MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - I've had a few bosses who took their lumps, figuratively, for the company, but never one who got beat with a steel chair and knocked cold by a sledgehammer - literally.
That was all in a night's work for Triple H, who lost - but really won - Sunday to the Undertaker during Wrestlemania 28 at Sun Life Stadium just north of Miami.
In the ring, he's Triple H, the 13-time world champion known as "The Game" and "The Cerebral Assassin," a 20-year veteran of the ring and one of the craftiest, low-down dirtiest professional wrestlers of all time. He's got muscles in places that most men don't have places.
But from 9-to-5, really 24/7/365 nonstop, he's Paul Levesque, the executive vice president of talent for World Wrestling Entertainment. That means he coaches the other wrestlers and dreams up the wildly strange but thoroughly entertaining story lines that captivate millions of fans, like me, around the world.
Sunday was a good night - not counting the sledgehammer to his head - for Levesque and the WWE. Wrestlemania drew 78,383 fans, a record for Sun Life Stadium, which bought $8.9 million worth of tickets, a record for pro wrestling. Wrestling's previous biggest payday was $7.2 million, set three years ago at Wrestlemania 25 at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
The Sun Life Stadium attendance record is impressive, except you have to remember that the Miami Dolphins play there. As the marquee says, plenty of good seats are available.
The $8.9 million in ticket sales is just the start of the WWE's accounts receivable. Wrestlemania 28 was aired on pay-per-view TV in 105 countries. Plus there will be a Wrestlemania 28 DVD for sale in a few weeks. And the company sold one or two … or 20,000 T-shirts at the show.
Wrestling fans tend to have disposable income.
I talked with Levesque before the show. He was confident of breaking the Undertaker's amazing, incredible 19-year Wrestlemania winning streak, and not the least bit sad about doing it.
End of an era?
"To have somebody, in any sport or any profession, be undefeated for 19 consecutive years, is incredible. The Undertaker's streak has taken on a life of its own. It's just as important, maybe more important, than a title," he said.
"Yes, there is a part of me that doesn't want the streak to end. This will be the end of an era. Without sounding hokey, that character would want to go out on his shield. I'm giving the Undertaker the opportunity to go out on his terms."
So much for best-laid plans. Actually, it was Triple H who was laid out … cold, with the sledgehammer he snuck into the ring. One would think using a sledgehammer would be against the rules, even in the WWE.
But this was a Hell in a Cell match, the most brutal match in all the WWE universe, and anything goes, including demolition equipment.
Just as Triple H is Paul Levesque, the one-time Teenage Mr. New Hampshire bodybuilder, the Undertaker is Mark Calaway, Waltrip High School Class of 1983.
"I'm billed as being from Death Valley, but here's a little secret … Death Valley is really T.C. Jester in Houston," he joked at a Wrestlemania press conference a few years ago.
Stealing the show
The Triple H vs. Undertaker match wasn't the main event, a title wasn't at stake, but it stole the show Sunday night. Fans saw two giants of the industry battle for 30 exhausting, bone-crushing, chair-wielding, heart-stopping minutes. It was a classic. In the end, the Undertaker gave Triple H a Tombstone piledriver and scored the pin. The two warriors embraced, and the crowd stood and gave them an ovation you'd hear for Pavarotti at La Scala in Milan.
Only Pavarotti rarely takes a sledgehammer to the head. He's getting away with murder.
Monday morning, it was back to business for Levesque the business executive. There would be meetings and conference calls about Wrestlemania 29, scheduled for MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The Super Bowl champion New York Giants play there. That attendance record may be a little harder for the WWE to break.
"Wrestlemania is an economic windfall for the host city. Fans come from all 50 states and around the world. Wrestlemania isn't just one event on a Sunday night. Fans come on the prior Tuesday or Wednesday, and they book hotels and rent cars and eat in restaurants. Wrestlemania has evolved into many events, including the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, fashion shows and golf outings, educational events and even an art show. Wrestlemania is a cultural phenomenon."
The stadium gets its share, too. Sunday night, I pulled my rented car into the Sun Life parking lot. The stadium has only one massive parking lot, and every car pays the same, regardless of how close you park.
The attendant said, "$40."
You're serious?
"Yep, $40."
For $40, I would have walked.
Levesque said the WWE is in a "good place."
"We've grown and matured as a company. This Wrestlemania will be the biggest single night in our industry's history, but we're just scratching the surface of where we're going. We're into movies, publishing and creating our own television network later this year."
Levesque is a full-time executive, while Triple H is winding it down as a wrestler. Levesque wears a suit and tie and has his own office at WWE corporate headquarters in Connecticut. Triple H puts on his wrestling tights only a few nights a year now.
I asked him, which job do you prefer? Sure, meetings can be dull, but isn't taking a sledgehammer to the noggin a bigger headache?
"I've always had a fascination with business. I've been involved with the creative side practically since the day I started with the company in 1995. That's the part I love most, creating the stories, coming up with the spark of an idea and seeing our talent go out there and execute it.
Being allowed to be creative in your work is a wonderful gift.
"It's a cliché, I know, but we put smiles on people's faces every day. That's the fun of our business. When you go to a WWE event, and you perform, and you see the smile you put on a kid's face … that's an incredible feeling."
Then he said something I'll never understand. Getting hit with a sledgehammer once in a while is an incredible feeling, too.
"You'd have to be a professional athlete or entertainer to get that. I do miss the pain. Every year, I know I'll feel like a bus hit me the day after Wrestlemania. And the second day I'll feel like the bus backed over me again. It's a badge of courage almost. To an athlete, it becomes a point of pride, how beat up you feel the next day. It means you left everything on the playing field."
Sunday night, Triple H the wrestler left everything in the ring.
Levesque the business executive, though, put on the biggest show in wrestling history.
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