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As we all know by now, Stephanie McMahon (for better or worse) has a knack for embarrassing the whole lot of wrestlers in the WWE locker room. She hails over them like, well, a Queen -- an overly dominant Queen of Queens who will stop at nothing to not only make all wrestlers bow at her feet, but also stop them from getting revenge on her. The sole superstar who seems immune to the same punishment is none other than The King of Kings himself, her husband, Triple H. There have been several times over the years when Triple H put the Billion Dollar Princess in her place, both verbally and physically. Perhaps it's one of the many perks of marrying the boss's daughter and being the boss's favorite son-in-law, but Triple H is, in fact, one of a select few of individuals who have given Stephanie McMahon her just desserts. However, that doesn't mean he's completely immune to her indestructible nature.
As often as Triple H has punished Stephanie McMahon, she has been known to dish some punishment right back -- and in harsher shades. One would think Triple H should be immune to this, but alas, it's not the case. There are a number of moments when Trips has been embarrassed by Stephanie. Here are 15 of those moments.
15. Denying Him of Wrestling
On the June 3rd, 2013 episode of Monday Night RAW, Triple H was hellbent on wrestling young upstart Curtis Axel, but Stephanie McMahon stopped him from wrestling that night. To be fair, Stephanie had every right to stop Trips from wrestling, given how just a couple weeks before that, he had sustained a bad concussion in his last match with Axel. But Triple H's pride wouldn't allow Stephanie to talk him down so easily. Nevertheless, after getting the co-sign from her father, Stephanie guaranteed that Triple H wouldn't be wrestling that night. Knowing the character of Triple H, he probably felt a little emasculated when Stephanie got her way that night. It was almost as if it proved she wore the pants in that relationship. Maybe she does.
14. Calling Him "Paul" on TV
For most old-school wrestlers, the art of kayfabe is sacred, kayfabe being the maintenance of the illusion that wrestling is anything but scripted. In fact, most old-school wrestlers are willing to pull out almost all the stops to make sure that fans are fully immersed in the spectacle. Triple H seems to be one of those types of wrestlers, and so, he probably didn't take it too kindly when his wife called him by his real name on-screen. Triple H's real name is Paul Levesque, and Stephanie has called him Paul on WWE TV several times --most notably during Triple H's feud with Axel and all those weeks when the two were embroiled in emotional conversation. Perhaps she couldn't help herself in the heat of the moment, but it still happened, and the whole world heard it. "Paul" probably had a long chat about it with Stephanie as soon as the cameras stopped rolling.
13. Trish Stratus Training
Anyone who has ever been in a relationship and been accused of cheating knows how hard it can be to convince the significant other that nothing happened. Every time we say, "It's not what it looks like," it's usually exactly what it looks like, nine times out of ten. However, in Triple H's case, on the July 27th, 2000 episode of RAW, it really wasn't what it looked like. While sitting backstage, he was approached by Trish Stratus. At the time, the future 7-time Women's Champion was an inexperienced competitor and hoped that the future 14-time World Champion would teach her some basic wrestling moves. After some reluctance, Triple H agreed. At one point, he taught her how to apply a hammerlock and then how to get out of a hammerlock, which involves the competitor bending down to pick away at their opponent's leg until the hold was released. Unfortunately for Triple H, Stephanie walked in right during the bending down part, and she flipped out. She was outraged as she threw a lamp, shrieked in anger, and stormed away, leaving Triple H looking guilty and embarrassed despite having no malicious intentions toward Trish.
12. Getting Him Flustered About Trish
Still sour from walking in on her husband bending over Trish Stratus the previous week, Stephanie reluctantly forgave Triple H but also wanted Triple H to show her the hammerlock move that he was showing Trish. At first, Trips was reluctant for fear of bringing back old demons from the previous week, but because Stephanie insisted, he was forced to oblige. The impromptu wrestling lesson was turning out well until Triple H was so flustered that he called Stephanie the wrong name. And not just any wrong name, but "Trish." Every guy knows that it's never good to call a girl by the wrong name, especially when the girl happens to be your wife, and you call her the name of an alleged mistress. Triple H is rarely known to be nervous around anyone, but he told Stephanie he had only called her the wrong name because he had been nervous around her after the previous week.
