WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque has had quite the week.
In addition to performing his usual duties as one of WWE’s top executives, the pro wrestling legend was seated directly behind his mother-in-law, Linda McMahon, during the U.S. Secretary of Education nominee’s confirmation hearing on Thursday. Then one day later, “The Game” made a surprise appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, where he revealed that Michelle McCool will be inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend this coming April.
“I wanted to come here today to take a moment to say, Michelle, the WrestleMania season is upon us. Which means the Hall of Fame,” Levesque said. “And I would like to tell you right now that you will be inducted into the 2025 Hall of Fame.”
Levesque’s surprise appearance came during a segment in which McCool and her husband Mark Calaway — who you probably know as The Undertaker — were being interviewed by Matt Barrie to promote the upcoming WWE LFG series, which will debut on A&E this Sunday. As the segment seemingly came to a close with Bart Scott dropping a “Mean Mark” reference to showcase his pro wrestling fan bonafides, Triple H’s theme song played, with “the King of Kings” popping up on the studio’s monitor from an undisclosed location.
Levesque proceeded to make note of his own upcoming enshrinement, which was revealed when The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels crashed a WWE meeting to reveal they had made the executive decision to put the 14-time world champion into the Hall of Fame. Whether that’s actually what happened or if it was merely a cover for Levesque effectively putting himself into his company’s own Hall of Fame is a story for a different day. But in any event, it laid the groundwork for the WWE executive to repeat the pattern with Friday’s announcement.
“The beautiful part of me right now, being the boss, is I get the last laugh,” Levesque said.
That he did. And while one could question the authenticity of the surprise, McCool, for her part, seemed to be legitimately caught off guard by the announcement.
As for the bigger picture here, WWE might not have an official partnership with ESPN, but this is hardly the first time the pro wrestling giant has leveraged its relationship with the network for mainstream exposure. And with WrestleMania 41 approaching, one would imagine that will only continue in the weeks and months ahead.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.