Triple H Talks About WrestleMania, Angle Wrestling Again, Orton Not Reaching His Potential

As we gear up for WrestleMania 33, WWE COO Triple H spoke with Peter Rosenberg this week for a special 1-on-1 interview on Rosenberg’s Cheap Heat Podcast. Here are some highlights of what Triple H said about:

His promo with Mick Foley to end last week’s RAW:

“It was great. It’s funny, there’s certain guys or women you have a certain chemistry with. When you get on screen with them, everything clicks and you just have magic. It’s that way with Mick. I think for both of us, we both felt it was a trip back 15 years in time. He and I haven’t been in the ring together forever. It was very cool to have that moment. He brings out an intensity in me, I think I bring that out in him, where he can get real emotional. It’s just a very cool place, we’re both really excited about it.”

Trying to get organic reactions from performers:

“To me, as a character, you look in the other guy’s eyes and you see what he’s bringing to you. I know what’s behind Mick’s [eyes] and I know if I move forward, I know the reaction I’m going to get. I’ll never forget, there was a time years ago when, sometimes a guy is not tense enough, you do something to them, you’re trying to get a reaction because it’s all about that reaction and that chemistry with each other. I had done something with a guy where I had kind of pie faced him in the ring because he wasn’t intense and I knew that would just infuriate him and make him fire up on me. It was actually my brother-in-law [Shane McMahon]. I knew it would just infuriate him and it did. It got the reaction I wanted to get and it made for a great TV moment.

I did that years later with another performer and the guy absolutely just shrank and looked at me like, ‘Why would you do that to me?’ It was the exact wrong reaction but I was taking a guess at it because he was giving me nothing. When you work with someone like Mick, when you work together so many times, I know when I press him what he’s going to give me and he knows what I’m going to give him back. That’s part of the chemistry.”

What are the main differences between his era and the current generation of up-and-comers?

“Part of it is just experience. It’s funny, Shawn Michaels and I have had this conversation because he’s been doing a lot of things with us down at the Performance Center. I have said to him every now and then, you just have to say to yourself, ‘These kids are learning. It’s developmental, right? When you’re working with them at that level.’ We forget sometimes how brief a period of time some of these guys have been doing this. Because they’re at WrestleMania or because they’re at RAW and it’s packed and it’s huge, you think these guys are the best in the world. But they’ve been doing it for like 2 years. Or they’ve been doing this for 3 years. Or sometimes you find guys who have been doing it for 15 years, but out on the independent circuit and nobody has been guiding them. They’ve been the best guy there forever and nobody’s been helping them get better. They don’t do a lot of TV interviews, they don’t do a lot of character stuff. They might have been physically in the ring.

One guys says, ‘I’ve been working for 10 years.’ But you’ve been working what, a couple days a month? So the level of skill is different and I think when you break it down to today vs. then, it’s an experience level. You get to the point where you know what you’re doing, but the experience where you can just feel it and be in that moment without having to think or worry about what to do or how to react. It’s a feel, it’s not a think. I think that only comes with experience. This job, you get better the more reps you do.”

Of the current generation, who got it the easiest?

“It’s hard to say ‘it clicked right away.’ There’s guys that you see came from ‘not having it at all’ but you could see it was there, I’d say Bray Wyatt. Seth Rollins, it took him a while to get comfortable. The Shield were all able to get comfortable together and support each other, while they were getting used to the system and the environment. It’s hard, if you’re by yourself and it’s all on you, it’s a difficult spot. If you have backup like that, those groups, and time to get comfortable.. It’s a comfort level. You get inside your own head, you question what you know, what you don’t know, you start thinking instead of reacting and feeling. That’s what it all comes down to. ”

Who are some of the guys who seemingly became great naturally?

“I’ll tell you the guy who sticks out most to me is Kurt Angle. It probably sounds convenient because he’s going into the Hall of Fame this year, but I remember when they first started talking about Kurt and he came in and he was super green. He just started, he didn’t know what he was doing, but he picked up the physicality of it second nature. But the entertainment component of it, the personality component, being larger than life .. Amateur wrestlers, Olympic wrestlers like that, they don’t want to show emotion, pain or excitement. They want to keep it on even keel and just do what they do and keep their emotions in check because it burns energy. It’s a different vibe. To be able to come in and flip that switch and go the other way .. A couple years into his career and he was main-eventing WrestleMania, it was amazing, having this unbelievable run of success that he had no right to be having that early into his career …

Another guy is Randy Orton. I told him from the beginning, the only one that could stop him from succeeding is Randy. He can be a little bit of a self destructor, but he has everything it takes. I don’t know if that’s because he’s just gifted or because he watched his dad who was great for so long. I don’t know what it is, but he just has it all. I still think Randy doesn’t take advantage of all the tools he has. He does what he needs to do. I just think he’s that good. I don’t know if that’s me believing in him more than he believes in him. Don’t get me wrong, he’s great, I just wonder how great he could be.”

Is there a chance we’ll see Kurt Angle wrestle in WWE again?

“Yeah. I’ve been clear with Kurt in every conversation we’ve had on this topic. It’s a proving ground. He did a lot of great things, then there was a lot of time under the table, there was a lot of baggage, all of those things. It just comes back down to, ‘Let’s get back together. Let’s see how it goes. If it goes well for you, if it goes well for us and everything is great, we’ll see where it goes from there.”

How wrestling is different from all other contact sports:

“The difference between our business and all other sports is that the idea in all other sports, like in football, is to hit the other guy as hard as you can. [With us], safety is the firs thing you should learn. If you cannot protect your opponent, do not do it. The intent in our [sport] is the exact opposite. We want to make it look as good as possible with the least amount of impact as possible.”

Other topics discussed include the rise of Braun Stroman, what he’s most excited for at WrestleMania, The Miz earning his respect, the unpredictability of Goldberg vs. Lesnar and WrestleMania becoming an entire week of festivities.