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Usually, every match in the WWE, I was the one with the stupid ideas. I'm trying to figure out how to jump off the stage or turn the logo into a weapon or obstacle.
If the path is taking me to a world heavyweight championship, that's great, but all I really strive for and care about is putting on the best matches I possibly can.
Character is everything. The reason people watch sports entertainment is to see people who are larger than life, but at the same time, there's something real about them.
I've been pushing and training for Lucha Underground and AAA, as well as parkour and stunt training for my movie, and I've blended those styles together for my wrestling.
I tried out for 'Tough Enough' season 2 originally and made it to the final casting episode and got cut by Kevin Dunn, who said all I wanted to do was run and flip and jump.
When I grew up, my dad listened to all that stuff - Neil Young. Floyd. The Doors. The Beatles. Stones. So even now, to this day, it's the music I listen to a lot of the time.
When I'm in the ring with somebody like Puma, it really forces me to level up and rise to the top of my game. It's sometimes just face-melting, the kind of stuff that he can do.
Miz & Morrison, 'The Greatest Tag Team of the 21st Century,' was fun because Miz and I have great comedic chemistry for backstage segments and our Internet show, 'The Dirt Sheet.'
It should be clear that the death penalty does just the opposite of promoting decency and respect for life. It dehumanizes people and promotes murder. It can never be applied fairly.
Rick Rude is the reason I even got abs in the first place. I was just a fan of the way he did things. He was the kind of guy who would walk into a room and automatically take control.
There's a lot on my plate, but the cool thing is everything that I'm doing I'm really into. I love 'Lucha Underground.' I love Impact. I love wrestling every weekend all over the world.
Everyone knows some day I'm gonna beat the crap out of Seth Rollins - that would be awesome. I'd love to beat the crap out of him. I'd just love to have a great match with Seth Rollins.
I think anytime you have an event for the first time ever, like a Super Bowl or WrestleMania or UFC, as the years go by, everything becomes more polished with promotion and bigger stars.
One thing I really like about 'Lucha' is it breaks traditions. It's established it's own identity and a world where the character can be darker, multilayered, even supernatural at times.
'Lucha Underground' is like a combination of Lucha Libre, American Pro Wrestling, and gridy action films. It's got a lot of things I like - action, wrestling, and really good storytelling.
I left for Fiji 36 hours after we wrapped 'Lucha Underground' season 4. The producers of 'Lucha Underground' had to bend over backwards to get me wrapped out of the season to leave for 'Survivor.'
I don't think anyone in the WWE really knew that I did parkour. I mean, some of the guys have seen me doing it backstage in arenas before and have always asked about it, but the office didn't know.
The creative autonomy in 'Lucha Underground' is more than I felt in WWE. There is more willingness from the creative and production team to listen to input from the wrestlers in 'Lucha Underground.'
I remember when 'Stranger Things' came out, if I had to watch one episode a week, I wouldn't have been nearly as into it as I was when I just sat there and watched the whole thing in, like, two days.
My favorite part of working with 'Lucha Underground' is learning more Lucha, combining that with my WWE psychology, and taking wrestling to a place we've never seen before in the evolution of wrestling.
Prince Puma is one of the most talented people in the history of the business. He can do anything. He's so ridiculously talented. When you're in the ring with someone like him, that means that anything is possible.
I always liked 'Johnny Blaze,' but we announced it on TV, and it was under copyright by Marvel. Then I had 'Johnny Spade,' and that name sucked, then I had 'Johnny Nitro.' Johnny Nitro was one of my favourite names.
Wrestling ultimately comes down to what happens when the bell rings, and it comes down to athleticism, storytelling, and characters - and what we're doing in 'Lucha Underground' is the highest-quality wrestling out there.
Anyone that's been with WWE, there's frustrations of feeling like you can only do so much. The women are told not to punch or to kick, to do power bombs and the power moves, and none of that exists in 'Lucha Underground.'
Sometimes with the WWE, you can get a little bit stale. Your traveling is usually with the same group, and you're generally working with the same person and the same type of match, and it's the same environment backstage.
When you leave WWE, like, when I left, I was thinking, 'Maybe I'll take, like, a year off, and in that year, I'll probably do a Marvel movie, maybe a couple of movies. I don't know.' And, obviously, completely unrealistic.
If your attitude is good and you want to have good matches and you want to be employed for the right reasons, then I think people start to see that and respect that and respect you as a person, and you can fit in anywhere.
