Being myself is what got me to where I am.
Jeff Hardy
I'll do anything. That has proven problematic - you may remember my broken leg in a dirt bike accident - but that is also the ingredient that has allowed me to elevate myself in pro wrestling.
I take a lot of risks in the ring.
People ask me how I am so fearless on a ladder and how I have no fear in the ring. And the answer to that question is a bit complicated. I used to have no fear, but that is no longer true. With a wife and two girls at home, I'm more afraid now than ever.
Shawn Michaels was the guy to study and watch.
You can't go wrong with reading the fans and letting them tell you who they like. I think that's really paid off for me in the long run - being down to earth and just really cool with each and every fan that I meet - and they've really supported me through thick and thin.
I really hate my hair when it's not braided because it's so big when it dries. When it's wet, it looks cool, but when it dries, it gets all in my mouth during a match, and I hate it.
My first match was against Razor Ramon. I lost. Come to think about it, I lost a lot back in those days.
I would love to get into acting. I really enjoy acting - portraying other personalities and approaching different levels and whatnot - that would be awesome.
When I was a kid, I wrestled my high school amateur wrestling in junior year.
For special wrestlers, there's somewhere else to go - as long as you're not brainwashed by that WWE mentality. There's other worlds out there; it's OK to switch around.
I've got my hardcore fans, and I thank them so much for being there for me and not giving up on me.
I'm not really a popular fan of the whole Hall of Fame thing. I've had a lot of ups and downs, and I don't feel deserving a lot of times.
I got the dragon on my leg when I was still living with my dad. He's not a fan of tattoos, so I had to get it behind his back; he kind of freaked out when he saw it.
When I broke my leg on the dirt bike, fear got the best of me that day. I hesitated. I didn't hit it as fast as I could have, and I came up short. It was the first time in my life I couldn't get back up.
I can't wrestle a match without getting my ankles taped because they feel like they'll shatter on me.
I just want to go out there and have the best matches I possibly can.
Luckily, I'm only aware of about two or three concussions that I have had, but there's really no way of telling how many overall.
It's good to establish moves that fans are always going to recognize and scream for.
The roots that weave up my right arm and onto my neck are my way of connecting with the earth: the earth's roots carry water like a human's veins carry blood.
Overall, I think I'm just lucky, and I hope I continue to be lucky.
I'm looking forward to having one of those moments that will be immortal.
If Meekmahan ever came to the Hardy compound, I would tell Meekmahan, face-to-face, 'You'll fade away and classify yourself as obsolete! Obsolete!'
I've rung my bells so many times, especially back in the day when chair shots to the head were legal. My goodness, I took so many of those.
The Great Khali always serves up a good beatdown if you can't get out from under that heavy hand.
We may never be as big as WWE, but the cool thing about TNA is that we are the alternative. So people who get tired and bored with the WWE - I've been there, I understand - there's an alternative and something else to watch.
The Undertaker's beaten me down pretty bad quite a few times.
My brother Matt and I, we have a great relationship.
I'm not a big practice guy at all.
When I wrestled Randy Orton, that was probably the biggest match of my career at that point, because that was when I had the other shot at the WWE championship.
I remember 'Wrestlemania 6' with The Ultimate Warrior against Hulk Hogan. It was so cool to see those guys go in there and the fans getting into the match so much.
I've always dreamt of somewhere down the line getting one match out of Hogan, just because that was always a dream.
Early, when I first started wrestling, I wanted to be a combination of Sting and the Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Warrior's craziness and weird personality and Sting's coolness and the way he carried himself to the ring. But then later on, when it came to physicality and athleticism, Shawn Michaels topped the cake.
I look at tattoos as a commitment to life.
I was obsessed with it, and then I learned more about professional wrestling and how the beauty that does exist in it is truly an art form.
Whether I ever become WWE champion in my career, I'm proud of what I've done.
When you commit to a WWE contract, you're committing to some serious time away from home.
I don't want to go back to WWE and burn out within four or five months, and having another run as TNA world champion would feel just as good.
Thank God for TNA: we've had the creative freedom to do what we want to do.
I've learned that I can still be loved if I perform well, and I learned that from the broken brilliance of Matt Hardy.
Once I established myself doing crazy things and being extreme, people want to see it all the time.
I never view myself as a leader.
I compliment people when I see something I really like and tell them, 'That was good. Keep doing what you're doing.' That's as much as advice as you will get out of me.
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.
I'm still a fan at heart.
To me, wrestling is just as cool as it ever was.
TNA is great about going out of their way to interact with the fans.
I'm good at professional wrestling, and I always will be good, but what's always been different about me is that I can't completely focus on professional wrestling.
I started wrestling professionally, I did my first television match at 16, but I was wrestling at country fairs and national armories when I was 14.
I find inspiration for my works of art in my studio and in the squared circle from all sorts of places.
