Top 80 Quotes & Sayings by Matt Sydal

I always wanted to be the worst wrestler on the shows I was on so I could just learn from the guys above me, and that's a great way to be in your first few years of wrestling.

WWE was pretty wonderful to me because I was able to rehab my foot 100 percent before I was released.

I run my wrestling school, SyDojo, I do independent wrestling events all over the world.

I'm the best Crusierweight, X Division, Junior Heavyweight wrestler whatever you want to call it.

I am in a closed state where I'm just reacting and moving based on my instincts, knowledge, technique and years of experience.

Scientology is completely irrelevant to any of the talks that have been given to me.

Now I think a lot of wrestlers want to get signed so that way they can be with a company where they can learn, but they're really kind of looking for a contract, and I do think that makes sense.

Mostly the guys I worked with like wrestling AJ Styles, Jamie Noble, wrestling Chavo Guerrero, wrestling Rey Mysterio... As much as I try to be an individual or unique I can't deny the strong effect these guys have all had on me.

It may not be the most popular thing online, but I believe in what I'm doing. I believe in what I'm creating at my dojo.

So I always respected the guys who were trying to do it on their own without taking a handout from a big organization. They were trying to create their own thing, the DIY style, which is sort of always been my style, kind of a makeshift survival mode and really just kind of forging your own path.

Whether I am the Champion or not is irrelevant to me. I am not attached to it.

So, I can't tell you the mentality behind the stuff, because that's thousands of hours manifested into one moment, maybe in the shower or driving down the road that the idea comes and the genius strikes and sometimes, it happens moments before you go to the ring.

I mean I imagine I could have done a better job with keeping my paperwork and paying my taxes. For the most part, everything happened exactly the way it should.

For me, I'm not trying to be the flavor for everybody. But I'm just proud when people I respect or people that I want to be my fans are my fans.

The Japanese style, they really do have concern for their neighbors kind of more than themselves.

I've been living this extraordinary life with a new enlightened perspective, to see things from a higher perspective. I feel like I'm able to see things from that higher perspective at Impact Wrestling right now where there are unlimited opportunities and room for growth and to make some work I can really be proud of.

Triple H was so generous to me with his time and his knowledge when I was like the young up-and-comer wrestling Chavo, and every life event, after our matches, he would come back and give me just a list of things to work on which is exactly what I see going on in NXT, like how they're adopting a high-flyer style to the WWE audience.

People try and make it a big deal, but a show's a show, work's work, if you haven't wrestled in New York in a couple months, it's always good to take a booking there because there's a lot of great wrestling fans up there.

I'm always supportive of my brothers who have the guts to step in the cage. Pro wrestling is dangerous but it takes a special kind of courage to lock yourself in a cage that wants to do you harm.

When I began in Ring of Honor, I was very fortunate to get on shows and get looked at and get the experience. I was working with a ton of guys who had more experience than me at the time, like AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels.

But I really think wrestling with pure intentions just wrestling to be a better wrestler, eventually you will get there when the time is right.

I always stand behind the things that I do. I don't listen to those who downplay things nor do I pay attention to those who grovel at our feet and tell us that we're the greatest. For me, that is just noise.

I remember when I had just left WWE and I was wrestling in England and Germany, I could just tell that this influx of this new wave of wrestling was coming much like it felt when I began wrestling back in '99.

I am not like any other wrestler.

When I was working for WWE I felt like I was trying to make someone else's vision happen instead of my own. And I think that's where I became less true to myself and I think it showed in my work.

I've always been an independent wrestler at heart. You say I haven't had a 'home' but a company is not a home, a house is a home, a family is a home and I have that.

You don't want to end up being an indie wrestler who wants to be the big fish in a small pond.

If you're just trying to get by, you're going to be left behind. The caliber of shows I'm on are incredible, and it makes me just want to raise that bar even more.

When you're in the Ring of Honor locker room, you feel like something special is happening every night.

For the last two years, since I left IMPACT in 2018, I've spent basically the last two years just trying to be healthy, be strong, be ready for when that opportunity comes and I sort of felt like that's what I've been putting into the universe.

