Wrestling fans dictate policy; they really do. What direction each wrestler takes usually revolves around what the fans think of them.
My initial goal was not really cater to the hardcore wrestling fans or the smarter wrestling fans. It was to cater to casual wrestling fans.
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.
It's the fans that dictate what wrestling is. That's the one constant from 1917 to 2017.
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.
You go from Olympic wrestling into pro wrestling, and it's a very difficult transition, but if you make it, you can earn a great living while at the same time giving amateur wrestling a lot of exposure by being on TV every week. Fans know where you came from.
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.
While I'm still healthy, while I still have ideas in this crazy head of mine, I want to contribute, and I want to do things that are going to make wrestling fans happy and are going to make new people into wrestling fans that were wrestling fans before. I want to contribute in that manner.
Modern day wrestlers are fans of the performance of wrestling instead of the concept of wrestling.
True wrestling fans love a great wrestling match.
I do get a kick out of the fact that this 'Wrestling With Whiskey' thing has become known enough both amongst whiskey fans, but also amongst the wrestling fans that when something like that pops up then that's kind of the immediate reaction so I get a kick out of that.
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.
Let's face it: when we were crazy into wrestling, there were 20 million people on Monday nights watching wrestling. So what you have are 17 million lagged wrestling fans. People who connect to it somewhere, but haven't really found an inspiration or a cultural connection to it.
There's not as many passive wrestling fans as people would think. There are a lot of fans who just can't get enough, and they're almost more interested in what's going on behind the scenes and the business of wrestling then they are, necessarily, of what's going on inside of the ring.
I think sometimes wrestling fans will feel different, but the thing is, 'Total Divas' introduced women's wrestling to the world.
Metal fans have a connection. There is something there; just like the wrestling world, they are die hard about wrestling, and it's that passion that makes you enjoy what you do. That is why I go to metal shows; you watch these dudes on stage just shredding and letting loose. You can't help but love it.