Triple H says a final Goodbye to WWE – ‘I will never wrestle again’

Triple H has retired from wrestling after suffering heart failure while battling viral pneumonia back in September, he revealed Friday.

Speaking with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, the 52-year-old New Hampshire native explained that he doubted he would survive the illness and now has a defibrillator in his heart, which will prevent him from re-entering the ring.

‘I will never wrestle again,’ said Triple H, whose given name is Paul Levesque. ‘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. It was a checkup with his doctor on the advice of his wife, WWE CEO Vince McMahon’s daughter Stephanie, that may have saved his life.

‘I had viral pneumonia,’ Triple H said. ‘My lungs were inflamed and as the next couple days went on, when I got home it got increasingly worse. My wife saw some blood and stuff that I was coughing up and I went and got checked.

‘I had fluid in my lungs, I had some fluid around my heart, he continued. ‘So they followed up on it, did an EKG and an echo and everything.’ Upon learning the results of his tests, Triple H was told to rush to the hospital. ‘I got a quick text message saying ‘don’t take time, pack a bag quick, head to the emergency room,’ he said, explaining that he nearly died.

‘I was nose-diving and sort of at the 1-yard line of where you don’t want to be really, for your family and your future,’ Triple H said. ‘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.’

Triple H and his wife are parents to three daughters under the age of 15, which he said contributed to his decision to retire.