I keep trying to convince people that I'm OK to wrestle, and I think that's probably the hard part. A lot of times I'm trying to convince myself, too, that I can wrestle. It's really hard, because the concussion issue is very subjective, and that's the part that a lot of people don't understand.
I would read a lot about how to be a dad. I had never changed a diaper before we had Birdie.
I think fans always want something new, but they want somebody who can deliver - to go out there and really entertain them and have good matches.
Wrestling is more of a creative outlet, and especially for somebody like me, I view it as my creative outlet. Not all WWE superstars and not all wrestlers view it that way, but that's how I view it, and that's one of the ways my mind works creatively.
The blessings wrestling has given me have allowed me to find some new passions, but it's really hard when you've got that first love, and nothing really replaces it.
I used to be vegan. I'm not anymore, but I don't eat hardly any meat. But it's nice for me to go to a place like Chipotle where I can get some fresh veggies, some brown rice, some black beans, and all that kind of stuff.
I love wrestling, but to wrestle just one style for the rest of my life seems like it would really hold me down creatively.
When I watch myself, I see nothing but faults, like, 'This I need to do different, this I need to do different,' and so if there comes a point in time where I'm like, 'Man, this whole thing is just getting really stale,' I am not opposed to being the bad guy again.
Me, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Lyoto Machida, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, all shared a two-bedroom apartment together.
I'm bigger now than when I was eating meat. My lifts in the gym are better. I'm in better shape.
I'm pretty much friendly and compassionate to everybody. But not to people in the ring.
WWE doesn't owe us anything.
If you watch dogs play, they run and they fight, but they don't fight to hurt each other. They just play. And that's been me my entire life.
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.
With wrestling, you can't describe how that connection with an audience happens. I can't teach anybody how that happens. The bad things that have happened to me in WWE have made that connection stronger.
I'm definitely an underdog.
I would like to do something to help people and help the world.
My passion is the wrestling.
When I was in high school, I started getting into Japanese wrestling. For me to watch those matches, I had to order VHS tapes through catalogues, and these tapes were, like, $20 each.
If it weren't for the Internet, WWE probably wouldn't even know my name. If I had to rely on 'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' to get my name out there, it would have been a much more difficult road.
