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It was set to be my first WrestleMania, which is obviously a lifetime goal. To have that taken away from me right on the approach - we were something like three weeks out - was devastating. It certainly changed me as a person, that process.
I was about to walk into TakeOver: New York, WrestleMania weekend, and that was my WrestleMania moment. It wasn't just about winning a title. It was about being the face of this brand, walking out from that curtain - that meant the world to me.
Trump was on WrestleMania in 2007. And in that year and 2009, the McMahons gave a total of $5 million. Now, we know that wasn't Trump's payment for WrestleMania. He got paid separately, but about the same time, they made this $5 million donation.
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.
I would say my most disappointing moment was not competing in a match even though I was Divas Champion at 'WrestleMania XXVII.' Although, I did get to be a part of a fun backstage segment with Stone Cold, the Rock, and Mae Young... not too shabby!
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.
For some reason, the fans got behind me, and I don't know exactly why that is. I wasn't supposed to main event WrestleMania XXX, but the fans were so vocal about it that the fans had no choice but to put me in the match. I've had a lot of lucky breaks.
When I saw that Wrestlemania had broken an indoor attendance record, I just walked into a wrestling office, Championship Wrestling in Florida, during the offseason, and they introduced me to Hiro Matsuda, who became my mentor... and the rest is history!
I do remember meeting 'The Donald.' He seemed to really enjoy the WrestleMania 4 battle royal. He watched me take a very hard front turnbuckle bump, and it seemed to stun him that I wasn't seriously hurt. Backstage, Trump gave me a big smile and a handshake.
My favorite WrestleMania moment would actually be the first WrestleMania I ever went to, and that was at WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans. I've been a fan forever but have never been able to go to an actual WrestleMania until I started working with the company.
Pride was a date night - the cool thing to do at the time - so people were dressed to the nines, and they got quite an experience, visually and otherwise. It was Cirque du Soleil meets the Super Bowl meets WrestleMania meets your favorite rock n' roll concert.
Being so doopity! It's awesome. And I think it's just one of the reasons that people should get hitched on with the WWE Network. It's more than just these network specials like 'WrestleMania' and like 'SummerSlam'. It's programming geared for the WWE universe.
I'd love to do WrestleMania - if it was possible I'd love to defend the UK Title at WrestleMania, and who knows - in a few years' time, whether I'm the first British WWE Champion, or maybe the second or third, that's definitely a goal that I'd like to achieve.
One thing I learned from my old man is that people are going to be happy for you, but not too happy. When the tables are turned and you're hanging out on top with a guy like Randy Orton, who is in the main event at Wrestlemania, not all the guys are going to like you.
My whole intention at 'WrestleMania XIV' was to drop the belt to Steve, but I was going to make everybody sweat it out and make them think I wasn't. Obviously, I got that accomplished. That's extremely unprofessional, but that's exactly who I was and what I was doing.
One thing I've learned from years of working in WWE is that the road to WrestleMania always starts at the Royal Rumble. That's why it's so important to win the Rumble: because it's your chance to secure a championship match at WWE's biggest event of the year - WrestleMania.
The fact I've carved out a niche in the business and had an almost 30-year career and done well without competing at a WrestleMania is something I'm proud of. To be in a business that's dominated by one guy and be able to do well without having to walk on that stage is great.
I was in town working for Ring of Honor; my wife was in town. At that point in my life, I thought, 'When else am I ever going to come to WrestleMania?' I sat way up high in the stands, but seeing a couple of friends on that big stage, you start to think maybe this is possible.
The retirement at WrestleMania 32 was a bittersweet moment for me. I was excited to see the next chapter of my life, which is becoming a mother, but at the same time, it was a very historical moment. It was a big part of what the Women's Division has been striving and fighting for.
When I first arrived in WWE after having a somewhat high profile on-air role in WCW, it was WrestleMania season. In a way, I was perceived to be the voice of WCW after the Ted Turner/TBS buyout of Jim Crockett Promotions. That 'claim to fame' did not endear me to many WWE personnel.
