WWE News: Triple H Receives First Ever ‘Spirit Of Lemmy’ Award At Download Festival


WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and wrestling superstar Triple H received the first ever Golden Gods Spirit of Lemmy award, an award created to honor Motörhead’s late frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister. The award was presented to him at the annual Download Festival, held at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England. Lemmy passed away from cancer on December 28, 2015. Triple H and Lemmy were close friends, and Motörhead had recorded three different entrance songs for Triple H: “The Game,” “Line in the Sand (Evolution),” and “King of Kings.” Triple H was also featured on the spoken word track “Serial Killer,” from Motörhead’s album Hammered. He was presented the award by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, directly after Megadeth completed their set at the festival.

This also marked the first time that WWE’s NXT, founded by Triple H, was a part of the festival; Triple H recently spoke to Kerrang and described how he felt being included in the festivities with bands like Black Sabbath.

“Oh my god, it’s just like my childhood come to life! As a kid growing up, Sabbath and Iron Maiden were two of my biggest bands that I followed religiously – I still have every album on vinyl, you know, all of that. And then slightly later when Rammstein came in, that was a totally different sound for me that I was really into and still listen to to this day. So, you know, I’ve been fortunate in my career also to be able to connect to these people and a lot of these bands in some way over the years. I had a close friendship with Lemmy, and Motörhead playing my music. I’ve done everything from press days to having Ozzy on RAW. It’s a great relationship and I look forward to doing more and more, and it’s great to see these guys still on top of the world.”

WWE News Triple H received Spirit of Lemmy award
Lemmy Kilminster of Motorhead performs on stage on June 12th, 2005 at day three of the Download Festival [Photo by Dave Etheridge-Barnes/Getty Images]

In an interview with Metal Hammer, Triple H described his history with Lemmy and Motörhead.

“I got into them as a kid. I was really into the more metal, or heavy rock, side of things, especially the British bands. It was when the Iron Maidens were coming through, a really great time for music, but I remember I heard Motörhead, and it was just totally different to anything I’d ever heard before. It was so heavy, so raw and powerful, and Lemmy’s voice was just so different to everything else out there. Metal at that time, there was a lot of high-pitched vocals, but Lemmy’s was this low, guttural rumble. It was just totally different, and I was blown away by it…”

“It’s funny; after Motörhead did The Game, Lemmy used to say to me that there were a lot more younger kids at Motörhead shows. You’d get people that’d have heard of Motörhead, but they’d think it was, like, a biker brand or something, like, ‘I’d heard of these guys, but I didn’t know they sounded like this!’ They were just so different to anything else [being used in WWE] at the time. And after I posted on social media after he passed away, a lot of people replied to me saying, ‘Thank you for getting me into Motörhead’. That meant a lot to me. We also got some [WWE] flags made for the funeral, and it was really cool seeing those up there as well.”

Motörhead performed The Game live for Triple H’s entrance theme at both Wrestlemania 17 and 21.

With the personal and professional relationship Triple H had with Lemmy, it’s apropos that he would be the first recipient of the Spirit of Lemmy award. At Lemmy’s funeral, Triple H explained the spirit that the rock icon had.

“…That is how I will remember him—as just that beacon of strength and laughter—the thing I will say about Lemm’, whether he meant to do it or not, he was an inspiration on how to live your life. Live your life for you; do what you want to do. He did it his way right until the last day and if there is a better way to go out I don’t know what it is…he was an inspiration. I can’t think of a better gift, I can’t think of a better man…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PMJzpLWlDU

[Photo via WWE]

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