When I was maybe 22, 23 years old or so, I was sort of floating in between New Japan, Ring of Honor, TNA - not really committed to one place.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
As soon as I found out there was a school you could go to to become a WWE superstar, I was immediately hooked.
It wasn't until 2002 when I returned to WWE and until I had physically been out there - it was during the match when Kevin Nash blew his quad. That next morning, I was sitting on the plane, reading my Bible and the Book of Joshua, and this feeling came over me that I was back here for a reason. God built me to be a wrestler.
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.
After watching wrestling for 20 years, I thought I had enough confidence to do it. There were no wrestling schools at the time.
I grew up a wrestler; for a long time in Oklahoma I was a wrestler.
I cannot look back and say I did everything I wanted to do in TNA.
I was miserable in WCW. I knew I wasn't going to go any higher there, and jumping to WWE hadn't even crossed my mind. I couldn't stop wondering, 'Is this it? Is this what I worked my whole life for?'
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.
Pro wrestling was there, and I was good at it, thank God. I started getting a lot of offers, but unfortunately, at WWE I was under a tight leash. I think it had a lot to do with The Rock making the transition, and me possibly being the next guy - you know, the company didn't want to lose another top performer.
And you know what - and I don't mean this in tongue in cheek way - but it's like deja vu. When I walked in to WCW they were producing wrestling on a little teeny sound stage at Disney, okay? I'm walking into TNA and they're producing wrestling in a little teeny sound stage at Universal.