Wrestling was like stand-up comedy for me.
I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs. I kick people in the face for a living. So, if that’s something you’re into — if you like watching people get kicked in the face — come see me. I’ll probably be your favorite wrestler.
I've always like watching competition and athleticism. Just seeing the average person going up against Gladiators, is always something I enjoy. I'm not really a big sports fan, but I do enjoy the show.
Since I knew wrestling was all choreographed, I thought, Oh, they don't get hurt at all. But I walked away with a renewed respect for the sport. Because I was very ignorant before - I knew nothing about it.
I was creating content that I had in my head and I was making it in the ring and WSX was giving me an opportunity, an uninhibited opportunity, to create and manufacture my vision for wrestling for other people.
I really believe that professional wrestlers are not protected. I think everybody gets a big kick out of watching them and whether the wrestling is real or not, people love watching it.
I laugh a lot in the ring when I'’m having fun.
In fact, I have no hobbies. The only thing I like to do in life is to go to the Russian Baths in Manhattan. I also like to watch sports on TV, and I like to read books. So that's it - Russian Baths, sports, and books.
The opportunity and the concept of merging music culture with actual boxing is exciting. It's bringing a younger demographic to the sport.
I'm a huge wrestling fan. Wrestlers have so many great qualities that athletes need to have.
A lot of baseball players think baseball is cool, and the audience that we have think it's cool. It might not hit every audience, but I don't think there's a single sport that's going to hit every audience.
Take into consideration I get to play-fight in my underwear every week, and I get paid very well to do it.
Naked acrobatics are on my resume.
There are people who think that wrestling is an ignoble sport. Wrestling is not sport, it is a spectacle, and it is no more ignoble to attend a wrestled performance of suffering than a performance of the sorrows of Arnolphe or Andromaque.
To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink.
I’m always looking to top the last match, I’m always looking to entertain the fans and steal the show. Before I always thought that it was a case of opportunities, but I’m learning that it’s all in my control and I just want to keep on doing what I’m doing by giving my best. I’ve got a couple more magical matches left in me and hopefully at some stage, I guess the biggest honour would be going into the TNA Hall of Fame.
