I played all sports when I was young. I was into wrestling, basketball, baseball, football, and I ran track. But wrestling was my main sport because there was no criterion height-wise.
You want to know why I am the perfect champion? Because you can take the strength of John Cena; the intelligence of Triple H; the desire of Cena; the athleticism of Triple H; the determination of Cena; the ruthlessness of Triple H... and if you combine these attributes into one person, you get Randy Orton. The only difference is that I have one thing that neither Cena nor Triple H has: the WWE Championship.
Triple H is a former bodybuilder. He's all about bodies. He thought that Hulk Hogan was the greatest wrestler in the world. They think Ultimate Warrior was the greatest wrestler in the world because that's what they're attracted to, but he's not really a wrestling fan like I grew up. I was a wrestling fan.
Wrestling used to be land of the giants and I think MMA has opened he door for smaller, more athletic competitors to climb up the card in wrestling and be top draws and main event.
People are talking about women's wrestling, and that's all I've ever wanted since I was ten years old. I wanted people to talk about the women and all they could do. We're celebrating women's wrestling. People want to see us, and we're just doing our best.
I was honored to be part of the movement in the mid-2000s, and it was definitely a transitional period of women's wrestling because, you know, Lita and Trish were putting on incredible matches and main eventing even before I came up and debuted.
There are different styles of women's wrestling just like men's wrestling.
I'd rather it to just be not so much men's wrestling and women's wrestling but that we're all on the same playing field.
Impact Wrestling has never stopped with women's wrestling.
I think sometimes wrestling fans will feel different, but the thing is, 'Total Divas' introduced women's wrestling to the world.
The true wrestling fans that watch TNA Impact, I think they've always known. I don't want to say they take it for granted in anyway, but they always just know that TNA and Impact Wrestling are going to give them women's wrestling.
For me personally, I've been able to main event a number of independent shows outside Ring of Honor I've been doing as well. It's been really exciting for me to do that for women's wrestling and to have that opportunity.
Wrestling can be anything... There's some forms of wrestling that I'm not too big a fan of, but I'm not going to say it's not wrestling because it is wrestling.
I know people are going to be surprised to hear me say this because they think I'm such an advocate for women's wrestling... But I truly believe that the best time in wrestling, for me, was when I first got into WWE and they had a strong women's division and they also had girls who strengths weren't in the ring and were more for entertainment.
In my first fight, I acknowledged it. I'm a professional wrestler, this is who I am, who you know me as. But guess what, I've also been wrestling since I was 5 years old - real wrestling - amateur wrestling, Olympic wrestling.
I was trained by Terry Taylor and Triple H. Triple H always hated when I say that.