Triple H Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex

time to play the

game time to play the

game come on guys the shoes are wrapped

in plastic you didn't think I was still

going to do this did

you it's all about the game and how you

play it all about control if you can

take it everybody it's Joe from complex

we're in Stanford Connecticut at L

streams with the CCO and WWE Hall of

Famer Triple H how you doing I'm good

man how are you we do some sneaker

shopping today see what he's feeling

what he's not and then hopefully he's

going to buy some sneakers hopefully

let's

[Music]

go Triple H I want to take it all the

way back two sport athlete coming up

baseball basketball do you remember even

back then what shoes you were wearing to

play basketball in uh you know I'm I'm

old so like for me the cloth all stars

were where it was started I'm old enough

to remember sort of where the um the the

all leather high tops probably like the

pro leather Like Larry Bird era Magic

Johnson even Larry Bird was the you know

look I where I grew up Nash New

Hampshire right the Celtics were the

thing yeah and I grew up in a Great era

so going to watch bird and Robert Parish

and male and all those guys was a

magical time you know those with the

shoes uh though for me when it came out

think my mom was pretty smart looked at

me and like you kind of suck at

basketball the $100 shoes aren't going

to make you any better at basketball so

just stick with whatever you can get for

30 and it was probably like Converses it

probably was and you know I love that

you pulled up in sneakers there's like

even like Reddit threads like the we

haven't seen Triple H wear sneakers in a

while cuz you're always in like suits

and stuff like that but special occasion

I love that you wore the Blazers yeah

look my kids got me these so I was

hoping when I walked in here you would

think they were cool awesome cuz I don't

know um yeah look I'm in suits uh 90% of

the time uh just for workwise and the

sneaker culture has hit that world as

well like the business um it's just a

tougher transition for us to go from uh

suit and dress shoes to a suit with

sneakers on but that's the thing now so

I got to get I got to up my game

absolutely you said that like early

basketball you were into like the first

iterations of Chuck Taylor's but flexing

Intercontinental Champion 2000 photo

shoot you're wearing these night do you

remember this photo at all I remember

the photo I don't remember the shoes and

my guess is at that time in my life

someone gave me those okay I probably

did a shoot somewhere or I probably did

something where they gave me the

sneakers at that time in my life that's

early 2000s we were running like that's

a 300 day a year Road schedule different

city every day right you know for the

most part we were looking for the

allpurpose do anything yes like that's

why the high-techs the boots at the

times like the sneaker boots were like a

big thing for all of us just because you

could it didn't matter if it was snowing

like you might be in a town one day it's

snowing the next day it's 90 you've got

to do a runin in them on TV it's

function yeah and and really that was

where it was at it was shortly after

that guys really started to get into the

fashion of the shoes when now it's it's

transitioned crazy another classic photo

we had Stone on around 2 years ago is

like a gril get for us you as well

rocking to Chuck Taylor with Stone Cold

WWE Magazine yeah there you go and and

so here's the thing on that like this is

a convenience why am I wearing Chuck

Taylor's cuz they lay flat in your bag

and take less room in your suitcase okay

and that was probably when you were on

the road 300 days absolutely okay so

easy condensable sneakers yeah you know

like it boggles my mind sometimes when I

see guys that have been on the road for

a couple of weeks and I'll see them two

or three times in a time that they're

gone and I see them in different shoes

every time and I'm like what do you have

like a a suitcase that you dragg for

your sneakers and they're like yeah I do

yeah like they have a bag that's pretty

much just shoes

[Music]

