You just remember back when you were watching as a kid and going, 'Man, Sting's so cool,' and now I'm wrestling the guy. It's breathtaking.
A.J. Styles
I busted my tail for so long, I'm just glad it's getting recognized now as part of the WWE. Because let's face it, the WWE is the biggest company out there when it comes to wrestling. I'm just happy that I'm being recognized as somebody who works hard, I guess.
Who would have ever thought that, within a couple months of getting into the WWE, that I'd be wrestling in the main event for the world championship? Then, nine months after getting here, actually being the world champion.
Wrestling in Japan, obviously, the fans are a little bit different - very quiet, very respectful in New Japan - but here in the WWE, these fans are going nuts.
I think sports and bodybuilding were the only things that saved me from getting beat up. People are not pleased, for whatever reason, when you can answer all the questions in class. If not for the respect I got from track, cross-country, wrestling and bodybuilding, it would have been a disaster.
Aaron Patzer
I look at a guy like Velveteen Dream who has only been wrestling for a couple of years, and he's just filled with charisma, filled with talent.
Adam Cole
I started training when I was a senior in high school. I trained at the Combat Zone Wrestling Academy in South Philadelphia.
There are some times I'm really busy and other times I'm not, but I prefer to be really busy because I generally don't know what to do with myself when I'm not wrestling or on the road.
I think Ring of Honor is becoming a legitimate threat in the world of pro wrestling. To say that Ring of Honor would be WWE is getting a little bit ahead of yourself. At the same time, I think Ring of Honor can definitely be a place where guys can make a living.
For me, travel is one of the biggest perks of pro wrestling. You get to see the world on somebody else's dime.
My two main trainers were John Dahmer and DJ Hyde. DJ Hyde mainly taught me how to be tough: I mean, the beatings that he used to give the students as far as wrestling initiations go were as tough as they come, and I'm thankful for it.
My grandmother played a huge influence in my life and helped raise me, and she and my mother saw how much I loved pro wrestling and how much I wanted to go after it.
Regardless of who leaves and who stays, Ring of Honor is going to continue to be a healthy, growing, successful pro wrestling promotion.
I think the rating system is a way to open more discussion with wrestling fans about matches. To me, it's just another outlet to voice their opinions, so that's why I think they are so passionate about it.
For me, my number one guy would be Tanahashi from New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Like, watching him, like, this guy is a bonafide rockstar over in Japan. He can't even walk down the street without getting stopped, the way that he carries himself.
You realize, as time goes on, there is a certain expectation now in 2018 where fans want to see cool, exciting, hard-hitting sports entertainment or hard-hitting pro wrestling, and there are ways to give them that without necessarily putting yourself in the hospital that night or not being able to move the next morning.
Wrestling has gotten crazy lately in that guys can really make comfortable, good livings outside of WWE.
There are good wrestling journalists and bad wrestling journalists. That's for sure.
I do feel in 2018 that pro wrestling has gone in such a different direction. Before, things were so black and white; now, it's shades of grey. It's not so much good guys and bad guys: there are people who are put in situations who do the right or wrong things, but people react to them like they are stars.
I do work incredibly hard. I eat, sleep, and breathe pro wrestling with all of my heart, and I'm always committed to giving this my all.
Seth Rollins was just leaving Ring Of Honor when I was coming in, so I've heard him say very nice things about me in interviews and stuff. I always say nice things about him because of that respect I have for him. I watched him when I was working the independents while he was wrestling at Ring Of Honor, and I used to be blown away by his work then.
I always said to myself when I first started wrestling that I was gonna put absolutely everything into it - into becoming the absolute best pro wrestling that I could be.
I'd been told countless times, even before I got into pro wrestling, that I would never amount to anything and that I'd never achieve this dream.
New York, specifically, has been very good to me throughout my wrestling career.
The Bullet Club from the beginning was just a group of talented guys who were having fun together and tried to make pro wrestling as exciting as it can be.
Wrestling in the Midwest is always such a blast, and a favorite place of mine.
As everyone knows, things change in pro wrestling all the time. To try and expect what's going to happen in the future is just foolish to me.
There is nothing I love more than pro wrestling, so getting to do that all over the globe with some of the best out there is my personal heaven.
I had been wrestling with a fracture in my elbow and a slight tear in my triceps for quite some time, but it was continuing to get worse. As I worked through it, I ended up dislocating my shoulder and tearing my labrum. All of these injuries were on the same arm, so things like working out or even sleeping became increasingly difficult.
Wrestling is not only my job, it's my life, so when I wasn't able to wrestle, I didn't know what to do with myself.
I'm really, really close with Kevin Owens. We talk practically every day. He was a guy who really, really helped me, both in Ring Of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
When I was in school, if I was talking as myself and I was presenting something as myself or having to answer a question, I was so nervous. I would get red in the face; I would feel sweaty. I hated it. But anytime I was performing, like, if it was a talent show, or if it's through wrestling, I'm portraying or being someone else, I'm so comfortable.
It's a really cool time to be a wrestling fan.
All In' is not my baby, it's my brother or my cousin. We sold out a 10,000 seat arena in less than 30 minutes, and that, to me, says a lot about the health of wrestling outside of the machine.
When I was a little kid, WWF was all I had access to. After a year or two when I found the indies and could watch wrestling live, it was just as big a deal to me as WWF.
When I was 19 or 20 years old, I wasn't making a living wrestling. I needed a full-time income.
I guess when I talk to friends and family back home they don't know anything about wrestling, but when they bring it up they bring up the things they may used to watch and love.
For sure yeah, Bullet Club is definitely synonymous with pro wrestling as a whole.
When I left teaching, I don't think anyone I worked with necessarily understood what I did or the level at which I did it but I think they all do now. I think its Bullet Club stuff and what we're doing now in wrestling is, honestly, such a big part of pop culture that it's kind of hard to avoid, even if you don't follow wrestling.
I really don't feel like just going to WWE is the absolute end-all, be-all in wrestling.
I had a cousin who dated someone in CWF, so I was traveling to shows by age 10 or 11. I got to work with them later after I started wrestling, and it was awesome.
It's been pretty wild, but the teaching schedule is a pretty awesome fit for wrestling. No weekends, all summer, and plenty of sick time.
Bullet Club has been huge. It's something that's transcended wrestling a little bit.
I know that I don't look like a footballer but I've always enjoyed working out and I've always been bigger than most people out there. I come from big stock. If you see my brothers and me together, we look like a wrestling tag team trio.
I grew up in a town with a great wrestling tradition. Then I was a team sport queen in high school; I played softball, volleyball, and soccer. Oh, and I also did ski racing.
I'm not interested in being famous. I'm interested in doing my job and doing it well, and that's wrestling, and that's what I love.
I've always wanted to entertain people, and when I was in school, I was interested in creative writing, but wrestling was always there. When I ran into financial problems, I just figured when life gives you lemons, you have to make lemonade.
I have an older brother and older sister. My older sister is the girliest girl on the planet, so I just hated everything about that. I did anything my brother did. He actually got me into wrestling. I watched it because he did, and I played video games because he did.
Know what is in your heart. But definitely go to school and learn as much as you can, and if wrestling is still what you want, find a good wrestling school and kind of learn as much information about it as you can. If I did it, this tiny thing, anyone can do it.
I still will sit down at the piano and play when I am wrestling with something emotionally or just want to move into the musical world.
