There’s little debate that WWE is on a roll at the moment, racking up new attendance and financial records at a furious pace while enjoying widespread critical acclaim as well. Paul “Triple H” Levesque deserves a lot of the credit, ushering in this new era in what could have been a turbulent time as WWE merged with UFC to form TKO.
While his Hall of Fame career trajectory and marriage into the McMahon family makes his rise seem obvious now, it sure didn’t seem that way in the mid-90s when Levesque was trying to get his “Connecticut Blueblood” gimmick over without a ton of success.
Yet even then, the seeds for his future leadership roles were being planted if you knew where to look. And one person who was in position to do so was Gerald Brisco, who explained what he saw to Under the Ring host Phil Strum during their recent chat.
“The intelligence that he had … Not only the intelligence that he had but you watch him in the locker room,” Brisco said. “How they either become a follower, a guy who gets left behind, or how they become a leader. And Paul immediately became that leader, even though he wasn’t a top guy at the time, even though he had a funky gimmick, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and he took that gimmick and he grew with the gimmick.”
Brisco credited Levesque for not only his ability to understand the dynamics of the roster but also the lessons he learned from Killer Kowalski, who prepared him for life both in and out of the ring. That made him a good bet to succeed over the long run.
“I always knew that Paul would be a lifer in the business, in what role … I never dreamed that he would marry the boss’ daughter,” Brisco added while laughing. “But I always knew that he would be a guy like a Pat Patterson or a Gerald Brisco who was in the business forever in some way.”
You can check out Sturm’s full conversation with Brisco above, which includes fascinating stories about his work as a talent scout and how he helped discover Hulk Hogan. And you can find this and more episodes of Under the Ring on YouTube as well.