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Honestly, to me, the WWE championship and the Universal championship are the same thing. They're the top championships on the respective brands.
A big reason why I signed with WWE in the first place was because my son wanted to see me wrestle in WWE, and he wanted to see me wrestle John Cena.
I wanted to become a wrestler because I saw a tape of Wrestlemania XI. I thought to myself I wanted to be a WWE superstar one day, and now here I am.
I will be driving on the road after a show at night, and it will hit me that I am a WWE superstar, and this is what I dreamed about, and I get to live it.
Everybody wants to get the MITB contract; that usually means at some point they will become champion. That's a big deal; that's what everybody strives for.
I stopped playing video games, I stopped playing other sports, and I just dove head first into wrestling and it's been my passion ever since I discovered it.
It is pretty daunting - the Cell has been responsible for some amazing matches, but it can also lead to some pretty real injuries, so that plays into your mind.
Whether it's the NXT title or the United States title or the Intercontinental title or the World title, if I have that title, then that's the most important one.
My wife, she's been with me for 10 years. She saw the ups and the downs, and she saw so many people tell me I would never make it to WWE, but she never doubted it.
I wasn't in NXT for very long, but what I learned there was very valuable once I got onto the main roster - how to communicate to a larger audience, stuff like that.
Owens may not be my real last name, but it's close as it gets, because it's my son's name, Owen. That's why I picked that name, and Kevin Owens is who I am. I can't stress that enough.
Being on Raw every Monday is obviously important, but the pay-per-views are the big shows: that's where everything comes to a head, and I want to be a part of those as often as possible.
From the time I was 11 until I was 23 and met my wife, wrestling was all I cared about. It was an obsession, and that's why I think I ended up making it. There was no other option for me.
The way I look and the shape I am in, I've had so many people tell me, 'You'll never make it because of the way you look.' But that never stopped me - it may even have motivated me a little.
After a couple of years, in 2010, Ring Of Honor went through a shift in management, and the people that came in and took over kind of decided that they wanted to push me out. They weren't fans.
I enjoy every second I get in the ring. But there's a bigger picture now and a much bigger purpose to everything, and it's to take care of my kids and my wife and make sure they have a good future.
I'm well aware that no matter how big of a jerk I am, some people will cheer me, and no matter what I do, some people will boo me, and that's fine. I just need to elicit emotion. That's all I care about.
People ask me how I am such a good heel, but I don't know; I just try to be me and go and do what I need to do to get the job done on any show that I am on and achieve the work that is set up in front of me.
I would like to be champion - that is everybody's ultimate goal - but my one goal at all times, whether on Raw, Smackdown, a pay-per-view, or a live event, is to make people walk away and remember what I did.
There's a lot of people out there who are just miserable in their own lives, I guess, and just trying to make other people miserable as well to bring themselves up. There's no shortage of that, that's for sure.
The first time I was in the ring, I wasn't good at it, and I honestly thought, 'Maybe this isn't for me.' Then I went back the next day and the next day and the next day... because I loved it more than anything.
Sometimes you have chemistry with people that is undeniable, and it just works, and sometimes you have matches with someone you think you are going to have good chemistry with, and it just doesn't turn out that way.
I've been part of so many pay-per-views, and I've been in the ring with John Cena and Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton and Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns... all the top names. And I've been Intercontinental champion twice.
I have interest in competing in every big event like Money in the Bank or Elimination Chamber or SummerSlam or whatever it is. I want to be part of those shows, I want to be part of that product; that's where I want to be.
I met Steve Austin at an airport in 2005, and he gave me the best piece of advice I could ever receive - to keep running my mouth and never stop talking! I took that advice to heart, and it has helped me get where I am today.
John Cena and Roman Reigns get insane reactions where half the crowd loves them and half the crowd despises them. When you're in the ring waiting for your opponent, whether it's John or Roman, you get hit by this crazy noise.
My parents could have told me, when I was 12 years old and telling them I wanted to be a wrestler, that it was silly and to be serious and find something more secure and safe, but they didn't. They pushed me as hard as they could.
I like having titles. I feel like when I walk out and I don't have a title, it's strange. Even in the independent scene before I got to WWE, I was a champion in most of the companies I wrestled for. Being a champion is just what I do.
My dad's father would take me to WWE shows when I was younger, and my other grandfather, my mom's dad, would watch wrestling with me at the house. They just really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, they both passed away before I signed with WWE.
Sami Zayn and I have had a long history. Same goes for Adrian Neville. I might not get the chance to work with them now, but Seth Rollins, Cesaro and Daniel Bryan, all those guys, we all spent a lot of time together wrestling all over the place.
To be clear, NXT is a great place to be at, you know what I mean? ... Obviously, everybody aspires to be on Raw or Smackdown. That's why they sign with WWE, because they want to be able to perform on that stage and at Wrestlemania and Summerslam.
No matter how much wrestling you have watched in your life, you know how big Wrestlemania and how momentous it is. My sister-in-law and her boyfriend aren't die hard WWE fans, but they are fans of Wrestlemania just because of how huge the event is.
I've always enjoyed Twitter. I enjoy it a lot less now that I'm in WWE, I'll be honest. Because the number of idiots that have access to you is exponentially more. I feel like people shouldn't be able to tweet whatever they want without consequences.
I went into NXT with no expectations. That's what I was told when I was hired - have no expectations, just do the best I could - and that's always what I've done for the last fifteen years. That's what I did, and you know, it's obviously working out pretty good.
The Hell in a Cell match that always sticks in my mind is the original Michaels versus Undertaker match. It was really something. The bout itself was so good, while Kane's debut made it even more memorable. That takes the cake in terms of Hell in a Cell matches.
I was a wrestling fan long enough, and once in a while, I would get bored. I'd be on board with a superstar and love what he'd do. Then eventually, I would get bored with him. I don't want people to think that way of me, so I'm doing everything I can to make sure it doesn't happen.
I'm a lot happier on RAW. I actually can't overthink how much better I think I am on RAW than I was on Smackdown. And I don't really know the reason why that is. I feel like I look more at home here, and I feel like I look like I belong here. It's pretty obvious that RAW's the place for me.
I know Jim Cornette says the reason that I'm successful now is because I changed my attitude, and I must be listening to what people tell me now, and I used to not listen to him. But the thing is, I used to not listen to him or question his methods because I didn't agree with him, and I didn't share his vision.
I don't have many particular beliefs, but I do believe in people who we've lost. I'll speak to Owen Hart; he was a big influence on me as a young wrestler, and when he passed, I felt a great sense of loss. Ever since then, I just talk to Owen Hart before every match, and I ask him to be with me and make sure I don't get hurt.
I think if you look at NXT, the one guy who seems like he would belong in a WrestleMania main event is Nakamura because of the aura and the buzz that he gets. He is able to grab the attention of people who don't really know who he is right away with his mannerisms and entrance - by the time he gets to the ring, you are kind of hooked.