Paul Bearer was very influential in the early stages of my career. He constantly hounded me and I just think he realized the potential that was there. He convinced me that I was in the right place and doing the right thing.
I don't doll myself up for TV because I want people to accept me for who I am.
My hats off to anybody filming action, because you get beat up. If I'm going to get the crap kicked out of me, I would love 15,000 people on hand to tell me that I'm doing good or I'm doing bad. So, if I'm going to be in any physical duress, I'd really like it to be in a WWE ring, which is why I was so amped to be a part of 'Trainwreck.'
Believe it or not, I like the 'Rumble.' It's extremely unpredictable and over-the-top. Everyone in the WWE universe looks forward to it. It becomes that one event each year where people center around.
I don't have any elaborate uniforms; I come to the ring in a T-shirt, a pair of sneakers and some shorts.
Oftentimes, WWE lives in its own bubble because it is forever moving. Oftentimes, a motion picture will live in its own bubble because they have a certain amount of time to get everything done. It's just, when you connect the two and get everything straightened out, truly, it may take a little elbow grease.
I think that the potential of Total Divas and female athletes is that the sky is the limit. People want to know about these women, and in the WWE, we call it the Divas Revolution - it's a movement for women's empowerment.
Being a pro wrestler can be kind of difficult sometimes. We have a perception about what we do - and I totally understand the perception, because we're a weekly episodic program, and we're having fun all the time, so people think that's kind of the most talented thing I could do.
I don't know why ESPN asked me to host the ESPYs. I think that they realize we, over at WWE, can engage a live audience. We certainly have an enormous following.
My favorite thing about 'Saturday Night's Main Event,' it was that one time where I could stay up late with my dad and four brothers, and we would all beat the tar out of each other while the show was on, and it was all okay because my dad was a wrestling fan.
I bring a lot of energy and passion to what I do. Plus, I've had some weird feats of superhuman strength!
I got a bunch of my own, but my favorite signature move of all time is Ric Flair's Figure Four Leglock.
I had reconstructive pectoral surgery, I had a cervical neck fusion and a scope, and the scope was the toughest.
When you see me on TV, that's about as close to my real personality as you can get. There are a certain amount of folks who admire me, there are a certain amount of folks who don't, and I'm not going to try and change their mind. Nothing I can do will change their mind anyway, because they already have a good gauge of who I am as a person.
Being so doopity! It's awesome. And I think it's just one of the reasons that people should get hitched on with the WWE Network. It's more than just these network specials like 'WrestleMania' and like 'SummerSlam'. It's programming geared for the WWE universe.
With comedies, it's been very gratifying to be able to clock in, laugh all day, and then clock out.
The Wonderful pistachios campaign is a great example - I don't involve myself with a project I don't feel passionate about. I could talk your ear off about internal statistics for WWE and what we have planned for the future. Why do I know that stuff? Because I like to do all that stuff.
When I was first starting to achieve success in the WWE, I got to be surrounded by the last class of true greats, and they all had little tips and secrets. You learn a lot from watching somebody work.
What I really like about 'Grit' - especially being the guy who goes on TV every week and says 'Never Give Up' and who truly tries to live his life to that credo - we recruited 16 people who said, 'I will never give up.' And the only way they can leave the contest is by doing the one thing they said they never would.
I can't tell you how many times I would call and text my boss, Vince McMahon, on the set of 'Sisters' and 'Trainwreck' and anything else like this to thank him for over-preparing me for this.