I'm on 'WrestleMania!' I don't care if I'm on the Kickoff show; it was just such a great opportunity to be a part of 'WrestleMania.' It was my very first 'WrestleMania,' and a lot of people say, 'Oh, but you're on the Kickoff.' It doesn't matter: you're still a part of 'WrestleMania.'
When you talk about running big venues, obviously the WWE has sold out arenas all over the world throughout the years and it seems like every WrestleMania sets a new record. But, I believe l and I'm not mistaken that the first guy to run a dome was Bill Watts when he ran The Superdome.
If I had to explain what WrestleMania was to someone who's never seen wrestling, never seen WWE, never heard of the concept of WrestleMania, I would show them a five second video clip of The Rock and Hulk Hogan standing motionless in the ring while 70,000 people are jumping up and down.
Balancing trying to be an athlete trying to get ready for WrestleMania, training twice a day, to everything you do at the office to remembering that you have a wife and kids and everything else - it's challenging, but you just make it happen. In some ways, it's no different than anyone else's life.
WrestleMania is an experience. It's an overall ride, its ups and its downs and its curves and its music. It's presentation, and it's emotion, and it's paying tribute to the past and progressing the product into the future. It's career-defining moments for people who live for career-defining moments.
When you do RAW or Wrestlemania or a PPV where there's 10,000 people or more, you don't necessarily look at the people. The only time there's a realization that there's that many people is when you walk to the ring. Once you get in the ring, your focus is only on the ring, and maybe the front few rows.
Winning the championship at 'WrestleMania' was a dream come true because not only had it more than a decade since there had been a women's singles match at 'WrestleMania,' but the fact that I got to win it against my best friend in a storyline that was so close to my heart, it was just all kinds of emotional.
Can you do inter-gender matches? Ronda Rousey and our match at Wrestlemania - sure, it can be done. Women don't need a man in their match to steal the show. They just need an equal platform and opportunity, and if the women have it, they will work just as hard, if not harder, than anybody else to steal that show.
The run that I had - which really was, like, four months in the WWE - it wasn't great. But my opening day was great. My opening day was humongous. And then WrestleMania was pretty much my closing card. I did one 'Raw' after that, but that WrestleMania 18 match that I had with Christian, that was a hell of a match.
Once you get within a few weeks of the show and it becomes WrestleMania season, the energy starts picking up, and the energy feels different. You can feel it in the air, and every show means a little bit more, and everything is a little more focused and directed. Everything's directing toward that day of WrestleMania.
Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns are the main event of WrestleMania 34 because neither one is content, and both are ambitious enough to push the limits of what is now considered their greatest moment, and that's the point that neither one will ever accept. They will never accept the idea that they've peaked as individuals.
I've got 8 and 10 year old kids telling me about the match I had with Savage at WrestleMania III and that was 30 years before they were even born. But with the magic of the Internet, their dad tells them to watch a little bit of what they used to watch... It amazes me that we're passing it on from generation to generation.
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.
I remember Wrestlemania VI, being in my locker room painting my face, about halfway done, and the production guys came, and they knocked on the door, and they came in. I was looking in the mirror at them, and they said, 'Hey, Warrior, we've got a cart to take you to the ring.' I just looked at them, and I said, 'I'm running to the ring.'
I got put through a ladder by Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania 23, had bruises from the ladder rungs across my back, but I was back the next night. I did the hardcore match with Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22, went through a flaming table, and had thumbtacks in my back, but I was out there the next night. That mentality does get ingrained in you.
I was raised by the last of the Gorgeous George era. You don't let somebody come from some other business, walk in your business, make a fool of ya and go back into his business and laugh at ya. So if you watch Wrestlemania the very first one, I was the general and here was the rule: don't let Mr. T throw a punch; keep it strictly amateur with him.