President-elect Trump wasn't my choice, but I'm going to be like Dave Chappelle, and I'm going to give him a chance - but I think there are people out there with legitimate worries.
I lived in Alabama for a while during the dying days of the Continental Wrestling Federation. I lived in Montgomery and traveled all over Alabama.
As great a spectacle as WrestleMania is, there's something to be said for seeing a guy you like telling stories from the heart from 20 feet away.
I loved George Carlin... I used to sit in front of the TV and watch the HBO comedy specials. I loved those comedy specials.
The idea of standing five feet away from Norah Jones and listening to her sing Neil Young's 'Down By The River' was just phenomenal. I compare that to what my kids know of at a concert, which is sitting in a stadium and watching a huge screen.
I can look back now and say, 'Aw, that was a little dumb taking huge bumps onto concrete before a couple of hundred fans,' but if it wasn't for that attitude and that type of work ethic, I never would have gotten to WWE.
A joke bombing on stage doesn't bother me, especially if it's intended to bomb.
Everybody in wrestling is looking at the information coming in on concussions. Everyone from the NFL to the WWE to TNA to the youth soccer groups around the country are realizing that there are dangers that weren't previously known.
There are guys who thrive completely on the action in the ring and see the promotion as a necessary evil, whereas I think it's so much easier to tell people what a tough guy you are, as opposed to backing it up.
At heart, I was always a performer, not a competitor.
I get to define for myself what being a success is.
Triple H was one of the main proponents of women's wrestling.
I always welcome being part of something positive in WWE.
I see The Rock running in 2020 and being a two-term president. I think he would be great, and I'm joking when I say I think Stephanie McMahon wouldn't be a fine president of the United States. I think she's got the leadership qualities. I see those two as potential candidates, and I see Kane as a congressional leader.
I just feel like there's a better mind-to-pen connection for me than a mind-to-keyboard connection.
I really have to accept the fact that I'm not a young man anymore, that I've probably taken one lifetime's worth of punishment already, and I really do need to be careful. Certainly I don't want other WWE superstars taking the shots I did. That makes me feel very uncomfortable when I see somebody get hit with an unprotected chair shot.
When Dee Snider and I get together for breakfast, it's just two Long Island guys hanging out.
You really can't go wrong. There's no bad New York pizza, as far as I know.
I get asked a lot about the Rock N' Sock Connection.
I developed an interest in the history of the Negro leagues to the point where I visited the museum in Kansas City, Mo., twice and made the museum an integral part of my unheralded 2005 coming-of-age baseball novel, 'Scooter.'
