Sept. 11, 2001, still feels like a blur to me. I wish it were simply a bad, re-occurring dream, but unfortunately it isn't.
Jim Ross
I've done everything. I've been ring crew, I've been driver for a blind promoter, I've been a valet, I've been a referee, I've been a ring announcer, I've been a corporate officer, play-by-play man, blah, blah, blah. No one has been on my journey.
My first broadcast partner provided color commentary even though he was totally blind. Leroy McGuirk was a former NCAA Wrestling Champion at Oklahoma State University and long time kingpin of the NWA Junior Heavyweight Division before losing his sight in a car accident in Little Rock in the early 1950s.
I can make a valid argument that Bobby Heenan is pro wrestling's great performer.
The Rock had the amazing athletic abilities that few people are gifted with, but he also had the burning desire to be the best, and none of that can be denied.
I've heard Jerry do mini concerts while driving, especially when the music of The Beatles or a handful of other 'British Invasion' bands aired. Hearing Jerry Lawler sing with a British accent is quite an experience.
Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson were not giants, they were giants in the ring, they drew money, people loved them and that's what you find in the Young Bucks.
My mother and father both died at 64.
The Heisman Trophy equivalent in collegiate wrestling is named the Dan Hodge Award, which illustrates just how Dan is perceived within that culture.
Jericho is generally considered a main event guy, as he should be. He's a future Hall of Famer, I believe. So any rub, for lack of a better term, that AJ Styles can get from Chris Jericho is positive.
I've just been so blessed in my journey. Fat kid from Oklahoma, buddy - Southern accent and Bell's palsy, becoming a broadcaster and hanging around a fickle business for 40 years. You wonder how in the hell that happened. It was somebody's plan.
For my money, Dan Hodge is the greatest amateur wrestler ever produced in the U.S.A.
In the early days, Jerry was an antagonist, which was arguably his best casting. 'The King's' quick wit is perfectly suited to be an antagonist, but at the same time, he's so funny that it is hard to hate Jerry Lawler as the villain - especially at this stage of his long career.
On a very personal note, my dear friend, the late Steve 'Dr. Death' Williams was a four-time amateur wrestling All-American who also lettered and started four years on the football team at Oklahoma. I've met no man walking the face of the earth tougher than Doc. R.I.P., my friend.
Long before social media and even television, enterprising wrestling promoters wisely scouted and signed new stars that would not only help them sell tickets, but also garner publicity from mainstream sports media.
Two men that did treat me well from day one were Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon. Thanks to them being old pros and having the class of a pair of WWE Hall of Famers and true gentlemen, I was given a chance to prove myself to them as a human being.
Aug. 2, 1992, was one of the most memorable moments in sports-entertainment. It was on that night in Baltimore, that Ron Simmons became the first African American recognized as World Heavyweight Champion in wrestling.
We've only got so much energy in our bodies, and if you want to use some of it for hate, if you choose to exert it negatively, I feel for you. I choose to not hate any team. I use whatever is in my tank for good.
The thing that people should remember, is that back in the day, because wrestling does not have a season, every week is a week of first run TV. In the territories that I worked in, specifically, we never had a rerun. So those shows that aired, aired one time to their constituency.
I am an emotional guy. I try to be very honest.
Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling' is really not a wrestling book. It's a book about life, and there's a great love story in this book. There are great life lessons in this book about not allowing others to define you.
I look back upon those days in the Crockett/Turner era of The Four Horsemen and often wonder how I made it out alive. Perhaps my contract had some fine print on it that said, 'Associating with The Four Horsemen can be hazardous to one's health.'
John Cena's work ethic is beyond reproach. It's been phenomenal to see what he does and he's made himself a brand.
There are many ways to do something right within the world of pro wrestling.
WrestleMania is a major event and that's an understatement obviously, but it's a major event from the standpoint that many other companies use WrestleMania as a source of creating new revenue.
I've always thought Wrestlemania is a special event that brings the best out of everybody, whether it's the wrestlers or the broadcasters or whomever, and I still believe that.
I don't like losing at anything, but it's not the end of the world if you beat me.
Vince was so great at the 'Mr. McMahon' character that some people think he wouldn't want to help people in real life, and that's just not true.
I'm still a wrestling fan: That's how I started out, that's how I will end the day.
I was lucky to have been able to work so closely with Vince McMahon as he was able to see up-close what I could contribute to WWE, which lead to some amazing years not only at ringside, but also in the boardroom.
I don't have a bad thing to say about Vince McMahon.
I'm a fan of Lucha Underground and hope they are successful.
That may be the ultimate definition of toughness inside the squared circle - having the will to overcome a serious injury to return to elite status as a main eventer.
Walking away from a problem is never a solution. Never. Solve the problem.
I can always get better at what I'm doing because I'm not nearly as good as I think I can be. I'm going to try to improve every chance I get.
The fans of the U.K. are tremendously supportive of the efforts of the WWE Superstars, which is why every wrestler I know loves to be a part of the tours to the U.K.
Sometimes our passion will motivate us to say things that can easily be misunderstood.
Tough wrestlers have never been uncommon. Competing and performing through injuries, enduring crazy travel schedules and wrestling with no offseason just lends itself for one to have to be tough to make it long term and with success in sports-entertainment.
You can't be a team player today and not a team player tomorrow.
If there was a Mount Rushmore for pro wrestling cities, Chicago and New York would be on there.
Working with one's boss is a totally different dynamic than working with a peer, especially when doing live or live-to-tape commentary of a genre as unique as sports-entertainment.
Whether I stay on the air on a weekly basis or I don't, that's not my call. But I've had such a blessed career that if it ended tomorrow, I've got nothing to complain about.
You can't go to Amazon and order a book on how you handle grief. There's books on it, sure. But there's no tried and true manual. You just have to live that out. There's no formula to heal.
I'm a wrestling fan with a phenomenal journey.
Unlike the on-air talents in the NFL where they have producers figuratively joined at their hip, providing them with info and tidbits of data, we WWE announcers are responsible for getting ourselves ready for every broadcast.
Freebird Michael Hayes was my first broadcast partner who was a pure, 100% antagonist. Hayes and I joined forces during Cowboy Bill Watts' attempt at expanding the Mid-South brand by renaming Mid-South Wrestling the Universal Wrestling Federation.
Vince McMahon has overachieved his entire life in a big way. I got to know him really well and still have great respect for him.
There have always been extraordinarily tough men in the business of sports-entertainment. My view is that one can't be in the sports-entertainment business successfully and long term without being tough.
It has been my experience that the greatest performers in the genre of sports-entertainment are usually natural extensions of their own, true personality.
The first thing that you need to be a draw, to be a star, is the intangible 'It' factor. You cannot manufacture 'It,' you cannot replicate 'It.'
