Was the Pedigree Behind Triple H's Quad Tears?

Triple H, real name Paul Michael Levesque, has suffered two debilitating, career-threatening injuries. These were tears to the quadriceps muscle on both legs. The first was the left leg in 2001, in the man’s prime. It occurred in a match where he was teamed with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the Two Man Power Trip against Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. HHH went for a clothesline and next thing he was lying outside the ring with a torn quad. He went on to finish the match and even let Jericho put him in the Walls of Jericho submission hold.

Then nearly six years later in 2007 at New Year’s Revolution, in a match where he was teamed with Shawn Michaels as D-Generation X against Rated RKO (Edge and Randy Orton), against Triple H tore his quad muscle right off the bone – this time the right leg. This was after a botched AA spine buster, when he landed right on the knee. Trips sucked it up and kept fighting in the match, even going for pedigrees, even outside on the announce table. He must have been in excruciating pain all the while.

HHH has used his legs a lot during his career. People used to make fun of him for doing so – probably behind his back though. It became a bit of a running joke – his overreliance on using his legs for knees lifts, jawbreakers, etc. But I think another move that he has used for most of his career to date was probably responsible – at least somewhat – for these quad tears: the pedigree.

All that weight, and pressure coming down on top of the legs and knees like that from a height – it can’t be good for one’s legs. It’s not a natural sort of thing one would do with one’s body. And even with kneepads and any amount of sports tape on.

Case in point is the fact that the 2nd quad tear came after HHH executed a spinebuster and he landed right on the knee. The muscle popped right off the back of that knee. I think over time, over years and many pedigrees, the muscles have taken a beating and gotten weak.

Would you go and do the same thing? Jump up in the air and land right on your kneecaps repeatedly all the time? I remember jumping in a natural rock pool years ago. The water was dark and I couldn’t see the bottom. The last thing you do is jump in - I did, and the pool was shallower than I thought. I landed knees first on a rock. It was bloody painful.

I’m not certain, but perhaps the same move is partially responsible for HHH’s slightly odd gait. If you’ve watched him walk or especially run in the ring, one leg kind of drags to the side, almost. I knew a friend who was the same. He broke his leg when he was young and it didn’t set properly so he had a funny walk as well as a funny run.

In any case, HHH is in his 40’s now, and has cut down the amount of time he spends wrestling in the ring dramatically. He wrestles part-time. This will reduce the chance of him ever suffering a third quad tear. I think if he ever got to that point he would retire from the ring permanently.

But regardless, I imagine that like Shawn, he’ll call it a day as far as active competition goes in the next few years in any case. But unlike Shawn, HHH will always be around in the WWE.