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Austin asked if the NXT talents can come to him to pitch ideas. HHH says they can and said guys help them on different aspects, such as Dusty Rhodes helping with promos. HHH said he doesn't want anyone playing wrestler, but people who believe it. He said that he has a camera feed to the PC, so he can see what's going on and make different suggestions.
A Twitter question asked if anyone on the roster can be the next ultra-star in the Hogan/Austin/Rock/Cena vein. HHH said there are a lot of guys and girls where you can see the "it" factor but the business has changed and you can't just be a promo guy or a big guy or an in-ring guy anymore. Austin said there are also types who can make the complete puzzle but that doesn't mean they can draw. HHH said at the end of the day, it's also up to the guys. He talks about how Undertaker was Vince McMahon's idea but had they given it to another 100 guys, it would have died an immediate death. But, with "Mark", he's taken it to a level where it's become the greatest, most unbelievable character in the history of the business. It's up to the guys to get over the hump.
Austin said he got asked about the brass ring comment and said that sometimes fans feel it's being handed to Roman while it's being taken away from Daniel Bryan or Dolph Ziggler. HHH says sometimes you will see someone write, "They work hard." He said that everyone works hard but the business isn't about, "Well, this guy works hard, so we have to hand him something." He said when you get to the top, are you going to coast because you have stroke now or are you going to work harder.
Austin told a story of a fan hitting the ring and angry because Austin, a babyface, hit a Stunner on Chyna and HHH grabbed him and nailed a back suplex and began beating him down. Austin said Chyna had a hell of run in WWE and asked if she would ever go into the WWE Hall of Fame. HHH said that's one of those questions that gets asked a lot: does she deserve to go in? He said, "Absolutely." He said it's a little bit of a double sided-edge. She transcended and changed the business and did what no woman had ever done before. He said "all the other stuff that happened, there is no beef on this side." He said she absolutely should go in, but there's another aspect. He said he has an eight year old kid and she goes to the Hall and she thinks, "I've never heard of Chyna" and punches her up on the Internet and "there's all this stuff." HHH said he's not criticizing anybody or lifestyle choices, but just the fact of what it is, it's a difficult choice.
HHH said the Hall is a funny thing in that it's not as simple as someone had a legendary career. "We can't becayse of this legal thing. We can't because of this political thing." If you call someone and want to to put them in and they say No, what can you do? He said that he's such a huge fan of the history of the business and that's why it's been a thrill to help Bruno Sammartino and Ultimate Warrior get into the Hall. They talked a little about bringing Bruno into the Hall. Austin asked if it was harder to get Warrior or Vince back in. HHH said it was different but it was about a lot of listening and earning trust. Bruno, he called cold and Bruno didn't know him and had to learn to trust him. Warrior and he had no trust and that made it more difficult. Warrior said you live and you learn and you grow. HHH said he was in a different place in his life and his career when he worked with Warrior. He had a bad personal experience but his first Wrestlemania was against The Ultimate Warrior. It was rough then and over the years, things are said and they had to get past that for themselves and a wehole lot between Warrior and Vince. He said that as he opened up to the process, Warrior was very misunderstoood and didn't know how to communicate. Austin said he's the same way and when he goes into that DTA mode, he makes a lot of mistakes.
Austin asked what was more influential - the NWO or DX. HHH said initially it was NWO because of the reality they brought to the business but it quickly got watered down and fell apart. HHH said over time, DX did more over the various incarnations to influence how they did things and do things in the business and not take them too seriously but still keep them something that were worth fighting over.
HHH was asked if he could go back and time and face anyone, who would it be He immediately said Buddy Rogers and talked about how Rogers transcended the business and could talk the talk and walk the walk and was amazing at manipulating the crowd. He was the first larger than life character and was different from say a Lou Thesz, who was a guy who worked in the ring.
Austin asked him about CM Punk and their personal issues. HHH said "Yeah" when he asked if they were cool. He said he heard stories when Punk was in OVW that he didn't like him and was out to bury him. HHH said he didn't even know who he was and had never seen tapes of his work. He saiod that when Punk came to WWE, he felt that somehow carried over. HHH said, "I don't lknow to be honest. I never had a beef with him." He said when they worked together in the ring, "it was done for the right reasons. It was done to get us into him and get him more over, but the decisions that were made were Vince's and they were done to help [Punk] and then they didn't work out for whatever reason...Nash couldn't hang and couldn't be here...but he held a grudge on that. He's a weird cat and I don't mean that in an insulting way. He's hard to get to know. He doesn't talk. He doesn't communicate well. I would hear from everybody now in my role as, you know, talent relations that he's livid today, he's quitting and I'd go to him and ask him what was going on and he was like, 'Nothing.' It's tough."
Austin asked if Punk could ever come back to WWE. HHH said you never say never and pointed out that Hogan and Bruno came back. He said if the fans want it...."It's my regret that we couldn't get past all this stuff with him. He didn't want to be here anymore. If this isn't his passion anymore, you can't be here anymore. You can't."
They did word association:
Shawn Michaels - Greatest In-Ring Performer Ever.
Ric Flair - Greatest all around ever.
Kevin Nash - Very underrated mind for the business, but just hard to get past his personality and he's very blunt.
Scott Hall - The guy HHH learned more from walking into WWF then anyone else.
Eddie Guerrero - He misses him. When he could let go of insecurities, he was amazing.
Goldberg - A guy he credits with changing the intensity of the business. He was explosive. He started to cross the line.
Brock Lesnar - Freak and that's a positive.
Paul Heyman - There's a fine line between crazy and genius and he rides it like a razor blade.
Owen Hart- One of the nicest and finest guys he knew. His passing was a tragic situation. Owen would just tell you that he was going to stink the joint out and then go do it in the ring.
Bret Hart - Unbelievable technician and maybe sometimes takes yourself too seriously.
Undertaker - Respect.
Kane - The constant. Underrated.
Pat Patterson - Genius for the business who he respects so much. Pat was the guy who no matter what, when he opened his mouth, it was the smartest thing ever.
Michael Hayes - So underrated for his contributions to the business. Austin said the Freebirds should be in the Hall in Dallas.
Austin said there's a disconnection between pro wrestler and sports-entertainer and asked where HHH is. HHH says he can recognize the differences, but anyone can play football but few make it to the NFL. You can be a wrestler but if you make it to WWE, you are in a small percentage. The sports-entertainer part is because you have to explain it to people.
Austin closed out asking about Brock Lesnar's contract status. HHH said they had a great working relationship right now and it's all up to Brock. They are in discussions but perhaps Brock feels there is unfinished business with MMA. >P>Austin had one more and asked if the Streak should have been broken. HHH says he can see both sides but to him, it's the home run record that shouldn't have ever been broken. He said that for Taker to give all that back and let someone else benefit...he can see both sides. He said that what you have put Brock through to get him where he is now didn't happen by accident and that was part of it.
HHH said he has stroke like Vince and decided they would keep going. Austin said Kevin Dunn was trying to wrap him up. They kept going. They talked about how promos have changed. Austin asked if they didn't trust the talents today to cut their own deals. HHH said it's a trust thing and a different era and live TV and they have to be careful with what is said because of different sponsors. Some guys are better scripted. Some do bullet points. some change it into their own verbiage and some are on their own. In NXT, they do their own promos and then get feedback so they can learn and perhaps one day get back to when it all was all guys doing bullet points.
HHH was asked if he could change one thing about Raw. HHH said it would be go back to two hours because the third hour makes it a difficult show to write. He didn't definitively say they are "married" to a three hour show, as Austin called it. HHH said he'd also like if stories developed slower because he's a slow burn guy. HHH said you can't please everyone and some fans today are certainly a short attention span theater thing. He'd also like to see the women get more time.
HHH said he was training twice a day to prepare for an in-ring return and said "Stay tuned" not wanting to give away the Sting story.
That was it. A good hour.
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