This past Friday, Albany’s pro wrestling hall of fame got a visit from “The Game.”
World Wrestling Entertainment returned to MVP Arena on Friday night for a live episode of “SmackDown.” Earlier that day, WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque took a trip inside the International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, which is located inside the MVP Arena atrium.
Levesque was joined by members of WWE’s creative team and backstage crew.
“They’re all fans of the history of pro wrestling,” said Seth Turner, the hall of fame’s president and co-founder. “They love seeing the artifacts we have and taking it in.”
It wasn’t the first trip Levesque has made to the museum. In fact, Turner said, when WWE comes to Albany, the museum opens up several hours before the arena opens to the public, allowing WWE wrestlers and crew members in for a private look at the hall of fame’s impressive collection of wrestling memorabilia.
The IPWHF has a “good, collaborative relationship” with WWE, Turner said. The museum has been featured in the A&E documentary series “WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures” in a 2023 episode about Trish Stratus and Lita, and the opening of an Albany episode of “Monday Night Raw” was filmed inside the hall of fame.
Levesque was joined for his visit on Friday by Rich Hering, a retired long-time WWE employee and former executive with the New York State Athletic Commission.
Levesque, a 14-time world champion in WWE as “Triple H,” has been a part of the company’s front office for more than 15 years. He’s been in charge of the company’s creative direction as its chief content officer since 2022.
Turner said that Levesque enjoyed getting a chance to see the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal trophy, which is on display at the hall of fame on loan from WWE.
“He told a great story about the original trophy falling and breaking into a lot of pieces by accident,” Turner said. “He was glad to see that one. He’s always a huge fan of Killer Kowalski, who was his trainer. We have a full mannequin of Killer Kowalski, and we have some other artifacts.
“Everyone is always a fan of the Gorgeous George hair curling machine, too. And I would say Paul really liked some of the older artifacts that we have that go back 100 years; scrapbooks and things like that.”
Turner said Levesque’s interest was also piqued by a copy of the card from the first WWE (then the World Wrestling Federation) show at MVP Arena (then Knickerbocker Arena) in February 1990.
“It’s a who’s who of WWF from that era,” Turner said. “It was Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Perfect, and Macho Man vs. Dusty Rhodes. I mean, everybody was there, and those were some of the stories we were talking about.”
