One thing I was proud of when I did the college talks was that, although stories revolved around experiences that I had in wrestling, one did not need to be a wrestling fan to enjoy them.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I became a wrestling fan in college. So, I was more of a wrestling fan as an adult than when I was a little kid.
First of all, I was a wrestling fan when I was young. Even when I figured out what wrestling was, I was still a fan.
I love wrestling, and I think there was something in me that needed to come out, and I was very fortunate to allow it to come out in the WWE and make a living doing that, and I enjoyed every second of that.
I just started watching wrestling in 2008, and I've loved it ever since. I told my mom I wanted to become a wrestler.
My freshman year of high school, I started wrestling, and I ended up loving it more than anything I'd ever done.
I was an amateur wrestler, which I loved. It was my passion, but I started really late; I was a junior in high school when I began.
When I first got into wrestling as a kid, I would read all of the wrestling magazines I could get my hands on. There was a satisfaction discovering that there was a whole wrestling world that existed that you didn't see on TV on Saturday morning. There was this idea that there was this stuff going on there that they didn't want us to see.
I wasn't a wrestling fan growing up; I knew who Hulk Hogan was and stuff but I didn't watch it. I started watching wrestling about three years before I got involved with WCW.
The most important thing about being in wrestling is that you have to connect with the crowd, connect with the fans, and you either want them to love you, or to hate you. Either way, so long as they're reacting to what you're doing.
After watching wrestling for 20 years, I thought I had enough confidence to do it. There were no wrestling schools at the time.