Paul Michael Levesque, well known as ‘Triple H,’ gave a heartwarming WWE Hall of Fame speech. During the ceremony, which was shared online on April 19, 2025, he discussed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role as one of his greatest inspirations.
Triple H started his professional wrestling career in 1992 as a fixture in the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) organization. As a 14-time world champion in WWE, he remains one of the most successful and visible ambassadors for the sport.
He’s also remained a devoted bodybuilding fan for decades. Triple H has talked publicly about the top-tier genetics of world-class bodybuilders, like 1990s Men’s Open standout Kevin Levrone. Though he was encouraged by several role models growing up, he admitted that learning from bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger helped him adopt a blueprint for international success.
‘Triple H’ Replicated Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Blueprint for Success, Honors Him in HOF Speech
In a recent YouTube video, Triple H explained how the film Pumping Iron and Schwarzenegger’s book Education of a Bodybuilder played a consequential role in his success.
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“I would discover Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’d watch a movie called Pumping Iron. I discovered Arnold and I read a book that he wrote called Education of a Bodybuilder — I probably read it 1,000 times — In that book, there’d be a blueprint that Arnold had as a kid from Austria that would decide to become the greatest bodybuilder in the planet and he was going to move to America, which was unheard of, and he was going to become the biggest movie star of all time and get into politics and so on and so forth.”
He treated that book like a blueprint of ‘how to get what you wanted out of life.’ In addition, it taught him the value of hard work at the gym.
“I read that book like it was a blueprint of how to get what you wanted out of life, and it started in that gym because the weights didn’t lie. The harder you work, the more you got out of it, the more you got out of it, the more you succeed. For me, that was everything.”
He emphasized that Schwarzenegger personified the American Dream.
“Arnold became a big role model for me and somebody that I would look up to my entire career and still do to this day. I’ve said this to him personally; he is the American Dream. But without his sort of being there in my life, whether he knew it or not, and certainly he didn’t know it at the time, he inspired me to become something more,” he shared.
Triple H wasn’t the only high-profile athlete who admitted that Schwarzenegger had a profound impact on his career. Recently, former four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler shared that Schwarzenegger’s movie roles also inspired him to embark on a journey into bodybuilding, and he became one of the sport’s most recognizable faces throughout the 2000s.
From books to films, Schwarzenegger’s influence and ability to inspire turned him into a global icon. At 77 years old, he hasn’t missed a step and remains involved in the fitness and bodybuilding communities.
Watch the full video from the Matt Kempke YouTube channel below:
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