crazy getting to current day wrestling

like complex did a post recently about

how Jordan took over Monday night CM

Punk bought his first pair of Jordans on

this show then you have Dominic Mysterio

Kofi Kingston Roman Reigns what do you

think about like those two worlds

colliding and coming from like a

traditional wrestling background and now

seeing so many wrestlers coming out in

Jordans and sneakers what what do you

think about that I love it you know it's

if you're the Youth of the world that is

watching this show how do you connect

with our Superstars and that's just

another connection point that makes them

cool and and and puts them on another

plane of being a superstar and you know

it's funny that we have talent now that

will come up to me at TV and ask like

hey I got this run in later are you cool

if I go in my street clothes I got these

new Jordans or whatever wow they want to

flex yeah I want to I want I just got

these and I want to I want to run in and

do do you sign off mostly absolutely

yeah you know and and now like I'm old

school I'm traditional like I like

wrestling boots right but they've

transition now to a lot of guys like

wearing sneakers in the ring they they

like the comfort of it but they also

like to as you point they like that Flex

of it like to be able to go out there

and have that athletic ability but have

them in something that is that stylish

and it's a big thing in the locker room

too believe me comp competitive dude the

the competitive nature do you walk by

and your sometimes like enough or like

you like to see it no I don't even know

what they're talking about time but like

but they're all like I hear them talking

like do you see Roman shoes like you

know what I mean you see this or you

know somebody will walk up to gorilla

right before we they walk through the

curtain and I'll see them all walk over

like oh man you know like can just go

straight to the shoes you know it's

again it's not just a flex on TV

backstage def Flex in the locker room

you know you do have some history the

Cena pump era do you remember the rebok

pump era early 2000s he was rocking

those but I found this I love

this well excuse me if I'm not afraid of

the guy whose one big move is pumping up

his

Rebox do you remember that promo at all

or like at least his I don't know what

the [ __ ] I was thinking with my hair

right there yeah but the era of Cena

pumps was a big era of wrestling

stopping and pumping up his shoes was

like a huge thing right and at the time

there was some of us in that era where

like look Austin wor what he wore like

when you would see Austin and he had the

Jorts before Cena did right with the the

Jorts and the knee braces just C he

because what he wore to the building

that day yeah you know what I mean yeah

just came game ready it was

yeah

couple weeks ago big moment on Raw we

see Travis Scott Reggie from Jordan Neil

all walking like into the arena his

shoes break records we talked about it

kind of off camera always what do you

think about Travis's cultural impact and

like even then it's yeah these the sixes

and the ones breaks records on Nike

sneakers apps and like having him there

what do you think about like the

crossover of that audience and the way

he can move product look it's it's

massive

you know when you have somebody at his

level that can say hey this is cool and

it's the biggest thing that there is in

in some way and I've heard them say it

so I'm not saying anything uh that I

made it but like in in a way he might be

more important to the brand than Michael

is right now just cuz he's moving units

and he's like active yeah and and what's

cool you the thing about him his ears on

the ground at all times right so it's

not a hey I think kids will like this

it's not a hey I think this will work

it's like that'll work this will work

like I know what they want absolutely um

and I think that that's a a cool place

because in today's world if it's not

authentic you can't make it work totally

and you know have you had meetings with

Reggie Reggie's the guy like you know

there's so many Roman we see there's so

many wrestlers that are over do you

think it's time for a wrestler to have

like a signature Jordan deal or what I

do you know it's funny I've thought it

for a long time when when you look at

our world

much like what Travis is doing there

that's bigger obviously and how you can

affect that culture but I think that our

performers affect that culture just as

much as well you know when when you hear

uh if you go to a game in almost any

sport you'll hear our entrance themes

playing in that Stadium or that Arena

right like you'll hear the the sayings

and the chants and the catchphrases that

are Talent use you can't go to a game

without people wooing like flair you

know uh I see athletes doing the Roman

Reigns one all the time you know I think

the ye thing that Jay has now brought

back it it all affects culture in a big

way and I think um if somebody doesn't

do the signature line with some of our

talent you know a Cody rhods a Jay Uso

Roman Reigns I think they're missing the

boat on something that can be very

impactful towards their business

absolutely another thing we got to talk

about Bad Bunny another huge star I love

like I think 3 years ago in March he

debuted one of his new Adidas

collaborations on Raw which is amazing

someone that big using raw to debut it

was a backstage photo it wasn't like

anything that was so zoomed in on the

