WWF, 1995-1997
Believe it or not, there was a time when Triple H was under-appreciated in the WWF. The man born Paul Michael Levesque was brought into the Federation under an embarrassing gimmick like a common grappler and not the King of Kings. That’s because, before he was Vince’s Only Begotten Son-In-Law, he was just another solid worker jobbing to Alex Wright in WCW as a Frenchman.
Thus, in the spring of 1995, the world was introduced to Hunter Hearst Helmsley, a “snob” gimmick that saw Levesque trade in his bad French accent for a bad British-ish accent. That’s not to say that the gimmick was meant to bury Helmsley from the get-go; pretty much everyone coming into the Federation at the time was saddled with a laughable gimmick, whether they were in line for a push (like Sparky Plugg, Double J, or Adam Bomb) or simply meant to fill out the undercard (like Mantaur, Rad Radford, or Man Mountain Rock, to name a few). Come to think of it, there was little correlation at all between the stupidity of one’s gimmick and the level of success one was meant to achieve.
Unlike, say Mantaur, Helmsley’s gimmick was supposedly a personal dig by Vince McMahon against his snobby neighbors in Greenwich, Connecticut (unless said neighbors actually did construct a labyrinth to imprison a part-man, part-bull creature, and there is no evidence to suggest they did). See, to get back at the snooty “old rich” who stuck their noses up at Vince’s sports entertainment empire, McMahon created a hated character to ridicule the snobs, no doubt making the Greenwich aristocrats spit out the merlot they sipped from their wine glasses at live events or while watching WWF Superstars on Saturday mornings. | ![]() |
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Truly, Vince had his finger on the pulse of wrestling fans, who hated people from Greenwich, Connecticut almost as much as they hated Ted Turner… |
…Dusty Rhodes… | ![]() |
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…and E. Stan Kroenke. |
Levesque’s new name derived from famous rich folks. “Helmsley” came from Leona Helmsley, famous hotelier, “Queen of Mean,” and tax evader… | ![]() |
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…while “Hearst” came from the famous newspaper family whose heiress Patty was abducted, brainwashed by militants, and turned into an evil degenerate. |
Imagine that! | ![]() |
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As for the name, “Hunter,” that never struck me as a very highfalutin Christian name; maybe it was the fact that the only “Hunter” I knew at the time had a rat-tail, or that it was the name of one of Cletus’s kids on The Simpsons, but HHH’s first name always stuck out like a “protruding proboscis.” Then again, “Henry” was already taken by the WWF’s resident hog farmer, Henry Godwinn, while Hank, Herbert, Howard, Huey, or Harold wouldn’t have been any better than “Hunter.” But that’s just me; maybe you would have bought into “Harold Hearst Helmsley.” |
The WWF presented HHH’s foppish persona with a series of vignettes taken from Hunter’s mansion, wherein he criticized the “riff raff” in the Federation — that is, when he bothered to grace us with his words at all, having refused comment in his first promo. | ![]() |
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Hunter wore riding gear to the ring and waved off the lowly fans with his handkerchief… |
…sometimes bringing a pipe with him, although this aspect of his gimmick was soon dropped. I’m guessing his Clique-mate The 123 Kid borrowed it and never gave it back. | ![]() |
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And let’s not forget about that elegant vanity cane with the horse’s head. I think he called it “Lilian.” |
In the ring, he would curtsy after hitting a big move or winning a match. | ![]() |
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His finisher, of course, was the Pedigree, referring to his pure-bred lineage and not the dog food brand. (Now that would have been a gimmick! I’m thinking, “Alpo Montoya”) |
Fans greeted the Blue Blood with the same warm welcome they’d give any other effete fancy boy. Namely, lots of limp wrists. | ![]() |
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Naturally! |
The WWF made sure to contrast Hunter with his opponents as much as possible, debuting him against the most slovenly jobber they could find, a certified piece of garbage (although that has more to do with all the sexual abuse Buck Zumhofe would commit than with his physical appearance). | ![]() |
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To further drive home the complexity of Hunter’s gimmick, the WWF even sold a shirt with tips on “How to Be a Snob.” I say, “a” shirt because, near as I can tell, only one person ever bought it. Somebody in Titan Towers actually thought fans would hate the Connecticut Blue Blood strongly enough to wear this t-shirt in public and confuse everyone who saw it. Fat chance! |
