Your Shawn Michaels can lose his smile, and he's so afraid of me, he comes out and hands me his belt. Spineless!
The world is made up of good and evil, and everybody has their own take, and everybody thinks they are on the good side, and a very few, select group of us will admit that we come from the dark side.
When Paul Heyman came and gave me the whole idea for the character, 'The Franchise,' I remember the NFL was just starting to classify one of their players as the franchise player. So that was the whole idea, that 'The Franchise' was the franchise player for ECW.
Everybody has the prerogative for their own career in this business, and I firmly believe that to this day. But if you and I give each other our word - call me corny - I think you have an obligation to uphold that.
I know this sounds corny, but if I give you my word I am going to do something, you can take it to the bank. Whether that means if my giving my word puts me in a detrimental position, I'm still going to follow through on my word, and I'll let the pieces fall where they may.
Chris Candido - besides loving him like a little brother - I used to sit and watch him in awe because it was so effortless for him. He could wake up from a nap and go out and have a five-star match.
For a company the size of ECW, there wasn't room for multiple over-the-top personalities.
You'd like to leave the world a better place than it was before.
Historically, Vince McMahon's company has always been where the Hulk Hogans get the push and the Paul Orndorffs and Jake Roberts does the pushing.
I got my break in the business with the now-defunct Bill Watts' TWF, the old Mid-South. Which was really, in many ways, the predecessor to ECW in its time, in that age. It was a really cool, high-impact, snug type of product.
I had no desire to leave ECW, but in '95, I was reaching my mid 30s. I'd been the World Champ multiple times... I'd pretty much done everything in ECW - all I could do is repeat.
Bam Bam Bigelow truly deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and if that call would come, I'd be honored to do it, but I don't think it is going to come. I think there is a much greater likelihood that Vince would look elsewhere, but I am honored that the fans would want to consider that I should be the one to induct him.
I can't even tell you how many 8, 9, 10 year old kids have come up to me and said, 'You are my favorite wrestler, and I've seen you on 'the network' or on YouTube.'
When I got the name 'The Franchise,' the gimmick, and turned it into what it became, I put my heart and soul into that.
I'll tell you upfront, I think Shawn Michaels was probably the most gifted worker the business has ever seen.
To be someplace for ten years or to work anywhere for ten years is a tough deal. But to work in the WWE for that long, knowing how their dressing room is run with this top heavy, condescending 'do this and nothing else' attitude, it gets tiresome.
In my business, my job is to make people believe they are seeing something they're not seeing.
Optics can drive an economy.
People think all wrestlers are millionaires. It's really a blue-collar existence.
I have seen enough people in my business die that I don't sit back and hope that this one or that one goes but not the other guys. I don't want to see anyone of these guys die.