sneakers but just subtle and all the

blogs picked it up but yeah what do you

think about him debuting the sneakers on

Raw I love it name the bigger platform

right right right like it it used to be

25 years ago um somebody might go on

like The Tonight Show with a cool pair

of shoes on yes they always used to do

that and people would lose their mind

now the who watches the tonight's show

no no fans right but like what what is

that place where a celebrity can come

and get buzzed where can they go promote

their whatever they're doing whether

it's a film whether it's something else

they can come on our in our world and

the amount of eyeballs that they get on

them not not just in the programming but

digital and social right where the you

know we just got the I think the 10th

ever 100 saw that YouTube subscription

yeah got to talk about your legacy you

know you think back to the days of

Pheasant Lane Mall newshire you know

done your research the DX Legacy though

this vintage te it had like a whole

after like vintage te's super rare this

is like $200 I had to get like

overnighted from Texas but what do you

think about when you see kind of like

the aftermarket of like memorabilia DX

when I had stone cold I talked about

like the 316 shirts but how awesome is

it to see something like that and like

this live on it's it's crazy people talk

all the time about the Attitude Era we

didn't realize that's what it was at the

time it was just Thursday or whatever

day it was you were just doing what you

did you mentioned Pheasant Lane Mall one

of the times that I it really first hit

me of how big we had gotten was I used

to go there all the time there was a g

and C there I would get home off the

road for 18 days or whatever I'd need to

pick up some supplements I'd go to that

GNC at the mall I'd run in grab

supplements right before I have to leave

to go back on the road and I went to go

get supplements and it was maybe a 100

yard off the entrance pulled in walked

in the door by the time I walked to the

escalator to go down to the next level I

looked back there was like 200 people

following me and I was like holy [ __ ] I

never even made it to the store it

started to become a mob scene security

came and like they got me out of there

and people followed me leaving to try to

get home like I had to drive around for

like 45 minutes to lose people to go

back to my house and it was the first

time I was like well I get some done

going to the mall yes right it was the

first time that I realized how big it

was getting but to see that impact 30

years later yes kids who who didn't even

watch it wearing the shirts I I think

sometimes that there's kids wearing

those shirts that don't even know what

it is right dropping this week the

episode dropping big week WrestleMania

week I'm hearing Rumblings of surprises

how excited are you for this

WrestleMania a a really big one what

could we expect well you know it's it's

just look back and you go 40 years right

so 40 years as we roll into this um the

business is probably I can look at it

different now like where I just said a

minute ago like we didn't know was the

attitude ER the time having lived

through that I can look at it right now

and say we're in another era like that

yeah people won't put a tag on it like

we didn't call it the Attitude Era in

the Attitude Era you know what Ian yes

yes they'll put a tag on it later or

whatever it is but if we can maintain

we're we're in that same white hot level

of you know everything sold out

everything we we doing is just clicking

um and you see it Travis Scout wanting

to come in you see it Bad Bunny

wrestling with us you see it the rock

coming back Rock's got a busy schedule

if if wrestling's on the down he ain't

coming in yeah right um so you see that

you see that excitement Wrestlemania 40

will be massive and we're going to do

everything we can to make it the biggest

WrestleMania in history can't wait can't

wait well we talked about everything now

is the easy part browse the shells I

think you may shop for the fam and uh

we'll end there awesome man awesome

thank you of course thank you

[Music]

[Music]

man yeah we're going to start out with

these right the SP Blazer mids nice

choice thank you very much we're going

to uh make our way down here Travis

Scotch ah yeah just love my suit game

there you go all

black here you got to go with the nice

black and white again all right I think

so

cool I'll make this easy I'm going to go

for the family right now sounds good

here all right here all right my

daughter's going to Springfield we'll go

here we'll go here and we'll go here

that's a great choice

[Music]

perfect got everything you need think so

lot of great lot of great pickups I

appreciate it the total is going to be

44

47202

awesome go and I appreciate you guys

sneaker shopping is intimidating right

it's a cultural thing you got to get it

right you guys make it easy I appreciate

that it can be but but you did

good all right and then the shirts and

then you are all

set there you go am man thank you very

much thank you very much appreciate your

[Music]

help so Triple H came through told some

great stories Sho for the fam thanks so

much for taking the time I appreciate it

man appreciate you make sure everyone

checks out Wrestlemania 40 live in

Philly live on peacock April 6th April

7th don't miss it thanks again thank you

let me help you with these got a lot I'm

going to need a bigger

[Music]

vehicle