I'll go out there and give you a show like you've never seen. Why... Because I can!
Shawn Michaels
If I truly believe everything that's in that book, God is in control. He is in control. He's working for my good. Doesn't mean everything's going to be smooth, but that's all I needed to know. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Confidence is one of those things that no one ever wants to talk about in this industry because confidence and ego run neck and neck. But you have to understand, those are things that you have to have in order to make it to where Edge has made it. You've got to have a certain amount of ego and confidence in yourself to get there.
Being a good husband and father... that's the most important thing I'm going to do on this earth.
I live in a constant state of gratitude, thankfulness, and appreciation for the second chance I was given, so anytime in any film, when that is given to someone, I always appreciate it.
'Wrestlemania' is the time of the year where careers are made or broken.
It's fascinating to go somewhere where you're away from everything. There are no houses, no buildings, no roads, no people. And for a little less extreme hunting, any place in the West - Colorado, Utah, Montana - that's just beautiful country.
People will constantly bring up my past and throw it in my face, but the Creator of the Universe doesn't. If you ask forgiveness from Him, then it's gone forever. The past is never brought up to shame you or degrade you.
We are a family that lives probably 90 percent on wild game. We're certainly working our way toward 100 percent self-sufficient. Looking to raise chickens for eggs, things of that nature, start a garden. We enjoy the simple life.
There are Christians who think there were seven actual days, or that creation was over time. They have answers for dinosaurs and things of that nature. And I don't claim to have any of those answers. And I understand people wanting to have discussions about it.
I've always wanted to be a rebel. I've never wanted to do what everybody else is doing. Man, I've got news for you, that is what I am really doing now, and it's the coolest thing ever. I got to know the person of Christ. I see him as one of the greatest rebels of all time. That's what really appeals to me. It's hope. It's victory.
I may be going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing Howard Finkel does not get a lot of chicks!
For me, being in retirement, it was just having the opportunity to watch other stuff and do different things.
I have no doubt that LeBron James would've loved to have played against Michael Jordan, but that simply is not going to happen.
It's one of the things, certainly for me, anyway: I'm learning to take a bigger role in the things that I'm associated with.
No, I don't want to go back and wrestle again... But some big bubble could break, and I might need money like everybody else.
I think everybody would like to see me against AJ Styles at 'WrestleMania'. That's one that people have talked about, but I also really like Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins.
When I returned to wrestling, I went back a changed man. I had adopted a new way of thinking. All I wanted was for God to help me be a good witness on the platform He had brought me back to.
You don't have to be a believer in Jesus Christ to be a gracious individual and understand that everybody messes up and that most are looking for a second chance.
If you're desperate enough for attention, any attention will make you feel better.
My life now is about my heart going pitter-patter for my children.
You see the standard hunting show; it's an outdoor television show. A lot of times, it's just a guy sitting in a tree, waiting on an animal. I don't think it does it justice, and I don't think it captures the enjoyment and the splendor of the incredible outdoors and the feeling of being out there.
The Four Horsemen were limousines and Lear Jets, while DX was trailer parks and outhouses. One was white trash, one was upper crust. I always saw DX and the NWO as the natural rivals at the time.
I'm the 'Showstoppa', the Main Event, the icon!
I don't consider myself a great multitasker, so I try to do one thing at a time, even though there were opportunities when I was wrestling.
Sometimes - and I don't mean it disrespectfully - the easiest people to work in the wrestling business are the people in the locker room.
As long as I did the good things associated with religion, I thought I was in good shape spiritually, too.
It wasn't until 2002 when I returned to WWE and until I had physically been out there - it was during the match when Kevin Nash blew his quad. That next morning, I was sitting on the plane, reading my Bible and the Book of Joshua, and this feeling came over me that I was back here for a reason. God built me to be a wrestler.
I talked a bunch of crap for years and then went out and worked hard. That's the extent of it. There's no magical genius to it, as much as I'd like to think there is. I'm just a guy who works hard - and I hope guys are challenged by that.
The entrance is important, but it's the in-ring performance that fans truly remember. My zipline entrance has become so much bigger over time, but I still think fans remember the match more than anything.
Regardless of what people think of the WWE, we're great at storylines; we're great at drawing money. We're great at causing controversy, and when the other sports do it, they usually do better. It keeps it interesting and makes it fun for the fans.
Tully was the first young, handsome, cocky, well-dressed bad guy. He was our version of Ric Flair before I knew who Ric Flair was. This was before cable TV or any of that, and Tully was our Ric Flair.
The whole thing about me being The Showstopper - and Mr. WrestleMania - is that it was something I said once, and it took on a life of its own from there. Truthfully, I think the idea of going out and stealing the show is something you ought to do every time you wrestle. But if you focus only on that element, you end up doing almost too much.
I suppose a lot of people don't understand that one of the things that drew me to hunting was the peace and the solitude, the mushy spiritual stuff, strangely enough. The quiet away from 75,000 roaring fans. The fans, that's very wonderful - I get a great charge from that.
You do your best with the realization that nothing gets you in ring-shape better than being in the ring.
I'm one of those people who would be OK with fading back into the background a little bit.
The part inside the ropes, the part where people decide if it's a good match or a bad match, that's the part that I take very, very, very, very, very seriously and that I respect the most.
Over the years, with hunting, I think what's become my favorite part of hunting is how self-sufficient I'm becoming.
Years ago, I was always serious, and now I chuckle and make jokes to create a calm environment because 'WrestleMania' can be a high-pressure atmosphere.
'WrestleMania' is pressure-filled anyway, and more so when you're going for the first time in what might be the main event. If you are being dubbed, or people seeing you as the next guy, those things mount up.
You've got to be able to go 100 miles per hour in the ring, out of the ring, partying, and you've still got to make all your commitments.
Don't be afraid to be who you really are. Enjoy it and don't take it and yourself so seriously. I probably wouldn't have listened, but if I did, I would have saved myself some heartache along the way.
Acting is something I always wanted to try after wrestling, and I felt like this was a perfect fit.
I wasn't great at a lot of stuff, but I was good at not worrying about being a wrestler.
Even though I wrestled Ric Flair very early on in my career, it was a short match, so getting to wrestle him later on in my career was a benchmark. Wrestling Hulk Hogan was a benchmark for me.
I don't pass myself off as a Bible scholar or a pastor or someone who knows all the biblical facts cover-to-cover. I'm just a guy whose life was changed by it. And that's about the extent of it. So I'm not easily offended when people struggle about where they're at with their faith at all.
I found you can believe the man in history that is Jesus who walked the earth. It's a whole different thing altogether to know Him as the Son of God - to have reconciled yourself to Almighty God.
Bret and I were friends, but we were young, and we made bad decisions. We couldn't see outside the wrestling business. It was the end-all, be-all. You were in that box constantly, so that's all you thought about. It affects your decision-making.
My faith and family has helped me a great deal in that it helps me to live to a different standard.
I love wrestling, and I think there was something in me that needed to come out, and I was very fortunate to allow it to come out in the WWE and make a living doing that, and I enjoyed every second of that.
