Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were guests on ESPN’s First Take earlier today; you can read a few transcribed highlights (transcription credit to Bill Pritchard for Wrestlezone.com) below:
Will Stephanie put Ronda Rousey in her place at Wrestlemania?
Stephanie: From a character standpoint, absolutely—I’m going to put Ronda Rousey in her place. She’s never before competed in a WWE ring. This is her first match, and it’s at Wrestlemania. Her nerves are going to be through the roof, and she’s unfamiliar with the rules. We write the rules. It’s our ring.
HHH: Sometimes you just have to show people who they work for.
Triple H on how he feels about his wife getting in the ring:
HHH: You know what, I am completely comfortable with a strong, powerful woman that can handle herself, that can stand up for herself, that can kick ass in every aspect of life. I’m absolutely comfortable with that.
Triple H & Stephanie McMahon Say They Will Put Ronda Rousey ‘In Her Place’ At WrestleMania (Video)
Stephanie and Triple H comment on Vince being a visionary, his success with Wrestlemania:
Stephanie: My father is a visionary. He really is. When you consider that his vision of Wrestlemania 1 was really putting WWE on the map—what was our Super Bowl, what was our Grammys, what was our Oscars—and my parents mortgaged everything they owned to make it happen. Combining everything in pop culture with sports entertainment; we had Libreace and The Rockettes open the show. Muhammad Ali was the special guest referee, Cyndi Lauper accompanied Wendi Richter to the ring for the Women’s Championship match. It really was this ‘who’s who’ to get people talking at every different water cooler because back then there was no social media. Wrestlemania 1 took place in front of a capacity crowd of nearly 20,000 people in Madison Square Garden and was available on closed circuit television, which ultimately pioneered the pay-per-view industry. You talk about vision, and then you talk about Wrestlemania 34, and that will take place in front of over 75,000 people at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome—it’s not only available on pay-per-view, but on any streaming device you own through the WWE Network in 180 countries and in eight different languages—he has his fingers on the marketplace, he’s a storyteller and he’s a genius.
HHH: I also think it’s part of his philosophy of life, and he preaches it to us all of the time; treat every day like it’s the first day on the job. That might have worked for you yesterday, but what does it do for you today? So, every day we walk into it saying ‘how does it relate to today?’ And that makes you keep your finger on that pulse, and I think he does that very well.
HHH comments on Vince McMahon’s XFL revival:
HHH: I think if anything that he has proven over time is that you learn from failure much more than you learn from success. He’s gone at this once, and it didn’t work out. I think he learned a ton from that, and I think he’s been chomping at the bit for the time to be right to do it again, and I feel like he believes that the time is right now. I think he’s learned from that success and I certainly wouldn’t bet against him.
I think the time is right in the world, I think the time is right on a global basis with social media and the ability to get it out on a digital level. Instead of playing catch up to that, starting fresh with that, I think the time is right in a lot of ways.
