Triple H Praises Shad Gaspard, Indicates WWE Will Pay Tribute To Gaspard With Tonight's SmackDown

As seen above, Triple H spoke with TMZ Sports and was asked about former WWE Superstar Shad Gaspard, who passed away at the age of 39 this week after getting lost in a strong rip current while swimming near Venice Beach. Shad instructed lifeguards to first help his son, and that saved his son's life.

This week's WWE NXT episode opened with a graphic in memory of Gaspard and Triple H indicated that the same will go for tonight's SmackDown on FOX. He was asked if WWE will do something to remember Shad on RAW or anything like that. He praised Shad and recalled a recent chat he and Stephanie McMahon had with the former Cryme Tyme member.

"Obviously this was all happening in real-time, Wednesday night we put something at the beginning of the show and I'm sure we'll be doing something on SmackDown," Triple H said. "He was such a great guy. Shad was one of those guys that everybody loved.

"Stephanie and I saw him maybe six months ago. We were at FOX for a meeting and he was just coming out of the lobby, we were coming into the lobby. We probably stood there for 20 minutes talking. He was just the greatest guy, so nice."

He continued, "Finding success in all these other things he was doing, Hollywood and everything else. With the circumstances around all of this, and you know, his son, thank God he's okay. Knowing that he said, 'Save my son' and that was the last thing he did, that's all you need to know about the guy. He was just a great human being and it's tragic, and my thoughts and prayers, as are everyone's here, are to his wife and his kid, just the family, it's tragic. Even when it was happening that day, you're just holding out hope. I don't know, maybe he got picked up by a boat... you're just hanging on to anything, please don't let this be true, and as illogical as it is, unfortunately it was. Again, it's just tragic."