Wrestling, for me, is always an awesome challenge because you have the opportunity to constantly create something new, your canvas is always the ring, and there are similarities to every match that you have and what you do.
'Lucha Underground' really is the first episodic professional wrestling show. There are storylines in every promotion, but the way 'Lucha Underground' is crafted really is more of a TV show than your traditional wrestling show.
I can't tell you how many spot shows little Johnny Nitro, like, pulled the chair out in the arena in Shelbyville Fair and did a moonsault only to get chewed out by Rip Rogers and Jim Cornette about it. I mean, I did years of it.
Hopefully, when people watch 'Lucha Underground' and WWE, Ring of Honor, New Japan, AAA, and any other promotion out there, they fall in love with pro wrestling. Pro wrestling, as it affects pop culture, is bigger than any one promotion.
At the end of the day, I look at it like this: pro wrestling is really hard on the performers, the luchadoras, and any time a performer is in a position to do something good for themselves and make money, I'm always happy to see that happen.
I've been spending quite a bit of time writing, acting, and making films. Because I'm doing all this extra writing, acting, and creating short comedy skits with my friends in improv shows, I feel like that's really filled out my confidence on the mic.
If all you are is a pro wrestler, on some level you eventually become, I feel like, a mindless drone. It's tough, man, if you're on the road and you're doing 200, 250 shows a year. It starts to take a toll on your personal life and who are you as a human.
A lot of people ask me, like, how the characters are different between Nitro and Morrison and Mundo, and the biggest difference is just the names. Like, wrestlers are usually a version of yourself, and the versions of myself haven't really changed that much.
I watch other wrestlers. I watch movies with Jackie Chan and Jet Li and Tony Jaa. Then there's breakdancing and Capoeira - just anything I see that looks awesome that I think I could adapt in the ring. Just your typical Kung Fu, breakdancing, Capoeira moves.
I was tired of just kind of being on that express train, whatever you want to call it, so to speak. It just sort of shoots forward, and you have no creative autonomy, no control over your time, and there's not much time for side projects or family and friends.
I've been a fan of 'Survivor' for a long time. I even applied for a season. I made a really stupid audition tape. For some reason, I thought if I spoke in a German accent, whoever was casting would think it was funny and put me on the show. But that didn't work!
If I had my career to do over again, I think I would wrestle under my real name, John Hennigan, because if there was some sort of brand test associated with professional wrestling, I would hardcore fail that test because I have so many names, it's confusing to me, even.
Johnny Blaze was my character at OVW. I had all these fancy fire catchphrases: 'Call the fire department,' 'Get your fire extinguishers out, ladies.' 'By the time you hear the thunder, it's going to be too late because the lightning will have already struck.' That was all my thing.
'Lucha Underground' is a combination of new psychology, new moves, and a new take on wrestling: an evolution of wrestling. In my opinion, it is entertaining. It is the kind of wrestling I want to watch. It is the kind of stories I want to tell, which is why I intend to be part of it.
I took Kira to a nice dinner at a place called Moonshadows in Malibu, which is by the ocean, and I organized it so a school of young dolphins swam by our table. I took her for a long walk on the beach after dinner, and I told her all the things I love about her. Then I asked her to marry me.
The Miz is someone who people are usually like, 'I can't believe how well he's doing. I can't believe this. I can't believe that.' But to me, he's someone who really always defined what it takes to becomes a successful public persona and in-ring entertainer, and to me, that's being authentic.
I was thinking, with the TV exposure I had with WWE - and it's kind of hard to explain to people sometimes how many countless hours you are on television when you've been on the road with WWE - I was thinking that was going to open doors, get me auditions, and get me into a lot of high profile roles.
Johnny Nitro was an homage to Eric Bischoff, who, I was his apprentice at the time. I liked that name. Basically, Vince McMahon thought that 'Nitro' reminded him of WCW, and when I became the ECW Champion, like, he had a couple times mentioned to me, 'If you're going to be a real star, you need a real name.'
I can't count how many times I've heard a wrestling fan say they don't have enough time to watch 'Raw.' Maybe it's less about not having the time to watch a three-hour show, but it's more about the time and the patience. You can usually sum up your three-hour 'Monday Night Raw' in a five-minute conversation.
When I get into 'Lucha Underground,' now it feels like I'm part of a collaboration. And I'm talking about storylines; I'm talking about how we can put matches together, where we're going to go, what's going to happen to 'Lucha Underground' as a promotion; what's going to happen with my character; and I was back in suddenly.