I think the best wrestling always needs to pretend to be real, and Vince Russo's wrestling is so pathetically far-fetched and phony that I think he does a disservice to his wrestlers and the business.
Vince Russo knows about as much about wrestling as Eric Bischoff does.
I would have to say that Canada definitely produces the best wrestlers; I don't know why. I think Canada is a big wrestling country, and there are a lot of guys who are interested in wrestling in Canada.
I think it's hard to differentiate between your wrestling character and your real character - you kind of end up being both. I've always been my wrestling character in and out of the ring and in and out of the dressing room, and I was always really respected in the dressing room by the other wrestlers.
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.
Vince Russo stuck up for me in WCW when it came down to who should be world champ. From what I've heard, there was a meeting, and Russo stood up for me. I would not be six-time world champion if it were not for Vince Russo. I would not even be one-time world champion if it weren't for Vince Russo.
If you watch wrestling like I do, you watch for the wrestling. There's so much talking. There's some 'twit' back there with a pencil behind his ear writing down all these things for wrestlers to say.
The Rock now the hottest thing. He come from wrestling background. Father, mother, grandfather all from wrestling business: 2-3 generations. I watch his movie. He great movie star, and I be wrestling with his father Rocky Johnson. I love them.
Modern day wrestlers are fans of the performance of wrestling instead of the concept of wrestling.
In the wrestling world, we say the Judo guys are just the leftover wrestlers that couldn't make the wrestling team.
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.
You know that Vince Russo... when Russo and I agreed to work together, one of his big ideas was that he wanted Lance Storm to be my son.
The first wrestling event I ever went to was PCW Ultra in L.A., and it was insane. They had RVD wrestling, Shane Strickland, Penta, and all these incredible indie wrestlers.
I think the wrestling world needs TNA. I think the wrestlers need TNA. I think the fans need TNA.
I think the best wrestlers in the world are the ones who grow up watching it and have a love for it before they learn it's a business. You can tell the difference between the guys who grow up watching wrestling versus the guys who get into it as an opportunity to make a living.
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.
A lot of U.K. wrestlers are very good at chain wrestling, telling a story through holds, while American wrestling is a little more flashy, with lots of high-spots.