You just remember back when you were watching as a kid and going, 'Man, Sting's so cool,' and now I'm wrestling the guy. It's breathtaking.
Wrestling in Japan, obviously, the fans are a little bit different - very quiet, very respectful in New Japan - but here in the WWE, these fans are going nuts.
I busted my tail for so long, I'm just glad it's getting recognized now as part of the WWE. Because let's face it, the WWE is the biggest company out there when it comes to wrestling. I'm just happy that I'm being recognized as somebody who works hard, I guess.
Who would have ever thought that, within a couple months of getting into the WWE, that I'd be wrestling in the main event for the world championship? Then, nine months after getting here, actually being the world champion.
I think sports and bodybuilding were the only things that saved me from getting beat up. People are not pleased, for whatever reason, when you can answer all the questions in class. If not for the respect I got from track, cross-country, wrestling and bodybuilding, it would have been a disaster.
I started training when I was a senior in high school. I trained at the Combat Zone Wrestling Academy in South Philadelphia.
My grandmother played a huge influence in my life and helped raise me, and she and my mother saw how much I loved pro wrestling and how much I wanted to go after it.
There are good wrestling journalists and bad wrestling journalists. That's for sure.
I do feel in 2018 that pro wrestling has gone in such a different direction. Before, things were so black and white; now, it's shades of grey. It's not so much good guys and bad guys: there are people who are put in situations who do the right or wrong things, but people react to them like they are stars.
Regardless of who leaves and who stays, Ring of Honor is going to continue to be a healthy, growing, successful pro wrestling promotion.
