Triple H News: working with Chyna, Evolution, Mark Jindrack, legacy of Mick Foley

News

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HHH did a lengthy, out of character interview with Bleacher Report. Here are some highlights:

on working with Chyna
As the business started to change, I wanted to change the character somewhat. Before the Chyna thing, I went through a series of managers. Mr. Perfect was my manager for a few days, then he jumped ship and went to WCW. I had Curtis Hughes for like a minute.

They were trying to find the right fit to put some bells and whistles on it—which was an investment in me as a character. At that point and time I started to feel like I was doing well. It just morphed from there.

on Evolution, Mark Jindrack
Yeah sure. At the end of the day, in the wrestling business, there isn’t a whole lot of super original s–t. Even guys’ styles. Everybody had someone they grew up watching and thinking “man I want to do that.” You take five or six different things from other people and incorporate them.

We started to do Evolution, when Flair and I became friends and I started to see him losing all his confidence. I knew he could contribute. As we started talking we said, “Man, we should really do something to get people talking. Take a couple of young guys and get something rolling.”

I went to Vince and said, “Let me take two guys we think have some potential but have just been floating around kind of doing nothing. And let me make a little group with them.” Originally Flair was going to be the spokesman. If you compare it to the Horsemen, Ric was going to be J.J. (Dillon).

He said, ‘That sounds really cool.’ So Ric and I started watching everybody, and we picked Dave and Randy. There’s a story out there that it started with Mark Jindrak and Dave replaced him, but that’s not true.

The office’s suggestion was Jindrak. Dave was always in it. We even shot a vignette of all of us walking down the street together. Jindrak was actually in the shot. It was the first thing we did together, and I felt like he didn’t fit with us. Ric felt it too. So we shot it with all of us walking down the street together—but then I had them shoot one without Jindrak in it.

on working w/Mick Foley
Absolutely. And one of the things that working with Mick did, was show people “wow, this guy will go through anything too.” I earned a different level of respect.

I think for Mick and I, through all the different versions of us working together, we’re both trying to prove ourselves. Mick had worked with Undertaker and worked with Shawn (Michaels) and worked with Steve (Austin) when they were the top guys, but he was kind of the guy who was with them. I was a guy trying to come up too.

I remember having a conversation going into the Royal Rumble in 2000, because we were the main event. We were the title match and headlining. It was a big moment for both of us. We both had something to prove that night. It was a step forward. We weren’t working with someone else who was a megastar. We both came alive that night.

Check out the full interview at Bleacher Report

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs