As noted, WWE Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development Paul “Triple H” Levesque spoke with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on First Take this week to officially announce his retirement from in-ring action. He also spoke about his health for the first time since suffering a cardiac event last year, and revealed how bad his condition got, plus more. You can click here for the original report on what he had to say from the First Take appearance, and you can click here for tributes from around the wrestling world.
In an update, the full interview was released via “Stephen A’s World” on ESPN+ and YouTube last night, which you can see below. During the full interview, Triple H revealed that he was planning on working a match at WrestleMania 38. It was noted that he had discussed WrestleMania plans with WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon, but the cardiac event nixed those plans.
“I was already at a place in my career, as far as the in-ring goes, where I was comfortable being done and finished,” he said. “If the right thing came along, I hadn’t really said much, but if the right thing came along and they wanted me to do it…
“I had a conversation with Vince McMahon about doing something at WrestleMania this year in Dallas. We had talked about and there were plans for. Obviously, when this happened, it shut all that down. As far as the schedule, WWE is an intense place, it’s 24/7 and you’re running, running, running. It put things in perspective for me.”
Triple H did not elaborate on what those plans were, but we will keep you updated.
Stay tuned for more on Triple H. The full interview with Smith can be seen below:
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