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WWE News
WWE News: Triple H rare interview on the wrestling business, younger stars, and fatherhood Aug 16, 2008 - 2:09:04 PM
In a rare public interview, Triple H speaks at length on his view of the wrestling business in terms of younger wrestlers, determining the greatest wrestler, and how parenthood has changed his view on relationships.
"I hate to sound like an oldtimer, but sometimes I get upset about the young guys," Triple H told Tim Baines of the Ottawa Sun. "We've got guys like Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat and Michael Hayes around. That's a wealth of knowledge, and they still have to make it mandatory for guys to show up early and go into the ring with them."
Triple H identifies the disconnect between him and the younger wrestlers, who Triple H says are more concerned about recreational entertainment while complaining about their TV pushes.
"When I got into the business, you couldn't get me out of the building. I had a burning desire to get better. Now, the young guys seem more interested in their I Pods or playing Guitar Hero," Triple H said. "I see guys complaining: 'I've been here for five years and they're not doing anything with me.' I say to the guy: 'Dude, you've been doing the same thing now that you were five years ago. What do you expect?'"
Triple H also details his philosophy on determining the best wrestler in the business. He's of the school of thought that the best wrestler is the best storyteller who can draw an audience into the building.
"If you go to the internet, there's always somebody saying 'this guy is the best wrestler in the world' and you've got somebody else saying, 'no, this guy is the best wrestler in the world.' But it's not about what they like. It's what the masses like," Hunter said. "These guys they're talking about are wrestling in front of 50 people, not 20,000. And that's because the masses don't want to see them."
Being able to play a top heel to the masses is something Hunter admits he would prefer, especially with Edge playing an amazing heel character on TV. He said he watched "Dark Knight" and would rather play The Joker than Batman. "It's more fun playing a heel," Hunter said. "I look at a guy like Edge, and I mean this in the nicest way, he's getting to do such cool things."
Regarding the change from Raw to Smackdown, Hunter said the schedule is actually worse for him, but he was willing to do what was necessary in Vince McMahon's eyes. Said Hunter: "You know when you get into this line of work you're going to be gone a lot. It's really important that the time I get to spend with my family is quality time."
Triple H says being a parent has changed his outlook on relationships, especially with women. "It's changed my perspective about what's important in life," he said. "I don't know if it's softened me up, but it changes the way you look at women. I'm probably going to pay for my past."
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AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?