In between complaining about the one Christmas when all he got was a Bentley and how Jim Cornette’s clothing was “just ghastly,” the Blue Blood engaged in ready-made gimmick-based feuds with the hog farmer and the garbageman (but never the plumber, since the bond among the heel locker room was strong enough to overcome socio-economic prejudice). In such cases, Hunter displayed his arrogance, spraying the ring with what may have been the Rick Martel cologne of the same name. | ![]() |
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These “class warfare” feuds led to the memorable hog pen match against Henry Godwinn, though not a dumpster match against Duke Droese (and I don’t even want to think about what kind of gimmick match they would have come up with for TL Hopper). |
The only time HHH was able to show any genuine personality behind his dandy façade was when he snuck in the occasional reference to his sexual potency via jokes about the size of his “balls” and how he had pleasured Sable. | ![]() |
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Otherwise, it was “for the love of polo” this and “civility” that. Puh-lease! |
Perhaps to further remedy the perception that he was a bit — how shall I put this — light in the loafers (and gay), Hunter would eventually bring along a different gold-digger every week to watch his matches from ringside, leading to a feud with Mr. Perfect where Hennig would steal Helmsley’s valet and cost him the match due to the distraction… in every single match! As his New Age Outlaw buddy would say, “Welcome to the dog house!” | ![]() |
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Helmsley would later famously join up with Shawn Michaels to form D-Generation X, where he was less likely to give Mantaur etiquette lessons and more likely to ask him for directions to the island of Lesbos. |
Regardless, the stench of the old “Blue Blood” gimmick lingers to this day, with Levesque still going by the “Hunter Hearst Helmsley” name despite being a WWE executive, and still executing the “Pedigree” despite the fact that we all know his parents aren’t aristocrats.
Then again, now he really does live in Greenwich, Connecticut, is part of a wealthy and powerful family, and fancies himself royalty…
…so perhaps the HHH gimmick suits him better than ever.
From what seemed like a dumb gimmick in the midcard to being perhaps THE most powerful man in the WWE…
which means Zack Ryder, there’s hope for you yet!
The line “No doubt making the Greenwich aristocrats spit out the merlot they sipped from their wine glasses at live events” actually made me spit out my merlot.
Just kidding – it was bottled water.
I was so taken aback my monocle fell into my champagne flute.
One thing I remember about Hunter Hearst Helmsley was the really bad English accent and how it would disappear the longer he talked, until he was just speaking in his normal voice.
Another thing I remember was the Blue Bloods tag team in WCW who were active around the same time HHH was. I wonder if one was ripping off the other?
HHH was Regal’s original Blue Bloods partner before he left for WWF.
Because, as we all know, the hoity-toity rich folk would, after their morning tea and horse ride, tune into the Action Zone on Sundays…
Hm, if someone besides the future backstage politician had played him, I’m not sure the ol’ Connecticut Blueblood gimmick would get inducted. I thought it made for an effective heel, with shades of The Model, DiBiase, and Lord Steven Regal (rich, snobby, etc.). I have to give Levesque his due: while it sounds weird to hear him talking snooty after all this time, physically he played the role *very* well. He had the slow, precise mannerisms down pat.
Seems HHH was a step up from his WCW gimmicks, too. RD already inducted Terra Ryzing and his Dolly Parton hair — and yikes, speaking of Regal, looks like “Jean-Paul Levesque” stole his Bluebloods coat to play some sort of 18th century French stripper!
But it’s still a dumb gimmick. Same reason Double-J was inducted despite Jarrett actually being awesome in the role – it didn’t really go anywhere or lead to any long-term success for him, and he had to ditch it to make a breakthrough, as did Trips. That’s also why Undertaker or Honky Tonk Man wouldn’t be inducted, because they both went further than anyone would have expected with the gimmick.
I had to look up Buck Zumhoff. Probably a good thing that I’m not familiar with him.
I think it’s safe to say that we’ll never see HHH’s WWF debut match in any upcoming DVDs/Blu-Rays/specials about him.
It’s already been released on one or two discs as a bonus feature, actually.
This was always an on the fence gimmick to me since the eventual success the worker had (obviously), but let’s run it down…
1. He’s snob from Greenwich, CT who looks down on the poor and uncivilized
2. He’s custom made to feud with HOG and The Dumpster
3. He didn’t get over a single fucking second until they dropped almost the entire persona and brought Chyna in as his muscle.
