After announcing his retirement from in-ring competition last month, WWE's Triple H symbolically left his boots in the ring to kick off night two of WrestleMania 38 in Dallas.As part of WrestleMania Sunday, Triple HÂ performed his iconic entrance before offering a heartfelt thank-you to the crowd in attendance and welcoming them to the Showcase of the Immortals. While the Cerebral Assassin was sporting a business suit, he did leave a pair of his ring boots at the center of the mat alongside his microphone.
Triple H, real name Paul Levesque, announced his retirement from in-ring competition on March 25. Back in September of 2021, the former world champion underwent a successful procedure after suffering a cardiac event caused by a genetic heart issue.  "I will never wrestle again. First of all, I have a defibrillator in my chest, which, you know, probably not a good idea for me to get zapped on live TV," the 52-year-old Levesque told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.
"I was nose-diving and sort of at the one-yard line of where you don't want to be really, for your family and your future," he explained. "There's moments in there when they're putting you out for stuff and you think, 'Is this it? Do you wake up from this?' That's tough to swallow and makes you think differently."
Having been trained by the late, great Killer Kowalski, Levesque made his professional wrestling debut in 1992. After performing as Terra Ryzing in the International Wrestling Federation (IWF) and as Jean-Paul Lévesque in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Levesque made his WWE (then WWF) debut as Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 1995. His WWE ring name was later shortened to Triple H.
Amid the company's "Attitude Era," Triple H co-founded the D-Generation X stable, one of the defining factions of the time. Over the course of his career, The Game also racked up an impressive number of accolades during his in-ring career with WWE. He is a nine-time WWE Champion, a five-time World Heavyweight Champion, a five-time Intercontinental Champion, a two-time European Champion, a three-time Tag Team Champion, a two-time Royal Rumble winner and a King of the Ring winner.
During the twilight of his in-ring career, Triple H shifted to a behind-the-scenes executive role within WWE, earning acclaim for his work producing the NXT developmental brand. In 2019, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of D-Generation X alongside Shawn Michaels, Chyna, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg and X-Pac.
It only seems fitting that the King of Kings would officially bid farewell to in-ring competition at WrestleMania, considering the fact that he has competed in more than 20 'Mania matches over his long career.