Sting was one of my first and biggest influences. One night in North Carolina, when I reached out and touched his shoulder, he had the face paint on, and I didn't know why, but I loved it. I wanted to be just like him, and I was only 11 years old.

There are things that I can agree with from both sides: perhaps the civil libertarian issues of the Left and also the economic freedom issues of the Right while still rejecting the big-government tendencies of both sides of the political spectrum.

I was told that the fact that I had nothing but good things to say about Judith Regan distinguished me. I enjoyed writing for Judith. I really enjoyed working with Victoria Wilson at Knopf, and Simon & Schuster, they've all been great experiences.

I pray at night, and I believe God has given me the gift to be able to perform in front of millions and millions of fans around the world. My faith in God has given me the opportunity to provide for my family and hopefully for generations to come.

Everybody's calling, they want to backflip off this and into that. Once you do that a couple of times, it's like, 'OK, what do you got now?' Well, now I gotta do two flips into that, then two and a half. When they get used to that, what do you do?

And I have the support of the writers: I have a great relationship with the creative team, and they have a good hold of my character and my personality, and they come up with some great stuff, and I'm forever trying to change it up, keep it fresh.

In the 1995 'World War 3,' it was Dave Taylor's first WCW match. I remember looking across the ring and seeing Dave give Hogan an uppercut. Hogan wasn't used to being hit with such ferocity, and seeing the look on his face was an absolute picture.

God undertook the most dramatic rescue operation in cosmic history. He determined to save the human race from self-destruction, and He sent His Son Jesus Christ to salvage and redeem them. The work of man's redemption was accomplished at the cross.

If you know Christ, you don't need to beg for the Holy Spirit to come into your life; He is already there- whether you "feel" His presence or not. Don't confuse the Holy Spirit with an emotional feeling or a particular type of spiritual experience.

Behind the love of God lies His imniscience - His ability to "know and understand all." . . . At all times, even in the midst of any type of suffering, I can realize that He knows, loves, watches, understands, and, more than that, He has a purpose.

You have to connect with the crowd. If you can't do that, I don't care how good a wrestler you are, or how much muscle you have or how cool your hair is. You have to connect with the crowd. The guys who I like are the ones who have that connection.

I'm the guy who'll drive 250 miles tonight and be at the gym tomorrow at 10 A.M., when people are still sleeping in. I'm the guy who'll fly to Australia and find a gym. Fly back and first thing I do off the plane is work out before I shower or eat.

When it comes to representing the WWE, I don't like calling myself the 'face of WWE' because we have so many faces and so many superstars. We are a team, we're a roster, and we're a locker room. It absolutely takes every man to make this ship sail.

WWE is very good at doing things that are advantageous. If you have the ability to go out there and get on a mic and be captivating, then they're going to do everything in their power to support that ability and make it even bigger and seem better.

The funny thing was, with IT, I was never really a tech type of person: I was better with people, good at dealing with people. I had technical experience; I knew the nitty gritty. I could never be a programmer or anything, but I knew my way around.

I felt myself getting teary eyed. And I was like, 'Wait a second. You can't do that. You're the WWE Champion.' Then I went out of the ring, Alex Riley was there and we both celebrated together. Feeling his excitement made me feel even more excited.

I remember sitting on my couch on a Saturday watching reruns of 'The Real World.' And it said, 'Do you want to be on 'The Real World?' Go to MTV.com, and you can try out there.' And I said, 'I want to be on 'The Real World.'' And I sent in my tape.

By the time I got to 2015, I was sliding down the card. I was getting opportunities that I thought were kind of wasted. Like, I became the King of the Ring, which sounds like it should be impressive, but what it was followed up with was zero rises.

The way NXT has been from day one when I was asked to do it, 'Don't put me on camera. I do not need to be on camera unless it's absolutely necessary. This isn't about me, it's about the talent,' and everyone that works in NXT, that's what we think.

I learned from many people. I became a better wrestler thanks to my matches with Edge, with Christian, with Rey Mysterio, with John Cena - who, even though you, the fans, want to criticize him, John Cena is one of the best wrestlers of the universe.

A guy that I was supposed to face - and I think that he was just plain downright scared to get in the ring with me because he was one of those guys that was on top and saw a huge threat in Brock Lesnar at the time - that's 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.

I train hard every day, you know. And some days are better than others. Sometimes I punch someone in the face and sometimes I get punched in the face. But I can deal with that outcome because it's instantaneous. It's in the moment and you can learn.

A lot of times, guys leave WWE or get fired by WWE, but there's always that little bit of buzz right when they get out on the scene, but like all buzz, it fades. But I feel really flattered that, for whatever reason, it seems to be trending upwards.

I couldn't even speak in front of a group of students when I was in high school. I could barely do that sort of thing. But once I started doing the "YES!" chant down to the ring and people would do it with me, it allowed me to feel more comfortable.