4. The awful faux-British accent… because all rich snobs from Greenwich have British accents?
Can you really say he wasn’t getting over with the gimmick. He was slated to win the 1996 King of the Ring until he was involved in the MSG Curtain Call Incident. He eventually won it a year later while still playing the aristocrat (albeit with new music and a new robe).
Yeah, I don’t think this was really worthy of induction. It wasn’t a bad gimmick to start out with, especially in the mid-’90s. When you compare it to the other gimmicks mentioned, you’d hardly bat at an eye at this one.
If I say it isn’t crap, it’s probably because it’s hard to compete with a wrasslin’ garbage man. Or a lot of the other nonsense that was going on back then.
I believe Ode to Joy was his 2nd theme in this gimmick.
I have a How to Be a Snob shirt from Ebay. I paid a price for it which I’d rather not mention.
Does this mean a Ringmaster induction is a given now?
I believe that was inducted long ago all the way back on the classic archives.
This was one of the worst gimmicks of all time.
I remember when everyone one the internet was bitching abou Hunter not getting pushed when he was in this gimmick, I guess they wished to hard
This gimmick fit well with a lot of the others of the time, especially with Jerry Lawler and King Mabel (all of whom, I believe, fought as an ill-fated Survivor Series team at SS’95…with Isaac Yankem, DDS!). I stopped watching WWF in early ’96 and was surprised to hear later that Helmsley was not only still around, but was a “degenerate”… I’d consider that one of the stranger transitions between gimmicks without much of a break in-between.
Not enough love for Alpo Montoya.
I’m surprised to see this inducted. It never really struck me as Wrestlecrap. I thought the gimmick was great to be honest. Certainly a cut above a lot of things they were doing at the time.
To each their own I guess.
Two new inductions within a matter of days! ‘Tis a golden age of WrestleCrap.
More to come!
Alpo Montoya
I remember Hunter Hearst Helmsley was called Vince McMahon’s “new favourite whipping boy”, like The Honky Tonk Man was in the 80’s, at some point around 1996.
Was it when he was the Intercontinental champion for four months around that time?
Would Horatio have fit better than Hunter? Hamlet?
I still like HOWARD HEARST-HELMSLEY the 3rd
While I always felt HHH was overrated as a wrestler (and I still do today), his theme music was absolutely perfect. I am hoping soon when H has an important match, they start with the standard “It’s Time to Play the Game!” and instead of that obnoxious chortling that usually follows they splice in his old theme music. That would be brilliant. It worked for William Regal.
I can also totally picture Vince McMahon back in the day blasting HHH’s old theme at 3 am just to piss off his neighbours. That would show ’em.
It was a fun entry, but completely didn’t qualify for the site. But, well written and a joy to read. And at least Man Mountain Rock got in, even if in name only.
I do agree with this.
Pretty good article, but the Alpo Montoya line is what won me over. Laughed harder than I should have.
Alpo Montoya — Funniest thing I’ve heard in a while
Little known fact. If you drink 3 bottles of merlot during the first hour of Raw, hours 2 and 3 always make perfect sense. Of course, this also works with a case of beer. Now, I have to admit that this works mostly cause you don’t remember hours 2 and 3 but why quibble with something that works so well.
I want that “How to be a Snob” shirt!
“And let’s not forget about that elegant vanity cane with the horse’s head. I think he called it ‘Lilian.\'” – The irony here for me being that he’s rather horse-faced himself.
Super un-popular opinion on this site…. But yeah I’m a Trips mark. He is the Game and he is that damn good…. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley was a good building block. Considering it morphed into Triple H one half of DX (I guess he was technically one quarter if you include Ravishing Rick and Chyna)… And obviously DX were part of the new Attitude that saved WWF. So as much as he gets s*it on on the site (no doubt by people that wish they could have his…. Stroke), he helped save a dying Titan (pun fully intended).
Holy crap, is that really Stephanie in that Shop Zone ad? What the hell is wrong with her face?! She doesn’t even look like the same person.
I have one word for you- “puberty”.
Still better than Terra Ryzin
The “Hunter” could be to imply fox-hunting. Or, and this is more of a stretch, as a first name it evokes Hunter S. Thompson, who, while a wild man of the counterculture, spoke with an elite accent.
The old money blue blood enjoys taking peyote and heading off to Las Vegas on a road trip every so often…when not playing polo.
Maybe his transition to DX Triple H wasn’t such a major transition after all.