between the ropes and into the squared circle this Sunday night for WrestleMania 32, it will mark his 20th career match on the "Grandest Stage of Them All."
It's hard to fathom that the Game's first WrestleMania was back on March 31, 1996, when he took on a returning Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania XII. Sitting down with Jonathan Coachman for ESPN's Off The Top Rope segment Tuesday night, Triple H spoke about being linked to the Warrior during their first encounter 20 years ago and being reconnected right before his untimely death in April 2014.
"It was a mind-boggling situation to me," Triple H told Coach about their history. "Knowing where it ended up, with his passing and everything, because we didn't know each other, and it was an odd beginning. We didn't get along, necessarily. But when people look back at that, they think that's a sore spot for me and put it this way — I was in my first WrestleMania ever and Vince [McMahon] came to me and said, 'I would like you to work with one of the biggest stars that's ever been in this business, the Ultimate Warrior's going to return and I'd like you to work with him.'"
He added: "It was the greatest thing ever for me."
While the match itself might have left a lot to be desired, the two would reconnect 18 years later, when WWE would induct the Ultimate Warrior into its Hall of Fame on April 5, 2014, a day before WrestleMania XXX. Tragically, Warrior died one day after appearing on Monday Night Raw the next night.
Still, Triple H couldn't have been happier to reconnect with the man, adding that they both had grown and changed as people tremendously.
As the conversation with Coachman continued, Triple H said that by far his favorite WrestleMania moment of all time was after his Hell in a Cell match with the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVIII in 2012, when he walked off the ramp with the Dead Man and Shawn Michaels, who was the special guest referee.
Triple H called the "End of an Era" a "moment in time that's burned into me," telling Coach that he even got the snapshot of the three icons blown up on a plaque that he presented to both the Undertaker and Michaels afterward.
"For us it was very, very, very real at that moment," he said. "And that moment was for us — not for anyone else — to share with the world."
Let's see if he can add to the memories when he puts his WWE World Heavyweight title on the line against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 32 on Sunday night.