11. Speaking on His Behalf
On a special edition of Sunday Night Heat, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon appeared at the WWE restaurant in Times Square for a Q & A session. Though they appeared in full character, one question that bled into reality felt awkward enough to nearly make them both break character. Halfway through the session, a fan asked if Triple H would ever get back together with his long-estranged ex, Chyna. Clearly uncomfortable about talking about his old flame while sitting beside his new one (whose affair with Triple H broke up his relationship with Chyna, to begin with), Triple H stammered over his words and struggled to explain why they'd never get back together, only offering "She's doing her thing, I'm doing my thing" as a response. In mid-sentence, Stephanie took the microphone away from Triple H and answered for him: "No!" The response fit her character, but there had to have been some real-life scorn there. Plus, it was a rare moment when Triple H seemed emasculated by his wife on screen.
10. Lucy the Dog
Triple H was rarely ever put in a predicament that made him vulnerable, but one of the last things that anyone would have thought would turn The Game into a big softie was Lucy the dog. On the March 11th, 2002 episode of RAW, Stephanie tried to take away Triple H's beloved dog during the divorce, and upon learning his precious dog would be taken away, he was visibly heartbroken. As much of a badass Triple H likes to portray himself as on TV, that dog made Triple H out to be more of a pansy than anything else -- especially later in the night when Triple H became even more emotional upon finding out that Lucy had been run over by a limo thanks to Stephanie's buddy, Chris Jericho. That wasn't the only embarrassment that Triple H ran into later that night.
9. Ambushed Triple H With Jericho
Upon finding his dog run over by a limo, Triple H was furious. Stephanie McMahon came to the ring to beg her ex-husband for forgiveness, but that only enraged him even more. He stormed down to the ring and chased after Stephanie McMahon until he was able to set her up for a Pedigree. Before he could execute his finisher, however, Jericho ran down to ringside with Triple H's signature sledgehammer in hand. Jericho took that sledgehammer and clocked Trips right in his injured leg, to Stephanie's delight. In the storyline, the numerous blows to Triple H's leg re-injured it. And that wasn't even the worst part of Triple H's week.
8. Pre-WrestleMania Beatdown
A few days later, on the March 14th episode of SmackDown, mere days away from Jericho and Trips tangling with each other in the main event of WrestleMania X8, the three would cross paths one last time. This time, Stephanie and Jericho publicly revealed that Triple H had re-injured his leg the previous Monday and that if he aggravated the injury any further, his career would be over. Triple H stood strong and declared he would use his last breath to take down both Jericho and Stephanie. This led to a brawl between the three. Triple H had the upper hand (despite favoring his injured knee) and almost put Stephanie through an announcer's table with a Pedigree. (By the way, yes, this was the night Stephanie had her wardrobe malfunction). That was, until Jericho attacked Triple H's injured leg with his title belt and then locked in the Walls of Jericho on the announcer's table. It's rare to see Triple H on the bad end of a beatdown, but this was the second time that week that happened to him. Even rarer was seeing Trips tap out, which Jericho accomplished when he locked his submission on Triple H that night. Once again, Jericho, and most importantly, Stephanie McMahon, had outsmarted and embarrassed Triple H.
7. When She Put Him On House Arrest
In the early days of the McMahon-Helmsley era, Stephanie started to take her job running the company a little seriously and therefore decided to make more unbiased decisions, even if it was at the expense of her husband. On December 23rd, 1999, Stephanie booked Triple H to be hung 15 feet high in the air with seven of his most-hated rivals waiting for him below. Trips refused to take part in it, and so she had a group of cop enforcers first force Trips to wait patiently in the locker room for his match-up, and then drag him to the ring by force when it was time. How humiliating.
