When I started wrestling, I started only to get in shape. I found out that a wrestling school had opened in Ireland, and I wanted to go because I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and I wanted to turn my life around.
Many people ask me about WWE and if I'd go to WWE in the future. They ask me if I'm going now. I will not go. I want to make New Japan Pro-Wrestling bigger.
I once said that I never wanted to be a good guy or the 'baby face,' as we call it in the wrestling business. But you know, it is what it is, and I'll be whatever they want me to be. At the end of the day, we work for the WWE fans.
I started wrestling at ten. I played a lot of other sports: soccer, football. I really enjoyed skiing. But wrestling just took off for me. It seemed to be the sport I had an affinity for; I liked the individual, combative nature. There's something special about that. It took me all the places I wanted to go.
Growing up watching WWE, they used to have bra-and-panties matches or pillow fights, and that's why my mom didn't want me to watch wrestling. But when my parents divorced, I was able to watch wrestling again, and that's when I started to really get into wrestlers like Ivory.
A good friend of mine, Maria Menounos, she's kind of like a mentor to me. She dabbled in WWE and pro wrestling, and she said 'This is the perfect opportunity for you.' Once I started doing my research about the competition and the company, I fell in love with WWE even more.
I always wanted to wrestle, but when you're a kid, how do you do pro wrestling? For me, it seemed like the easiest way for me was to get into amateur wrestling and go that route because it was a place where I was allowed to go.
In WWE there's a huge degree of acting you need to have to become legendary, to become popular. You have to become a great actor in WWE and that's something I've honed from a young age. I could never be the biggest guy on the show when I first started wrestling; it was all about the giants. But I could have the biggest personality, the biggest character.
I'm going to make an appearance in professional wrestling, but it won't be for the WWE. If I put wrestling boots and wrestling trunks on one last time - and I'm going to - it's going to be done by me and me only.
Strong style is a philosophy for Japanese wrestling fans that was created by New Japan Pro Wrestling founder Antonio Inoki. He wanted you to show every motion and show real technique in the ring. It's important to use real techniques from real life and real martial arts. The detail is important.
I started watching wrestling when I was eight, and I only watched the WWE as a kid.
My favorite part of working with 'Lucha Underground' is learning more Lucha, combining that with my WWE psychology, and taking wrestling to a place we've never seen before in the evolution of wrestling.
With the success of the TNA Knockouts, that's when they started having their girls wrestle a lot more in WWE. I thought, 'This is a perfect time for me to come in. They care about women's wrestling.' Sadly it was just not the case.
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.
I trained at All Pro Wrestling in the U.S. Later, I signed up with the New Japan Pro Wrestling. Then WWE noticed me.
When I was in high school, I started getting into Japanese wrestling. For me to watch those matches, I had to order VHS tapes through catalogues, and these tapes were, like, $20 each.