Triple H had a reputation for not wanting to put over other wrestlers, but he certainly did lose to quite a few surprising names. The career of Triple H has been going for almost three decades now. A natural progression from WCW, to WWE, and then to the backstage world saw him become a legendary figure in the industry. The losses in question would make the average viewer think twice.
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Today we'll look back at the situations that caused Triple H to lose to surprising names on his resume. The instances range from it being earlier on in his career to others interfering to cause shocking losses and virtually everything in between. Triple H was more protected once the 2000s started, but some of the losses still came. Find out just which names pulled off the upset. These are ten wrestlers you wouldn’t believe defeated Triple H.
10 D'Lo Brown
The rivalry between D-Generation X and the Nation of Domination typically saw Triple H face off with The Rock as the two leaders. A rare instance of another member of the Nation defeating Triple H came on Raw when D’Lo Brown ended his European Championship reign.
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The Rock interfered to help Brown get the advantage and the pin fall over Triple H. Brown continued to build momentum, but he never had the star power of the average wrestler to defeat Triple H for any title. It was one of the biggest wins of his career.
9 Curtis Axel
WWE tried pushing Curtis Axel out of the blue when pairing him with Paul Heyman. Axel surprisingly scored three official victories over Triple H despite never pinning him. Triple H was selling a head related injury that forced the referee to stop the first match.
A DQ and forfeit via Vince McMahon’s discretion would see Axel win the other two matches. WWE made Axel the Intercontinental Champion shortly after a few weeks of the Triple H program. Axel sadly didn’t get enough momentum to win the fans respect.
8 Tracy Smothers
The long career of Tracy Smothers saw him working as a veteran for decades. Smothers joined WWE as an enhancement talent in the mid-90s under the name of Freddie Joe Floyd. Most of his matches saw him putting over bigger stars on the roster.
Smothers did score one shocking victory on WWE television. Triple H lost to Smothers by count out during an episode of Raw in 1996. Mr. Perfect provided a distraction causing Triple H to leave the ring and giving Smothers the victory when failing to get back into the ring.
7 Shelton Benjamin
WWE wanted to push Shelton Benjamin hard as a singles star when splitting up his tag team with Charlie Haas in the 2004 brand split draft. Benjamin faced off against Triple H in the main event of Raw in his first major match on the new show.
A shocking victory saw the audience react huge as Benjamin was getting treated like a future top act. The mid-card success of Benjamin followed the moment, but he was never able to truly become a main event superstar.
6 Test
The storyline of Triple H ending Stephanie McMahon’s wedding to Test by marrying her first create huge changes for all characters involved in the storyline. WWE planted some seeds when Test pulled off an upset defeating Triple H ahead of the marriage during an episode of Raw.
Triple H scored the ultimate revenge against Test and the McMahon family by marrying Stephanie during her bachelorette party. Test scored another win over Triple H on Smackdown the following year. The wins didn’t help Test reach Triple H’s level of success.
5 Barry Windham
Many fans have no memory of Barry Windham even working for WWE in the 90s. However, he did join the roster with the unique gimmick known as The Stalker. The veteran wore face paint and received a solid mid-card push for a few weeks.
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One of the noteworthy victories of The Stalker came when Windham defeated Triple H during an episode of Raw in 1996. WWE eventually gave up on The Stalker gimmick and moved him lower down the card as they likely regretted this.
4 The Godfather
Another interesting name to pin Triple H during his run as a top star was The Godfather. The two wrestlers faced off on Smackdown with everyone expecting Triple H to score the easy victory given the big difference between their star power portrayals.
Big Show interfering behind the referee’s back saw him choke slamming Triple H. The Godfather picked up the bones to score the shocking pin fall victory. Fans reacted in awe as no one could believe the referee actually counted to three to end the match.
3 Brooklyn Brawler
The Brooklyn Brawler remained on the WWE roster for many years as an enhancement talent and backstage employee. Longtime fans found charm in the Brawer resurfacing on television occasionally to put over a new star in need of the spotlight.
Triple H was expected to easily steamroll over Brawler given his status as a top heel. However, the interference of Chris Jericho allowed Brawler to crawl over and pin Triple H to pull off the most shocking victory of his career. It was a hilarious moment that added more intensity to the Jericho vs Triple H feud.
2 Jim Ross
The wrestling fan base’s love of Jim Ross would see WWE place him in matches for storylines. Triple H forced Ross to wrestle him in a No DQ match that featured more violence than anyone expected. Ross was busted open as Triple H received huge heat beating him down.
Batista made the save to attack Triple H since they were feuding over the World Championship at the time. Ross would cover Triple H and get the pin fall victory after Batista set the table for him. Fans loved the finish with JR receiving all the love.
1 D-Von Dudley
One of the most forgotten match results in WWE history saw D-Von Dudley defeat Triple H in a singles match. The singles push of Reverend D-Von saw him have Batista in his corner. Triple H had the advantage for most of the match until Chris Jericho interfered.
The heel Jericho attacked Triple H while Batista distracted the referee. D-Von scored the shocking pin fall victory as the biggest singles victory of his career. Unfortunately, the win didn’t get the new gimmick over and WWE gave up on it a few months later to reunite the Dudley Boyz.
