WWF.com interview (7/25/01)

Backstage at Invasion, WWF.com caught up with Triple H, who has been seen frequently at World Wrestling Federation events recently, even though he's rehabilitating his torn left quadriceps.

WWF.com: How are you doing?

Triple H: I'm doing good. My rehab is going well. I've just graduated to not being on crutches. I'm coming along well. But I'm still a long way away from being back to where I want to be, obviously.

WWF.com: When did you get off the crutches?

Triple H: I got off the crutches Wednesday.

WWF.com: What can you do now? Can you drive a car?

Triple H: I've gained a lot of freedom this week. I'm off crutches, which is a godsend. I'm able to drive a car, so I don't have to wait for people to shuttle me around. So that's a huge deal for me. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll be able to start riding a stationary bike, which will be a big deal for me because it'll help my healing along. It gets better by leaps and bounds every day, it's just that this is a pretty major injury and it's going to take me a long time to get back from it.

WWF.com: Is it my imagination or are you a little bit slimmer than before your injury?

Triple H: When I first had the surgery I dropped 25 pounds. I was in the hospital for seven days - and if you've ever been in the hospital, the food's not great. And for most of that time I was pretty heavily medicated because I was in a lot of pain. So I dropped 25 pounds. I've probably gained back seven or eight of it. It's going to take me a while to gain that kind of weight back. And a lot of that of course is my leg. One of my legs is a string bean. I think I'm 245 right now, and when I'm in the ring, I usually go about 260, depending on how long we've been on the road and everything like that. I'm still a good 15 pounds from where I want to be - or my wrestling weight anyway.

WWF.com: Are you sick of rehab yet?

Triple H: It's the kind of thing that you can't allow yourself to get sick of it. Do I want to do it every day? Do I want to get stuck in Birmingham, Alabama, and not on the road or be at home or be around my family? I'm sick of all that. But I'm not sick of the rehab because every day that I do rehab I get a little better.

WWF.com: What brings you backstage?

Triple H: In this business, there's a lot of ways to contribute without necessarily being in the ring. That's kind of what I'm here trying to do. We added a lot of new guys, and I'm trying to help out to whatever degree I can. If it's teaching guys, I can help to teach guys. If it's laying out things for guys - whatever I'm needed to do. I'm kind of working in an agent role while I'm not in the ring.

WWF.com: I saw you in Providence for RAW IS WAR last week. Are you going to start coming to all the TV tapings until you return?

Triple H: I've come to TVs the last three weeks, but I just had my license to go to TVs pulled from me by the rehab people. I'm going to have a miss a while because what was happening was -- with travel days and everything -- I was missing a lot of rehab. Basically what they came and told me was, 'You can either put the time in now or you can put it on later.' It's just going to slow my comeback, and obviously my first passion of this job is being in the ring. That's what I want to do. I love coming to TVs. But if it's going to take away from my comeback, then I have to put it on hold. I have to make myself stay away and get better.

WWF.com: How hard it is not to be part of the show?

Triple H: It's very hard. Very hard. To come to a Pay-Per-View -- you come here and the atmosphere and electricity in the back is up -- it's very difficult to not be a part of it. Especially when you're in the prime of your career and you just want to be out there going and contributing and you can't. But I contribute in the back, and I'll help these guys put it together and get my jollies in the back watching them perform it.

WWF.com: It's been said by some that you're "married to this business." Is that accurate?

Triple H: Yeah, I think that'd be pretty accurate. I'm sure some of the people that have been in my life in the past would say that very bitterly. And I can't say that they're wrong.

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