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When you lose your passion to be a WWE Superstar, there's no point in going back.

My main reason for leaving WWE was to heal up my body - to give it a rest - and to spend time with my wife and my kids.

WWE is a space where I thrived, and I loved, and I still do. I love connecting with an audience; that is the greatest thing about going back to WWE.

I don't want to go back to WWE and burn out within four or five months, and having another run as TNA world champion would feel just as good.

To be allowed to come back to WWE is the greatest gift that's ever been given to me. Back in the day, I never appreciated what WWE had given me, because I was in too much disarray and too confused about my own life. I let opportunities foolishly slip through my hands.

That's one of the reasons why I left WWE: not to feel tied up or pressured into fulfilling a certain number of work dates throughout the week or month - because of my injuries.

Being part of WWE is beautiful. You're on the biggest stage of them all. You're living well; you're making good money, and the only flipside to that is that you're on the grind, and you've got to be committed. You've got to make sure to understand what being on the grind is.

For special wrestlers, there's somewhere else to go - as long as you're not brainwashed by that WWE mentality. There's other worlds out there; it's OK to switch around.

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.

I have never even considered a future outside the walls of the WWE. However, sometimes life takes an unexpected turn, and while it is the most difficult decision I have ever made, it is time for me to move on.