Ricky Steamboat Quotes

I would hope to end my career here if it came down to it and take other roles with 'Lucha Underground.' I see a lot of the style I was raised on here, and I think I can help out with the young upcoming talent and hope to be around here as long as it lasts.

I come from a wrestling background - my father and grandfather were into wrestling.

I've been in the business over 35 years and had over 6,000 matches and I am helping guys who have only been in the business maybe a year or two and 100 matches. I am taking my 6,000 matches and passing it along.

My whole family are wrestlers; I was brought up in the business.

I started out with Buzz Sawyer in Sacramento. He had me shoot on guys and beat them up. They tossed me a few bones here and there. But, after Buzz passed away, I started seeking training elsewhere.

I started training when I was a senior in high school. I trained at the Combat Zone Wrestling Academy in South Philadelphia.

Here are the five guys I learned the business from: Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, and Bobby Eaton. Those guys taught me how to do everything in the ring. I learned so much from each of them.

William Regal is one of my mentors, and I had been talking with him the whole time I have been away from WWE.

I don't think I'd be in WWE, and I wouldn't be in NXT, if it wasn't for my time in EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA and things like that.

I come from a wrestling background but don't really use it in most of my fights.

I couldn't really get a grasp on wrestling at a young age. I knew it was what my parents did, and they fought people. It scared the crap out of me, so I thought, 'No, I can't do that. I'll get beaten up!'

The Performance Center in Orlando is the best place to go if you want to be a professional wrestler.

It's two guys in particular. Norman Smiley, he got his hands on me the day I walked in the door - started teaching me the fundamentals and teaching me things that I use - but Billy Gunn, that guy has helped me evolve more than anyone.

I knew nothing about wrestling! Sometimes that's a great thing, and sometimes that really annoys people in this industry but that's the truth. I had no clue how to wrestle. I had to learn everything, absolutely everything. To start from the bottom.

I run my wrestling school, SyDojo, I do independent wrestling events all over the world.

Back in 2004 I trained at an independent wrestling school and performed in front of crowds of around 200, then I got signed to a contract with the WWE to continue my development.

My experience here at the WWE Performance Center has been amazing. I'm just looking forward to being here and learning as much as I can the time that I'm here. I've been a fan of the sport since I was a little kid, and now I get to participate in it.

Wrestling is pretty DIY. I've been doing it for 12 years, completely on my own. It's like being in a band or running a zine - except that I get to kick people in the face.

I did a year and a half of independent wrestling before I got into the WWE. It was nothing really. I didn't make the towns. I don't even say I was an indy wrestler.

I'm not the only guy who doesn't have an independent wrestling background. You know, I have a football background, but I also have a wrestling one.

I tend to have great chemistry with whomever I step in the ring with because of the way I train and came up in this business.

I got into wrestling when I was four years old.

I always knew that in the U.S., if you wanted to be a wrestler, Ring of Honor was the place to be.

I started training wrestling in the pre-social media era and I was very cautious - I thought, 'I can't have people know my real last name.' So I changed my last name to End because I always called myself 'The End.' I thought that was cool. I thought I'd take my real first name and my 'fake' last name, and that's how I came up with Tommy End.

When I began in Ring of Honor, I was very fortunate to get on shows and get looked at and get the experience. I was working with a ton of guys who had more experience than me at the time, like AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels.