WWE has given me an out where, any days off that I have, they allow me to work on outside projects.
I’d like to be a tag titleholder, I’d like to be the WWE champion, but more than anything, I want to make guys leaders.
In the back of my mind. I always knew WWE was where I should be and where I would end up. Or where I could end up. Where I deep-down wanted to end up.
It was very spur of the moment. When I heard WWE was having tryouts… I would not let the opportunity pass me by. I hired someone to make my video, and I sent in the video, thinking nothing would come of it.
My dad’s father would take me to WWE shows when I was younger, and my other grandfather, my mom’s dad, would watch wrestling with me at the house. They just really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, they both passed away before I signed with WWE.
I was an unknown face before I joined the WWE.
I think the yearning for a different product is really strong. WWE hasn’t had any significant change since, what, 2001 in wrestling? WWE provides so much good content. Just good, wholesome content, but they’re still the only one.
If a situation came about something that would offend someone culturally, I would definitely speak up. WWE would want us to speak up because negative press is not our goal.
It’s the beauty of WWE. We use all our platforms to cross-promote each other and vice versa.
When guys leave – whether they decide to leave or they’re forced out – there’s usually this period of time we see them around the world, and they can ride that WWE wave and use it, and then it goes away. It loses its luster after a few months.
This IWGP title means more with me than any WWE championship.
I have a really strong opponent in Randy Orton. A former multi-time world champion. He’s held just about every title under the sun. And he’s done it all in a major way. He’s basically wreaked havoc and ran roughshod over the WWE for quite some time. Some people might forget that.
Timing is everything in wrestling and when I was with the WWE it just wasn’t the right time. I was unhappy and I decided to look for opportunities elsewhere.
We’ve always gone to other countries where there’s been different standards and different practices you have to adhere to. WWE is like any other company, a global company.
When I wrestled Randy Orton, that was probably the biggest match of my career at that point, because that was when I had the other shot at the WWE championship.
I think everybody in WWE and NXT want to be involved in WrestleMania. I can huff and puff and push all I want, but that’s something you just can’t rush.
When I came into WWE after Monday Night Wars, it wasn’t my greatest time in the business… but they kept bringing me back.
One day, when I’m unable to physically perform, would I want to pursue more of an acting career? Eh, maybe. But I think my home is with the WWE, being on the road and wrestling in front of a live audience.
I want the Intercontinental title to be seen as more than just a ‘mid-card belt.’ The Intercontinental Champion used to be seen as a threat to the WWE Champion. My goal is to return the Intercontinental Championship to that level of importance.
Even though I’ve accomplished so much in WWE as well as having a franchise in ‘The Marine,’ it’s still not enough for me. I always want more.
WWE Network has been phenomenal for me. It’s an amazing directory for not only myself, but for anyone who’s into wrestling.
Seeing myself as a champion in WWE is something I’ve seen from the first day I stepped into the Universe and the realm of the company.
I’m really proud to represent both cultures, Canadian and Indian, and hopefully I’m making both countries proud as WWE champion.
I had a lot of professional wrestling experience from around the world when I joined the company, but what NXT did was prepare me for WWE television, an environment that was alien to me at that point.
I was at an ESPN event in the United States, the awards ceremony, and I got approached by the WWE. I had just retired, and, it’s a form of competition, but of course, it’s also scripted, so I don’t know if I’d be willing to relive that. Perhaps for a special event, so I could taste it.
I have no problem with Brock Lesnar being a part-timer, because he’s earned that spot. He’s a multiple time champion in WWE, a former UFC Champion, NCAA amateur wrestling champion, so his accolades speak for themselves.
The WWE Championship is the greatest championship in the history of this sport. It has the most history of anything.
That is one of the coolest things about WWE and wrestling in general. The fans have this very unique voice and this very unique power, and in no other sport and no other form of entertainment can the fans make their voices heard and it effect change.
I will be driving on the road after a show at night, and it will hit me that I am a WWE superstar, and this is what I dreamed about, and I get to live it.
I always had watched pro wrestling. I happened to be watching the WWE Network one day and started watching differently: I wasn’t watching it as a fan, but instead I was watching it as something that I could possibly be a part of.
I had the greatest deal in the history of professional wrestling. I could work for WWE, anybody else that I wanted to, and collect income from every one of those companies, including merchandise. It was a really good deal.
With my history of concussions, the WWE wants to protect me, so I’ve had to take a lot of neurological testing.
People who’ve never played a sport in their life come to WWE and can kick butt. On the other hand, people who’ve played football or some other professional sport can come here and get in the ring and not do what we do. It’s a different tango.
I don’t think I could do the four or five days a week in the WWE. I feel bad for them.
I’m 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, which is average size in WWE, but in the world of television and movies, it’s huge.
New Japan is far superior to WWE when it comes to the quality of the roster and the quality of the matches.
It was not very difficult for me to adjust in WWE because of my previous experience. Stylistically, this company is quite different from other promotions, but adapting to it is part of the job.
WWE has given me everything; it really has. My kids will go to college because of them, I don’t have to worry about finances because of them.
Being a WWE Diva is all about women empowerment.
In the grand spectrum of things in WWE, you are wrestling for that camera and that camera and that camera – and all the cameras they have – and you have to make things work that way because, through that camera, there’s a million people watching.
One day, I happened to see a WWE match and thought I could easily do all of that.
Pop culture is a huge strategy for WWE: our storylines are reflective of what’s happening in the world and what’s popular.
The thing about the ‘Raw’ after Wrestlemania, the thing is they are the real hardcore, hardcore fans. It’s not your typical WWE audience.
I used to be around John Cena all the time in WWE, and I watched him and the way he worked. John is a guy who has been at the top longer than anyone else in history, and I’m lucky to have the opportunity to train at Cena’s gym and go to him for advice.
Had the WWE fights were artificial and pre-scripted, there would have been no need for wrestlers like The Great Khali and The Undertaker. You cannot fool thousands of people crammed into a stadium and sitting four to five feet away from you in the ring.
When you go into a ‘WWE’ ring, you know you’re going to compete. You know that things are going to hurt. It is a dangerous, dangerous place. No matter what people think or say, it’s a very, very dangerous thing.
The road to WrestleMania leads us in so many directions, but we have so many amazing things we get to do as WWE Superstars along the way.
My biggest concern with the whole deal with ‘Total Divas’ and with WWE – and, you know, they want you to be engaged with social media and all this kind of stuff – I don’t want to live my life to entertain other people.
When I first won my WWE Championship, I just got to TV – I believe I was there five months. Everything just happened so fast; it was like a whirlwind.
The problem with Deep South to me is that there was a group that were tight with the boss, and they would always go out and drink and have barbeques. Then, when WWE would say, ‘Who should we look at?’ Bill Demott would say, ‘Oh, look at this guy and this guy.’ Of course those were his buddies.
I’m an example that, in the WWE, there are opportunities for people who work hard, improve constantly.
I can honestly say it was the greatest decision of my life coming to WWE.
The tank entrance at WrestleMania 31 is my favorite moment in WWE.
Something that’s interesting with season two of ‘Total Divas,’ Fandango and I’s relationship has been on the surface level, as far as WWE programming with ‘Monday Night Raw,’ ‘Main Event,’ ‘Friday Night SmackDown.’ You see us on camera and that’s about it.
I am so very proud to do whatever I can do in the fight against cancer with WWE.
The WWE is the big company and the one the mainstream audience is watching, but I feel like if you were a hardcore wrestling fan, you were watching TNA.
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.
