Bret Hart Quotes

They say the best wrestling gimmicks are a heightened version of yourself and that's me!

Circumstances made me the theatrical personality I am, which many people believe is also a part of my personal life.

From a backstage perspective, one of the things I always tried to do in wrestling was maintain that I was Adam. Edge was a character.

WWE, I'm just full-on Paige, my in-ring character. 'Total Divas' is where I can completely be myself and be my lunatic, weird person.

That's why I like the indies: because I like being who I am. I get to be who I am in the ring, on the microphone, everywhere. It's great. I never have to get out of character because I am Matthew Riddle.

I'm not as extreme in real life as I am in the ring or on television.

For the majority of guys, their character is just an extension of what they are really like. I'm generally a pretty nice guy but I'm a bad guy in WWE. So I always say it's like an extension of my dark side.

When it comes to the Alexa Bliss character, everyone says the character has to be an extension of yourself turned up. But I feel like I am the complete opposite of Alexa Bliss.

For me, I was really struggling because I was Scott Hall in the gym and Scott Hall in the grocery store and in the ring. Until I got a gimmick, a look, and got to be a character, that's when I started making strides. As Scott Hall, I didn't have a gimmick, so I didn't know what to do.

We didn't roll credits after 'Monday Night Raw.' You know, it didn't say, 'Stone Cold Steve Austin played by Steve Austin,' so all of a sudden people think that's who and what you are 24/7, you know, 365 days a year.

That is the thing that wrestling is, we are who we are. Even when we are established we are not actors. We are wrestlers.

I can always be ruthless and aggressive in the ring, but I don't think I'll ever have the opportunity to be 'The Funkasaurus' again.

A lot of people ask me, like, how the characters are different between Nitro and Morrison and Mundo, and the biggest difference is just the names. Like, wrestlers are usually a version of yourself, and the versions of myself haven't really changed that much.

I play a character in the WWE and everybody hates my character. I'm the evil villain bad guy. Whenever people meet me, they're like, 'Wow, you're such a nice guy. We never expected that.'

You have to have a character; you have to build your character. If you understand the pro wrestling scheme of things, then you understand what the promoting is. These guys are friendly backstage, but as soon as the cameras turn on, it's a whole different story: you become that character.

I knew Randy right from day one when he started wrestling. I helped him put together that image of the Macho Man. He had a way about him. He grabbed your attention through his voice. That allowed him to present himself as a type of a character.

One of the most exciting parts of the Nexus and 'Bad News' Barrett eras were I had a lot of influence in the character and I had a lot of influence in how I was going to portray myself.

I once said that I never wanted to be a good guy or the 'baby face,' as we call it in the wrestling business. But you know, it is what it is, and I'll be whatever they want me to be. At the end of the day, we work for the WWE fans.

When you see me on TV as Stone Cold Steve Austin, that's definitely a part of my personality.

The whole Aleister Black character is a creation of my influences, Triple H and NXT, and everyone combined.

I am not necessarily a private person, but I am Charlotte Flair on camera, and that is playing a character.

I am not that cute. However, because I had played so many cute characters, I am starting to be influenced by them.

I walked into Eddie Graham's office, he took one look at me and said, 'You look a lot like Sam Steamboat. We're going to make you his nephew - Ricky Steamboat.'

There's not too much Edge in Adam Copeland, but there's a little bit of my sarcasm and my sense of humor, I guess, but I'm not a sleazy, raving maniac like the character of Edge could be.

That's what we do in WWE: we tell stories.