The most annoying things the fans do:
Not respecting that we have lives, too. When my mouth is full of food, that's not a good time to ask for an autograph. At the urinal is not the best time to shake hands. I don't like it when fans bring their kids out to the hotel at 3 a.m. to see us.
The best fan sign he's ever seen:
Have you seen "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"? I'm a big fan of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Well, I saw a sign once that said, "Triple H is good ... for me to poop on." That was great.
Favorite beer:
Doesn't drink
The best match he's ever seen:
Flair vs. Steamboat.
Thoughts on older wrestlers coming back into the ring:
If business is good, it's good for everybody. If fans enjoy it, people are coming to see them, then it's great. We justify our business by how we bring in fans. ... They might not want to watch Hogan wrestle every night, but fans will come see him.
The best part of being in WWE:
It's different for everyone. For me it's performing for thousands of people. You can get full arenas of 20,000 people, even 60,000. What we do is storytelling, more in a physical sense, not lyrical. ... I love controlling the emotions of the crowd.
The worst part of WWE:
The non-stop schedule. It's like a rock band that never stops touring, for eight years. Working on no sleep. It's a very physically demanding business. There is no "second string."
The inspiration for the Triple H character:
When I started in WWF (now WWE) eight years ago, everybody had to have a gimmick. Mine was a Greenwich snob, a blueblood. We realized we had to be more realistic. ... The Triple H character is just an extension of myself.
The most important match or angle that really got him over:
The Street Fight with Cactus Jack at Madison Square Garden.
On steroids:
I don't condone it's use. But I understand its place. I don't have a problem with people who take steroids. It's a great medicine for people who need it, and it has a place in the world just like any other medication. If a doctor feels that's what you need to improve your health or life and puts you on it, then that's great. However, if you take it without a prescription, then it's just a drug like any other drug, and you shouldn't take it. It should only be given by a doctor.
The worse thing anyone has ever said to him outside the ring:
I don't think you could print it. For such a long time in this business, I was the ultimate bad guy. I was the guy everybody just loved to hate. If I say so myself, I was very good at getting under people's skin and making them hate me. That's just what I did. When you antagonize people to hate you, you have to expect to be hated back. So I dealt with that a lot, both privately and professionally. In one sense, you hate to have too much negativity surround you, but it also meant I was doing my job well.
His biggest fear:
My biggest fear is what happened to me this past year, when I got injured. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to continue my career. And after the injury, I had fears about my leg not holding up after my comeback. Everybody has fears that they go through daily. However, there's nothing in my mind at this minute where I can give you an example of something I don't do because I'm afraid of it. I think you just have to live your life and face your fears.
If he could kick someone's ass outside of the ring, whose ass would you want to kick?
Mike Tyson
On lifting weights the first time:
The first time I picked up weights, it felt so natural. I just fell in love with bodybuilding from the start. I loved challenging myself to a hard workout. After the workout, I was exhausted and couldn't move, and after a few weeks, I noticed improvements in my body.
Advice to aspiring wrestlers:
Get an education first. Then, if you have a dream, go after it and make it happen. You can't just dream. A lot of guys go to wrestling schools and sit and wait for someone to discover them. That don't work: You have to go out and convince the powers-that-be that their business cannot survive without you. We do the TV show, Tough Enough, on MTV, which has young guys trying to be wrestlers, and at the end of the show, one gets a contract. The first question I asked them all was "If you don't get the contract, what are you gonna do?" A lot of them said things like, "I'll get a job, go back to school" and such. The one answer I was looikng for was. "I'll try again. No matter what, I'm going to be in the WWF". You need that type of determination. Having said that, there are certain realities for any business. If you are 4'11", you are not going to play in the NBA. On the other hand, if you still think that you can - if you've got that much talent - then maybe you shouldn't let anybody tell you that you can't do it.
Who he admires or has tried to emulate:
"If I had to pick an athlete in the business who influenced me, it would be Ric Flair. In his time, he was the most influential guy to me, because he was the guy who went out, and no matter who he was matched up against, he had great matches. Small, fast, slow, muscular - it didn't matter. He had great matches with everyone and that was something that very few guys did. That was something I looked up to. He had long matches, he told great stories, and he did it with everybody. He brought everyone he worked with to a higher level. My goal in to be the one who can have matches with anybody and be able to make those matches great; to make them mean something. And when the matches are over, I want to be able to say that I brought out the best in both of us."
The funniest thing that's ever happened to him in the ring:
The night Al Snow's genitalia became exposed during a suplex in our match. It was a complete accident. My thumb got hooked in Al's trunks and his unit came out. I held him up there for a good 30 seconds before I realized why everybody in the crowd was laughing so hard.
The celebrity he'd most like to get in the ring with and why:
Bob Saget, because he annoys the crap out of me
Of all the DX members, including Shawn Michaels, who had the best crotch chop:
I'll say ... Shawn. He had the most, uh -- how should I word this? -- cruel intentions with his.
Why the sledgehammer:
I kind of fell into it. I needed to smash a coffin one time with Rocky in it and a sledgehammer seemed like the appropriate thing to use. Then, it just kind of became my thing.
Personal favorite Wrestlemania moment:
It's hard to say, because there are so many. But just for epicness, the 93,000 fans in the Pontiac Silverdome when Hulk Hogan slammed Andre the Giant.
Toughest opponent at Wrestemanina:
To date, probably the Rock. He and I have had some huge battles, and we've been rivals for about 4 years. It's always a struggle between he and I.
Most embarassing moment both in the ring and while cutting a promo:
One time I was wrestling Henry Godwin when he was the Pig Farmer. He had a bucket of slop. Everything that could have gone wrong did, and at the end the crowd and the ref were laughing...and so were we
What he thinks about Tough Enough:
"It's decent as far as it goes. I wish people could see the whole story. People look at that show and think they have an idea of how tough wrestling is, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. That's just a bunch of kids getting roughed up in training a couple of days a week then going back to their nice home and having good food. Trying getting beat up for real in the ring four nights a week and sleeping in hotels and eating room service for 10 years."