My mom was like, 'What did I do as a mom for you to want to become a wrestler?' They just didn't understand, and it's really hard to explain what made me love wrestling so much. There's something about it that made me fall in love, and ever since I laid my eyes on it, I knew I wanted to be a professional wrestler in the WWE.
I just started watching wrestling in 2008, and I've loved it ever since. I told my mom I wanted to become a wrestler.
My mom found a wrestling school that was in Maryland, and she told me to go down there. From there, I really got my head out of any negativity, and I focused on trying to become a professional wrestler, living my dream from when I was a kid. Wrestling saved my life.
My son wanted to become a wrestler because I was a wrestler. I was his hero. I didn't want them to wrestle. It was the same reason my dad didn't want me to wrestle. It's not the wrestling. It's the lifestyle that goes with it and the demands it puts on you. It's not so bad for single guy.
I knew I wanted to be a wrestler, so I became the best wrestler in wrestling history.
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 just love sneakers. When I first started wrestling, I was wrestling in boots, and I felt like I was trying too hard to play a wrestler. I just wanted to be myself. So when I started wearing sneakers, I felt so much better.
While wrestling in college as a junior it came to a point where wrestling just wasn't enough for me anymore. I love wrestling, but I felt like I was missing something, and so the striking part about MMA, the boxing and kickboxing, was what got me really interested in MMA. I saw it on TV and I just knew that I wanted to do it.
The really funny thing is that my mom and my dad never, ever, ever wanted me to be in this businessbut it just kind of happened. I blame it all on my mom who was still dancing on stage with me when she was however many months pregnant. I always say that I was dancing and acting in the belly. I feel like it’s something I was born with and inspired by my family since I grew up backstage, watching them perform. I guess it was just a natural path for me.
I have been a fan of wrestling since I was about 8 years old. In 2012, I went to my first WWE show in Melbourne, Australia, and knew that my already existing desire to be a wrestler wasn't going away anytime soon.
The WWE have told me that if I ever want to become a wrestler, all I need to do is walk through the door, and they'll give me a job straight away.
I talk about things I'm passionate about. I talk about the wrestling business, because I love wrestling. I just love it. If I can just have good conversation with a guy who was a bada** wrestler, we're talking about something that's very near and dear to our heart.
I wanted to be an astronaut and wanted to go to space camp, but then I found out that I was too short to become an astronaut. My mom really made me believe that if I worked hard enough and if I really wanted to do it, I could do it.
I already knew a lot about the ground aspects of MMA, being a wrestler, but there was so much more. There was kicking, punching, and other things I wish I could have done as a wrestler. It really stoked my interest.
And my mom has always wanted me to be who I was born to be and whoever I want to be and inspire to be in life. So my mom is really supportive and I love that.
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.
I didn't want to be different. I longed to be everything grownups wanted, so they would love me. I followed all their rules, tried my best to please. But there was something about me that made them knit their eyebrows and frown. No one ever offered a name for what was wrong with me. That's what made me afraid it was really bad. I only came to recognize its melody through this constant refrain: 'Is that a boy or a girl?'