WWE's Triple H Announces Retirement From In-Ring Competition

STAMFORD, CT — One of the most decorated and influential professional wrestlers in history is stepping away from the ring for good.

Paul Levesque, known to wrestling fans as Triple H, announced Friday in a clip aired on ESPN's "First Take" with Stephen A. Smith that he is retiring from in-ring competition with World Wrestling Entertainment.

"For me, as far as in-ring... I'm done," said Levesque, who is the executive vice president of global talent strategy and development at Stamford-based WWE.

Levesque, 52, underwent a heart procedure last September after a cardiac event brought on by a genetic heart condition, the WWE said at the time.

"I would never wrestle again. First of all, I have a defibrillator in my chest, which, it’s probably not a good idea for me to get zapped on live TV," Levesque told Smith Friday.

Levesque said he had viral pneumonia, but additional testing showed he was in heart failure.

"My lungs were inflamed. As the next couple of days went on, when I got home, it got increasingly worse. My wife saw some blood that I was coughing up. I went and got checked, and it was coming from the viral pneumonia, but I had fluid in my lungs, I had some fluid around my heart," Levesque told Smith.

Levesque's ejection fraction, which is a measurement of the percentage of blood leaving the heart each time it contracts, had plummeted to 22 percent by the time he reached the emergency room.

According to the American Heart Association, a normal ejection fraction is between 50-70 percent.

During his interview with Smith, Levesque became emotional when talking about just how close he was to dying, saying he was "on the one-yard line of where you don't want to be."

WWE posted about Levesque's announcement on its website.

"As a 14-time World Champion, Triple H is one of the most decorated Superstars in WWE history," WWE said. "From co-founding the iconic D-Generation X to shepherding future main-eventers Randy Orton and Batista toward WWE greatness in Evolution, The Game was always at the forefront of sports-entertainment."

WWE said Levesque's full conversation with Smith will air Friday night on "Stephen A's World" on ESPN+.

View the full clip on "First Take" here.