We have the freedom of speech. We are able to hold hands in protest and stand up for what we believe in and have people hear what you have to say.
Randy Orton
I got a bad conduct discharge, was at home for a few months in late '99, and basically said, 'Dad, I want to give wrestling a shot. I sure as hell don't wanna go to college, and the Marine Corps wasn't for me. And I need to make some money, so let's see if I can do it.'
Having a campfire and roasted marshmallows, to me that sounds like Heaven.
Wrestling is my first love.
I had very bad acne growing up. I had braces for six years, from the fifth to the 11th grade. I didn't look in the mirror and feel like someone who should be on TV.
My father, my grandfather, the wrestling business, the WWE in particular, has really given me everything. A lot of happiness, my kids are taken care of, my wife is happy, they get to travel. A lot of pluses come with it; the Hall Of Fame would just be the cherry on top.
If anything, I'm overacting in the ring because of the facials and the body language. I want the guy in the cheap seats to be able to see what I'm thinking, the expression on my face. But when you're filming a movie, it could be a two- or three-camera shot, and you're doing it over and over and over again. It's not live TV; it's a lot different.
Whether I was The Legend Killer, The Viper, The Apex Predator, nothing's really changed.
I've main-evented WrestleMania a handful of times, but it never gets old. It's the same with nerves.
Guys like Jack Lanza, Pat Patterson, Bruce Pritchard, Tom Pritchard - those guys all helped me get a tryout. And I'd never been in the ring, so they went on a lot of faith and signed me and thought that they could help mold me into a WWE superstar. And now I'm glad they did, because that was a big turning point in my life.
My schedule with WWE is all year unless there's an injury.
Teaming up for Evolution, I think Batista and I credit a lot of our success to Ric Flair, but especially Triple H. He has an amazing psychology for the business. He understands how to tell a story, and you just pick his brain the best you can while riding with him. It was a great advantage for us in terms of learning our craft.
I definitely had a big head, and I'll be the first to admit that I made some bad decisions. But back when I was making those decisions, in my head I was doing no wrong.
I want to work with guys like Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker, Edge and have good feuds and do entertaining stuff, and I know I'm capable of it.
I think I'm a better person because of my family.
If I was gonna intimidate somebody? Give me the Batista build any day.
I've wrestled in Seoul; I've wrestled in Auckland, New Zealand.
I understand the psychology of the sport, especially inside the ring.
When it comes to wrestling, I'm 100 percent confident in my abilities, and I see myself being in the ring as long as my body can handle it.
Doing these movies I've done with WWE, it's a different pace. It's a lot of hurry up and wait, a lot of sitting around and like the day of the pay-per-view, when you're thinking about what you can do, and then you get the payoff, the reward, that night. It's just a different animal.
I'm not a runner.
I had a couple rough patches early in my career. I think I might have made some bad choices here and there.
I can't say I'm confident in my abilities as an actor.
I have a wonderful wife that wouldn't hurt a fly, and I think a lot of that has rubbed off on me.
Mick Foley - the match we had at Backlash is one of my two or three favorite matches ever. Much props to him: he puts his body on the line, and what he did for me that day, I'll never forget.
I probably had the most fun ever in the ring with Christian. And it was because he could just pick stuff up out of thin air and make it something. Neither of us were these big high-fliers; none of us were power guys doing these big, crazy moves. But the finesse and the things were smooth with me and him.
I had to realize that everyone has opinions, and they all have the right to feel a certain way, and you have to respect that.
In 2003, for my first Rumble, I was just as nervous then as I was 15 years later.
I think with Lesnar, it's always going to be him coming in every few months as a monster who destroys guys who work 200 days a year... There is a tendency for that to get old.
I've had some of my best matches with Christian.
I only got about four moves.
I want to be like an Undertaker and be around so when your music hits, people go crazy because of that respect that you've earned over 20, 25 years of going on the ride for them.
One day, when I'm unable to physically perform, would I want to pursue more of an acting career? Eh, maybe. But I think my home is with the WWE, being on the road and wrestling in front of a live audience.
In the ring, you want every one of the 80,000 people in the building to know what you're feeling. On a movie set, every expression you make is going to get picked up times 10. They kept having to dial me back.
All the fans that are aware that I'm a family man and I have five kids and the newborn, and they send messages on social media or a sign in the audience, or they just say it to me person-to-person on the street, I appreciate all of that.
Jake 'The Snake,' getting the chance to talk to him all day and just picking his brain - you know, he has his demons, but he's an intelligent person, and he knows the business like no other.
I think my whole deal was I didn't think other people had a right to an opinion. I think the problem I had was, in real life, it was my way or the highway, and if people disagreed with me, then they were just wrong.
I let some people down, like Triple H, who had a lot of faith in me and took me under his wing. Ric Flair would never say it, but he loved me like I was his kid, and he was like a dad to me on the road. I'm sure I let him down somewhere along the way. These guys really invested a lot of time, faith, and energy in me.
I have to put my father over because he really taught me a lot, especially when it comes to out-of-the-ring psychology and how to react when you're approached by fans after a show or in the airport. It might sound silly, but a lot of those things come into play when you're playing a character.
I just loved Jake The Snake because of that character and how he cut a promo. That dark nature of his character was amazing.
I remember the first Wrestlemania; I was four years old. Nobody had any idea what it would become.
The older I get and the harder it is to maintain a six pack, the more I wish I wore a tactical vest and cargo pants like Roman Reigns.
I don't take myself too seriously, as I think I used to years ago, when I was younger.
If the Big Show lands on you when you're on the ground, you're not getting back up. He'll pick you up like a sack of crap and toss you over the top rope.
I'm used to throwing my body around. I'm used to taking a punch.
I got to doing this thing with the Wyatt Family, and I don't remember having this much fun in the ring in a long time.
I've accomplished so much in the WWE.
Tattoos are addicting, and I used to have this tribal tattoo, but I was never really happy with it.
I graduated boot camp with meritorious promotion.
I was forced, more or less, to go to anger management. I was either going to make myself and everyone around me miserable, or I was going to realize that there's more than one person on this Earth. It definitely has made me a better person.