I worked extremely hard and dedicated my life to pro wrestling but the more I grow in ways not related to work, my work grows.

There is this energy, a lifeblood energy that runs through Ring of Honor.

So I don't think one type of wrestling is right and one type of wrestling is wrong, and I've used that ability to unlearn what I've done and really go back and get back in touch with that Dragon Gate style since now there's a lot of guys that can work with that.

I do work for Impact Wrestling, but I'm just a straight up freelance agent in wrestling. I can work for anybody at any time. Basically every company calls me up.

There are ties that began when I was just a young kid trying to cut my teeth in the business. I would drive 14 hours to wrestle on a Ring of Honor show that I didn't even get paid 20 dollars for.

I'm always impressed when fans' knowledge surpasses me.

Of course I am not going to be the favorite pick of everybody. That's because some people don't see things from my perspective.

I use the right hemisphere of my brain and what I have is this advantage that makes me exceedingly interesting in pro wrestling.

I watch Dragon Gate, New Japan, NXT, AEW. I love the Lucha Bros, The Young Bucks. Mainly I watch the guys in the shows that I'm on.

For me, as much fun as it is to watch wrestling is, actually wrestling is what struck a chord with me.

My first venture to Qatar was with WWE. It was an incredible tour and we stayed at a luxurious hotel. I ventured out by myself and wandered down to a shopping center and there was beautiful architecture everywhere.

Brodie Lee would be a match I'd love to have. When he was the TNT Champion, I was sort of hoping to work my way up to that level.

The thing I noticed most from challenging from country to country is not the differences but the similarities. Wrestling fans are all the same.

Me and my girlfriend make all my costumes here ourselves at home.

At WSX I think I was very much trying to figure it out on my own and we were creating our own style and our own thing. I can only speak for myself, I was not trying to be anything. I was not trying to be like anyone else.

I was down in Peru, and I was watching AAA in Spanish on my TV, and it just it blew my mind because they weren't following any of the rules, yet the crowd was still there.

Wrestling has become its own thing separate from what it was in the past and now when people think of pro wrestlers they don't think of Hulk Hogan, they're thinking of guys like me.

I wouldn't want to go see a comedian if he was using the same jokes. So I'm not going out there trying to do the same thing that and my body's changed, my life's changed and really if people have already seen me do something a 1,000 times, 1,001 is not going to impress anybody.

For us, our stage is always what it is. It's not about reaching the broadest audience as it's about doing quality work.

Locker rooms always evolve with the wrestlers that are in it.

Evan Bourne is a ship that has sailed but if he wound up back at WWE, I'm imagine I'd run back to that name because of copyright ownership stuff.

Of course, I was an insane ECW fan. You don't get this deep into wrestling unless you are obsessed with wrestling so that was the final hook.

I was just lucky to be there ahead of the curve to be the driving force behind bringing this amazing style of wrestling from Japan that combined Lucha Libre, American professional wrestling, Canadian professional wrestling and Japanese wrestling all into one beautiful mix that fans worldwide absolutely can't get enough of.

There are so many people in Ring of Honor and so much talent. It was almost intimidating to be thrown back in with this wealth of talent.

I don't really pay attention to WWE stuff as it's just not for me.

I don't wanna say I'm anti-military as my mission is the exact opposite and I'm a unifying force. I'm there to show everybody that we're all the exact same.

I have a little dojo in Clearwater called the Sai Dojo and I've just been putting in extra work there and so, when I get a chance to wrestle now, my comfort level in the ring is higher, my skills are sharper and I just felt like I couldn't have a better time to get these huge opportunities.

I loved wrestling when you had to get a VHS tape from a strange.

That is why I can never walk away from wrestling because there's this moment - the bell rings and everything slips away. The path, the future. There's nothing but that moment right in front of you where the intensity is high, the risk and reward are high, and you have to enter into a mental state that doesn't allow for hesitation.

You can catch me following good wrestlers wherever they are.