What’s the story?
In a recent interview with CraveOnline, Triple H discussed his participation and eventual victory in last year’s Royal Rumble. He also spoke about how difficult it was for him to be in an executive role and perform inside the ring simultaneously.
In case you didn’t know…
For the first time in WWE history, the Royal Rumble match was contested for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (held by Roman Reigns) last year. Triple H entered the match at number 30 and became the champion after last eliminating Dean Ambrose. This was his second Royal Rumble victory overall, with the first one coming back in 2002. Although he managed to stave off Ambrose’s challenge at Roadblock, ‘The Game’ conceded the title to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 32.
The heart of the matter
Speaking about his Royal Rumble win last year, Triple H said that it came out of the blue and had a lot to do with injury issues and people moving positions. According to him, the pressure was more about doing his job and competing in the ring at the same time than about how he would fare physically as he was still in good shape. That being said, he was of the opinion that it needed a lot of effort to perform against an athlete like Roman Reigns.
Here’s what ‘The Cerebral Assassin’ said:
“Last year was kind of out of the blue and given the circumstances of where we were talent wise, we had a lot of injuries and a lot of people moved positions, which changed a lot of things about the show. Any time you’re put in that position, you put a lot of pressure on yourself.
The pressure is less for me from a physical standpoint because I’m still in decent shape and I’m in this business every day so my mind is still fresh. The pressure for me was trying to do my job and that job at the same time. With the things I operate on like live events, talent and creative, there’s so much to do on a day-to-day basis that it’s hard to get it done regularly.
In addition to that, it’s one thing to look decent, it’s another thing to be able to get in the ring and physically perform especially with an athlete like Roman Reigns. So you have to get back into the gym and train twice a day.”
Asked about the difficulties in handling his work as well as doing wrestling duties, ‘The Game’ explained that it is hard to say ‘no’ when asked to perform in front of the fans because it is very much a part of his identity. However, it creates a huge workload and makes it tough for an individual to enjoy being in the ring. Referring to his WrestleMania experience last year, Triple H admitted that he dealt with a lot of other issues in the lead-up to his match.
‘The King of Kings’ had this to say:
“The common belief is that for myself and other guys are that we can’t step away from it or can’t let it go but I’d love to [laughs]. As much as I enjoyed last year, when the company asks if you want to go out and compete in front of 100,000 people, it’s hard to say no because it’s a piece of who you are. But at the same time, the workload it creates for you is so massive that it’s hard for you to enjoy it.
Even the WrestleMania experience, I spent my time going from a business partner to trying to produce NXT Takeover to trying to oversee the television and if talent have an issue, my match is up in two or three matches and there’s a talent issue I have to deal with, I’m not out of the pocket. It becomes an intense workplace.”
What next?
Triple H and Seth Rollins are all set for a showdown at WrestleMania 33 but we may get to see them go at each other much before that, perhaps at the Royal Rumble.
Sportskeeda’s Take
It has been truly remarkable on Triple H’s part to step into the ring whenever the WWE needs him to despite being such a key figure in the company’s administration and shows the immense passion that he has for the business.
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