6. When She Slapped Him
Over the years, several wrestlers have felt the wrath of Stephanie McMahon's mighty hand coming down across their face. Even her husband was one of those unfortunate wrestlers. It wasn't on just one occasion, but one of the most memorable ones came in the build-up to WrestleMania 2000. At some point before the big show, Stephanie finally grew tired of watching the men in her life bicker and started slapping everyone in sight. She slapped her dad Vince, her brother Shane, and even her husband Triple H, which was most surprising because Stephanie was in Triple H's corner during this whole thing. Talking out of kayfabe for a moment, as much as Triple H the character was embarrassed to be slapped by his wife, everyone in the ring probably felt embarrassed because of how poorly aimed and executed each slap was. Clearly, at this point in her career, Stephanie was not yet a master of the slap.
5. When She Slapped Him (Again)
Another time when Stephanie decided to slap her husband took place on the biggest stage of them all. At WrestleMania X8, while Chris Jericho had the advantage as Trips was on the ropes -- or more appropriately, the rope turnbuckle -- Stephanie slapped the holy hell out of Triple H. Unlike the last time she slapped him, she smacked as hard as she could, and boy, did she wail on The Game. He gave Stephanie her comeuppance later in the night after Pedigreeing her, but surely, that slap was hard enough to keep his head disoriented for the majority of the night.
4. Choosing Jericho Over HHH
Sure, Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon were never an item in real life and their on-screen partnership never went beyond the camera. Nor did it turn romantic on camera either, but Triple H had to feel a little fickle about seeing his real-life woman move from him to Jericho. After all, we're talking about the same Triple H who nixed Stephanie McMahon's storyline with Kurt Angle because of jealousy, or because he didn't find it realistic that Stephanie would leave Trips for Angle. Depends on who you ask, but either way, it makes The Game look petty. There's no doubt Triple H felt just as petty and jealous during his 2002 trio program with Jericho and Stephanie.
3. Her Howard Stern Interview
As with most guests on the Howard Stern Show, Stephanie McMahon was remarkably frank and honest in her interview. Perhaps too frank, especially with regard to her relationship with Triple H. She spilled some detailed beans about how her relationship with him came about, his affair with Chyna, his flirtatious methods, and even his game in the bedroom. She even went as far as to talk about how hard and soft she liked The Game to give it to her. This may have been music to the ears of plenty of Stephanie's avid (or creepy -- depends on how you look at it) male fans, but probably not to Triple H's ears, especially if he knew his father in law had been listening as well. Had to make for an awkward dinner conversation the next night.
2. When She Spanked Him
Though much of the festivities of the Monday Night RAW's 10th Anniversary Show have been long forgotten, this moment is perhaps the most forgotten, and it's easy to see why. It's likely that Triple H has used every ounce of his backstage power to make sure WWE kept hush about this moment from the show. WWE awarded Trips and Stephanie with the best couple of the decade award (or, as the award itself was dubbed, the "Shut Up and Kiss Me" award). Though the two were still well into their real-life relationship, they were estranged on-screen, and in accepting the award, Stephanie took the opportunity to lambast Trips for all of the wacky things they had done to each other over the years (i.e. ruin weddings, fake pregnancies, etc). In response, Triple H dropped his pants and seemingly wanted Stephanie to join his own personal Kiss My Ass Club. Instead, she spanked it. Probably not a moment you'll see in either of their highlight reels anytime soon.
1. Lying About Her On-Screen Pregnancy
In 2002, when Triple H returned to WWE as a babyface following his career-threatening quad injury, he still had the baggage of a heel wife to deal with. For weeks, early in the year, dissension was teased between the two when Stephanie kept getting on Triple H's nerves and forcing him to verbally attack her with a full-on tirade. Just when it looked like Triple H was about to dump her, Stephanie did the one thing to keep him around: fake a pregnancy. This brought the Cerebral Assassin to his knees, overjoyed. For weeks, he felt obligated to stick to his wife like glue, as if he had rekindled some newfound love for the Billion Dollar Princess. The methodical badass was reduced to a bit of a pansy for the following weeks. To his credit, she did do a convincing job at concealing the truth from him. She even went as far as to hire an actor to play a doctor to confirm the state of her pregnancy. Granted, her plan failed right before the two renewed their vows because Linda McMahon told Trips the truth at the last minute, but before then, The Queen of Queens had The King of Kings eating out of the palm of her hand.
Source: WWE
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