You're facing off against Michael Cole at WrestleMania. Since this is your first WrestleMania match ever, would you have preferred it be against an actual wrestler?
Would I have preferred for it to be a wrestler? Maybe at first. But now, looking back on the way this has all unfolded and the way it's going to be now, I couldn't have had a better opponent. Especially now that it's so reminiscent of the actual Andy Kaufman feud. I mean here, just like Andy, I'm going in the ring against a guy who's never competed. Not only at WrestleMania, but anywhere. So the curiosity factor of what will be going through Michael Cole's mind, other than my fist, makes this the perfect match up here. The people want to see Michael Cole get completely destroyed. They know without the help of Jack Swagger he's going to be helpless and they know that with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin being in the match as the referee, they know he's not going to put up with interference and foolishness. So it'll just come down to me and Cole once that bell rings. So, to me, that's perfect. Because if I can't put a major league whooping on Michael Cole, after all the years I've been in the business, then something's wrong.
Do you think Cole has a better chance of getting a piledriver or a stunner at WrestleMania?
Well, I would say probably a stunner. Without a doubt. It's in his future somewhere along the line. Maybe once the match is over. But you know what? The WWE has become so health conscious about concussions. It's been in the news, what with football players not allowed to have helmet to helmet contact anymore. So they've actually banned piledrivers. You know, the piledriver move consists of turning your opponent upside head and dropping them on the top of their head. Which is what I used as my career finishing move for so many years. So I'm not going to be able to give Cole a piledriver. But if you remember, it was always illegal. Even back in Tennessee when I gave Andy Kaufman the two piledrivers, it actually cost me the victory. Andy was actually awarded the match and the victory because I used the piledrivers, but I just wanted to prove a point and I felt like I wanted to hurt Andy just to let him know what the business was really like. And even though I do feel the same way, I feel like I have to hurt Michael Cole. I feel like if I let a guy who's never been in a match before go into the biggest match of my career and come out unscathed, it's going to make everything I've ever done look like a joke. So I plan on making Michael Cole's next stop, after he gets to the Georgia Dome, be the hospital.
Many feel nowadays that The Undertaker's streak, and any match where his streak is on the line, is more of a marquee event than title matches at WrestleMania. Do you agree?
You know what? I do. And simply because, with what we talked about a minute ago with me and Michael Cole, I think that becomes personal. Because you know it's a huge personal thing for The Undertaker that he's gone 18 years without losing at WrestleMania. So that streak of his is a tremendous accomplishment and he's got to take it as a major personal threat or affront when someone challenges him. And with Triple H, who's been best friends with Shawn Michael for years and Shawn Michaels having gone out in a blaze of glory last year not being able to break Undertaker's streak… You know it's got to be personal for Triple H. And it means everything to him to try and do something his best friend couldn't do. And maybe he's doing it for his best friend. And maybe it's that little bit of emotion where he's saying "Look at this Shawn. I'm going to do something you couldn't do." But who knows? You know it's a personal thing for Triple H to win this match. Yes, you can sometimes have match that, to the fans, have that little extra bit of significance. More so than just – and I don't want to say just a title match – but we see a lot of title matches. The champion has to defend the title on a regular basis. But you don't always see matches that have personal issues riding on it.
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