Triple H would love to say yes to a potential dream match against AJ Styles, but he knows he doesn’t have the time to devote to getting ready for a challenge of that magnitude.
Triple H took part in a media call ahead of NXT TakeOver: Stand And Deliver next week on Peacock and USA Network and was asked about the potential of him returning to the ring for a WrestleMania match. For context, he was asked by talkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy about AJ Styles “pestering him” for a match, and Triple H said Styles definitely does it and he’s open to the idea—if he could find the time to train for it.
Triple H explained how he’s not afraid of putting in the work for a WrestleMania-caliber match, but he just doesn’t have the bandwidth or time for it right now.
“I’ve said this before, but getting ready for WrestleMania is a different thing, and the older you get, the harder it gets. Doing this once a year or once every couple of years, especially now, is not an easy task. You try to stay in the best shape you can, but that’s not ‘WrestleMania shape’ and it’s a different thing. When he first came to me, I said, ‘AJ, I’m not going to tell you no. Personally, I’d love to work with you and at this point, you can carry me to something.’ So, I’d love it.
“The personal side of it, the performer side of it, I would love nothing more, but the reality is—I’m not going to have the bandwidth or availability schedule-wise to be able to pull that off. He would come to me every week or every other week when I would see him and say, ‘How’s that bandwidth coming? You going to be able to make this happen?’ I’d say I’m not, but I’m flattered by that—I really am—and I’m humbled by it. I wish I had the bandwidth to do it, and I’m not saying I won’t be able to do it in the coming year, if it’s right and everyone believes it should be done.
“I’m at the point where to me, the in-ring stuff is bonus. It’s funny—[Ric] Flair calls me all the time to tell me, ‘You have to get back in the ring. You have to go to WrestleMania you have to have that closure and do this, whatever, a ‘retirement match.’ There’s a part of me that wants to do it, and then there’s just a bigger part of me that says, ‘I’m so busy 24/7, that to even try and contemplate how to train in the way I would want to train and get in-shape—and by shape, I don’t mean look—in-shape ring wise so you don’t embarrass yourself once you get in there at 52. It’s a lot of work and I don’t know that I have—I’m not afraid of the work. If I could make more hours in the day, I could find time to do it. It’s just time.”
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