- Triple H was interviewed by The Long Island Press this weekend to promote Inside Out. Here are some highlights:
So what sorts of people do you think are drawn to wrestling?
It’s people who want to be entertainers. This is all they ever wanted to do. Then we have guys who were football players, and it didn’t pan out for them. And they think, man, I want to do something athletic. Maybe I’ll give this wrestling thing a try. But we have all different types. This is not for everybody. It’s a very physical business. And there’s a lot of travel, it’s the second largest touring thing in the world, next to the circus. It’s nonstop. And that’s not a lifestyle for everybody.
What’s the best thing, and the worst thing about being a wrestler?
The best thing is those 20 minutes that you stand between those ropes and you get to perform for the fans. And the worst part? Traveling from town to town. You know, they want to see John Cena, the guy they see on TV every week. “Holy cow, now he’s in my home town! Wrestling in front of me!†But to do that, you have to travel around the world. But it’s the stuff you do… You’re willing to do it to get those 20 minutes inside the ring.
How true to life do you feel The Wrestler (the movie with Mickey Rourke) was?
I feel [it was] true to life for a very small segment. Like when they’re portraying Mickey as working on what they call the independent scene of wrestling—that’s very small. Is it reflective of the WWE? Absolutely not. In no way. Does it exist out there? Sure, it does. I think that portrayal of it was accurate. You know, from the standpoint of a guy so willing to hang on to that pipedream that he will go to the lowest depths of what it is he does, to try to hang on to it. But for every guy who ends up that way, there’s 10 guys that end up in a great place. But that’s not a very exciting story! So it’s much easier to tell the other one.
So what sorts of people do you think are drawn to wrestling?
It’s people who want to be entertainers. This is all they ever wanted to do. Then we have guys who were football players, and it didn’t pan out for them. And they think, man, I want to do something athletic. Maybe I’ll give this wrestling thing a try. But we have all different types. This is not for everybody. It’s a very physical business. And there’s a lot of travel, it’s the second largest touring thing in the world, next to the circus. It’s nonstop. And that’s not a lifestyle for everybody.
What’s the best thing, and the worst thing about being a wrestler?
The best thing is those 20 minutes that you stand between those ropes and you get to perform for the fans. And the worst part? Traveling from town to town. You know, they want to see John Cena, the guy they see on TV every week. “Holy cow, now he’s in my home town! Wrestling in front of me!†But to do that, you have to travel around the world. But it’s the stuff you do… You’re willing to do it to get those 20 minutes inside the ring.
How true to life do you feel The Wrestler (the movie with Mickey Rourke) was?
I feel [it was] true to life for a very small segment. Like when they’re portraying Mickey as working on what they call the independent scene of wrestling—that’s very small. Is it reflective of the WWE? Absolutely not. In no way. Does it exist out there? Sure, it does. I think that portrayal of it was accurate. You know, from the standpoint of a guy so willing to hang on to that pipedream that he will go to the lowest depths of what it is he does, to try to hang on to it. But for every guy who ends up that way, there’s 10 guys that end up in a great place. But that’s not a very exciting story! So it’s much easier to tell the other one.