I became involved in the Australian independent wrestling scene between the ages of 13 and 19. When I was 19, I left home on my own and moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to train with my mentor and friend Lance Storm.
I quit wrestling in 2006 because I just got lost. My mom didn't want me wrestling. I was wondering if I was going to make it in wrestling; I got injured in a match. I was 19. I was away from home, living in Florida, and I just got lost. I couldn't face it, so I stepped away.
Pro wrestling is pro wrestling and it's one of those industries where things change on a dime. I'm coming up on 19 years in a business with various companies and often one day you're there and the next day you're gone.
Young women who come to Rise every weekend range from ages 15-19 years if they're in school and 19-24 years if they're out of school. These empowered young women talk about protecting themselves, their friends and communities and how they can educate people to help break the stigma surrounding AIDS.
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.
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.
When I was 19 or 20 years old, I wasn't making a living wrestling. I needed a full-time income.
First of all, I was a wrestling fan when I was young. Even when I figured out what wrestling was, I was still a fan.
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 grew up a huge wrestling fan. My grandfather, who was a minister and retired when I was a young kid in Sweetwater, Texas, lived right near us. He was a big wrestling fan.
I started wrestling when I was 19 years old, and I spent my entire adult life on the road chasing this dream, and I loved it.
It's a lot for young players to be expected to deal with all the media, and... there is a lot of pressure to be perfect, but at 19, 20, 21, 22, you're still young and learning.
When I was Cedrick Von Haussen, the champion of Liechtenstein, I was only 18 years old. I was super, duper young. I started traveling around for wrestling when I was 16, so I had only been wrestling a few years at that point.
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 used to be weak - as did all British fighters - with wrestling, because we don't have high school wrestling or college wrestling here.
I see it as my responsibility to start trying to help wrestling because if I don't do something, wrestling is going to die - like, wrestling as we know it.