For the second year in a row “The Game” Triple H will not be in a match at WrestleMania. “The King of Kings has had the longest match on WrestleMania card year in and year out including his last WrestleMania match vs long-time rival and friend Bautista at WrestleMania 35. With WrestleMania 37 this weekend, there is no HHH match on the card but that not without request. No, it was not Vince McMahon himself asking his son-in-law to get back in the ring to sell the event, it was AJ Styles. During a media call to promote the NXT Takeover Stand & Deliver, Triple H explained why he turned down a match:
“I’ve said this before, but getting ready for WrestleMania is a different thing, and the older you get, the harder it gets. Doing this once a year or once every couple of years, especially now, is not an easy task. You try to stay in the best shape you can, but that’s not ‘WrestleMania shape’ and it’s a different thing. When he first came to me, I said, ‘AJ, I’m not going to tell you no. Personally, I’d love to work with you and at this point, you can carry me to something.’ So, I’d love it.”
“The personal side of it, the performer side of it, I would love nothing more, but the reality is—I’m not going to have the bandwidth or availability schedule-wise to be able to pull that off. He would come to me every week or every other week when I would see him and say, ‘How’s that bandwidth coming? You going to be able to make this happen?’ I’d say I’m not, but I’m flattered by that—I really am—and I’m humbled by it. I wish I had the bandwidth to do it, and I’m not saying I won’t be able to do it in the coming year if it’s right and everyone believes it should be done.”
(Quotes via WrestleZone.com)