I wasn’t great at a lot of stuff, but I was good at not worrying about being a wrestler.
If I was young again and wanted to be a professional wrestler, first thing I’d do is get jacked all to hell is what I’d do.
Instead of diving further back to the fandom as a child, more recently when I was training as an independent wrestler, that is really when women’s wrestling took to the forefront and really started this upward rise.
The only film I’ve enjoyed starring a wrestler was Mickey Rourke in ‘The Wrestler.’
I have odd thumbs that are extremely flexible. I can bend them quite far down the back side of my hand, basically the opposite side you’d even try to attempt bending your thumb. Because of that, I’m a very good thumb wrestler.
When I was in England, I did a lot of wrestling and moves. Over here, they were like, ‘You don’t need to do that much. Save your body. Become an entertainer rather than a wrestler.’ And I wasn’t used to wrestling on TV and in front of huge crowds, so it was a big adjustment.
Normally, with girls that I know in the business, they start off managing and then they become a wrestler, or they just stay as a manager who can wrestle, but I was always a wrestler.
I never wanted to be a wrestler, I wanted to get into musical theater. I always wanted to be on Broadway.
I never had an interest in fighting. Originally, because I had no experience, I was going to come to Japan to be a pro wrestler and learn fighting along the way.
I told everyone that I was going to be a pro wrestler ever since I was 10 years old, and now I can show them that I did it.
I think it’s human nature to say, ‘You’re a wrestler. That is what you do.’ I think it can be hard sometimes for people to understand that you can have more than one thing you like to do.
I am not the best high-flyer or technical wrestler. What I do have is a work ethic that can’t be beat.
I’ve won every single event there is to win as a wrestler, and I still continue to come back every single year. The hard part for me is, ‘OK, how long can you do this?’
I was a Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes guy. Ric Flair continues to be my favorite wrestler of all time. I loved Harley Race and Nick Bockwinkel and all of those guys, but I’m a big Flair guy.
Now that I have the training behind me, I think that really shows I do have the skills and talent to become a well-rounded wrestler.
I hope Seth Rollins becomes the safest, best wrestler in the world. And I wish him all the luck in the world.
A wrestler loves to compete. At the end of the day, a wrestler just wants to compete.
I’m Vince McMahon’s favorite wrestler; quote me.
My very favorite wrestler of all time was Andre the Giant. He was sort of like my best friend, believe it or not, and I have a picture in ‘People’ magazine of me sitting on his lap when I was 8 years old after ‘WrestleMania I.’
My body size and everything was perfect for being a heavyweight wrestler rather than being a linebacker.
My dad was a wrestler back in the early ’90s, so it just brought everything full circle with my dad’s background and my love of performing and entertainment, and now here I am in the WWE.
If it was one person I could have a bout with, it would be Jack Pye, the Doncaster Panther. A mythical wrestler obviously from Doncaster who lived in Blackpool.
I can sing every single word of Honky Tonk’s theme song. He was great. He might not be that cruiserweight-style wrestler or a Bret Hart-type of wrestler, but I thought he was great. He was such an over-the-top character, and it was a character on the peripheral of wrestling.
It took me a while to open up to the idea that you don’t have to be a wrestler to have ideas. Jim Ross isn’t a wrestler and you will learn a lot from Jim Ross.
