It's no secret that the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is a huge dream of mine. There's been so many guys I looked up to - Pegasus Kid, Owen Hart, Liger, Prince Devitt, Kota Ibushi... the best of the best have held that belt.
Everything in the business is based around the idea of a World Championship. WWE, World Heavyweight Championship, Universal Title, the ROH Title, or the IWGP Title - they are all World Championships. The best of the best.
2010 was an incredible year for me. I won the Best of the Super Juniors, and went on to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. That was an unbelievable achievement.
As far as working against Finn Balor, I always idolized him. I looked up to him. When I was in Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling, he came to Dragon Gate, and was the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
I think of Bret Hart as somebody who held the Intercontinental championship like it was the World Heavyweight championship. Every title match he was in felt important, like it was the most important thing on the show. The way he carried himself and the matches he had, it was just everything I thought a champion should be.
I'd come from the bottom of the barrel. Just Owen Hart getting out of the shadow of Bret Hart's little brother. Everyone figured, this is a joke, Owen's going to get squashed.
As a kid, growing up, my heroes all had the Intercontinental Championship. Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect, Ric Rude, all of them. And they were the people I looked up to and wanted to be like.
I got into this business for one reason, and I stayed in this business for one reason: To be the World Heavyweight Champion. I think if you are in professional wrestling, and you don't have that dream or aspire to be the best and carry that World Heavyweight Championship, then you are in the wrong business.
I don't have many particular beliefs, but I do believe in people who we've lost. I'll speak to Owen Hart; he was a big influence on me as a young wrestler, and when he passed, I felt a great sense of loss. Ever since then, I just talk to Owen Hart before every match, and I ask him to be with me and make sure I don't get hurt.
Junior Dos Santos is one of the best heavyweight fighters of all time, and he has proven it by being a champion. That is something that I want to be in my career, and I understand to achieve that, I have to beat guys like him.
I was actually a big Owen Hart fan, but I wasn't a Bret Hart fan at all growing up.
'WrestleMania' was the best day of my life, the greatest opportunity I've ever been afforded, but at the same time, no one wants to lose the main event for the WWE world heavyweight championship.
There are so many role models who I watched and idolised growing up, mainly guys with a similar athletic style to myself. I loved Dynamite Kid, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio, as well as Japanese juniors like Jushin Liger, Ultimo Dragon, and Tiger Mask.
I'm the best Crusierweight, X Division, Junior Heavyweight wrestler whatever you want to call it.
To be recognized as one of the best, you need to win that WWE title or the World Heavyweight Championship.
Beautiful fans of Oklahoma City, I can’t say enough about you guys. All the support you give our team. The home-court advantage we have is the best I’ve ever seen. We disappoint you sometimes, but we try our best every single night to win for you guys. And we want to win a championship for you guys.
I'm not going to go fight the best guys in the world without getting championship fights or championship money; it makes no sense.