A lot of people feel they spend enough time watching me go through the good, the bad, and the ugly, so they feel like they know me and are a part of it. I'm kind of like a part of people's families. You can't buy that kind of connection with people.

Philadelphia's awesome. It's one of my top home-away-from-homes. When I walk around on the streets there, people recognize me. They think I'm from Philadelphia, because I was there so much and because I'm so associated with Philadelphia through ECW.

WWE didn't want RVD to get over when I was there. They tried so much to... to... not get me... to... to... keep me from that. They didn't understand why the fans liked me, because I don't fit the cookie cutter formula, because I am a non-conformist.

Wrestling toughest sport. We never take day off. We never have the offseason like the hockey or the football. We work year-round, and we never complain because you fight to be with biggest company in the world and you never ask for the time to rest.

Robots do not love. God created us with the capacity to love. Love is based upon one's right to choose to love. We cannot force others to love us. We can make them serve us or obey us. But true love is founded upon one's freedom to choose to respond.

Some people accuse us of too much emotionalism. I say we have too little. That is why we are losing church people to other interests. We need not only to capture their minds; we've got to touch their hearts. We've got to make people feel their faith.

Some of the greatest values that have influenced me through the years are those that I learned as a boy growing up on the farm. I remember mostly the love in our family, but I also remember the discipline. Then there was the work; we all had to work.

No matter how much people want to pretend that they're embarrassed by it, that they don't watch it, everybody knows about it. It's truly, I believe, one of the only art forms that America has actually given to the world, besides jazz and comic books.

That is one of the coolest things about WWE and wrestling in general. The fans have this very unique voice and this very unique power, and in no other sport and no other form of entertainment can the fans make their voices heard and it effect change.

We've all heard the phrase 'equal pay for equal work.' Many of those who habitually repeat this mantra may not realize that it is simply a variation of the discredited labor theory of value (LTV), which is generally associated with Marxian economics.

In 1999, I had my back against the wall, and WWE had a ghostwriter working on an autobiography for me. He was halfway through, and it was awful, just boring. I took over as a way of trying to fix things, as I thought I could probably do a better job.

With Hulk, I don't agree with all his choices, but you know what, I don't hear people saying all the great things he does. When he was on the Wheaties box, all those kids that said their prayers and took their vitamins, I don't hear them saying that.

As an adult, I've always tried to be a good person my whole life, so I've made good friends, and I've always built great relationships and been friendly with people. I always think what you do to others will come to you, so that's how I treat people.

When guys are in NXT - not me, but the guys who are signed to developmental deals that are there - they're setting up the ring. They're tearing it down. They're working every day at the PC. And it's arduous training, man. Those guys go through a lot.

There are so few who are men worthy of praise in this dreadful life: Mr. McMahon is one who immediately comes to mind; Billy Shakespeare is another, Bob Barker, god rest his soul - wait, he's not passed yet has he? Drat, take that one off, I suppose.

An ordinary day. I get up early, drive to the airport, from there driving to the arena where we wrestle. Then if we have a show I will take another plane for my destination. Otherwise I will take a plane to return home and fall in bed very, very late.

I have no problem with people eating meat. I would just like it, for the people who do eat meat, for the animals to be treated better. To be treated humanely. Cows in pastures living the life that they're supposed to live. I have no problem with that.

Wrestling is more of a creative outlet, and especially for somebody like me, I view it as my creative outlet. Not all WWE superstars and not all wrestlers view it that way, but that's how I view it, and that's one of the ways my mind works creatively.

People at WWE would say, 'It doesn't matter if you're the best wrestler,' but I would think about Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit and Rey Mysterio. They weren't necessarily the greatest talkers, but they were great wrestlers. I wanted to be that person.

I train all the time and the weird thing is I'm in the gym with people between 20 and 25 years old and I look in the mirror and I look better than they do and they are young kids - either they haven't trained hard enough or they aren't serious enough.

You know a lot of times wrestlers get too full of themselves. They can't separate themselves from the characters. They get used to the excitement, the energy, the lifestyle and the money and with a lot of these guys, when it stops, they self-destruct.

Don't think you can...know you can! Your human body is the most impressive tool that you will ever own. Even if you can't control everything...you can always control something. Your body - Use it...Amuse it...because one day...you're going to lose it.

I think we all have experiences when we were young where we either had an interaction with someone we admired or you know, had a vision of how they were and found out that they weren't necessarily that and that it tends to be a big let down sometimes.

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.

Piggie James was the storyline that brought LayCool to fruition and really started and helped develop our characters. It was a main storyline that, at the time, started giving Divas more screen time and longer matches - we even had a huge celebration.

Most people know that Lita has been, as far as my wrestling career is concerned, a big influence even before I came to the WWE. We met when I was working the independent scene in North Carolina. She's always been so kind to me and helped me out a lot.

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