Triple H Talks Winning Last Year’s Rumble, Wearing Two Hats In WWE, And How His Kids Look At Vince

Triple H recently spoke with Crave, and as has been his preference lately, he talked mainly about a surfing penguins movie. But he also talked about winning last year's Royal Rumble. juggling the hats of performer and executive, and how his kids view their grandpa, Vince McMahon.

"It's funny, when they see him on Raw or SmackDown, he's a different character. He's the evil maniacal boss. When he does these things, he has crazy dialogue and he's the owner but it's a different light. He's the 'legendary Mr. McMahon' and he kind of is how they see him in a way. Their pop is this larger than life guy that they see as part grandpa and part James Bond or something. He's got his own airplane and he always has a souped-up car. I have to tell him all the time, if the girls say 'I'd really like to have an elephant,' I tell him 'Do not buy them an elephant.' That's how he is with them. Their vision of their pop is a little bit more like what you see in the cartoons."

Triple H won the 2016 Royal Rumble to become WWE Champion, and that's not the only reason it felt different from his previous win back in 2002.

"It was a completely different experience. 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."

The Rumble began a two month string where Triple H doubled as both WWE executive and in-ring performer. It's not always easy to do that, he says.

"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."

You can read the entire interview at this link.