If we're talking about guys who set the tone, you've got to go way back. But if we're talking about guys who made it possible for guys like A.J. Styles, Shawn Michaels kind of opened that door, along with Daniel Bryan.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I do recall at one point being part of WWE and other guys taking the risk of stepping away, and a lot of guys don't do it because of the fear that it's not going to be the same.
Shawn Michaels was the guy to study and watch.
Guys who might not be superstars but because of their hustle, because of the little things they do, these are the guys who can really mean the difference between winning and losing.
All those guys wanna be us. All the fighters wanna be in professional wrestling; I don't care what they say.
I think my heart always goes out to men at the peak of their celebrity who checked out. There's such an odd, horrible trend in my lifetime for it - Kurt Cobain, David Foster Wallace, Alexander McQueen, Heath Ledger.
Vince or Brad or Benicio would say, Maybe we should try this, and Guy was open to changes.
It's hard to say this about a guy like Eddie Van Halen, one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived, but he's really limited to a style and they're locked into it.
It was a big man's sport at one time. Maybe I had something to do with breaking that barrier and having WWE open up their eyes so they can sign younger, lighter talent.
A guy that I was supposed to face - and I think that he was just plain downright scared to get in the ring with me because he was one of those guys that was on top and saw a huge threat in Brock Lesnar at the time - that's 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.
There are no tough guys in wrestling.