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WWE Hall of famer, recently spoke with The Phoenix Suns website as part of his promotion tour for the wrestling autobiography ‘Wrestling for my Life’. Below are highlights:
How he felt after his last match at WrestleMania 26:
Going in, it was a good feeling because my family was there. But there was a little anxiety, because it’s still WrestleMania and it was the last one. You know people expected it to be really good. Because it was the Undertaker again, there were going to be a lot of comparisons to the last one (2009). So for all the upside you get out of just enjoying the moment that is WrestleMania, there was a little anxiety and a little stress wanting to just deliver a really good match.
But afterwards, it was just complete joy and then also, I think a lot of mental and physical and even spiritual exhaustion. “It’s over.” And again, that’s when it settled in. That’s when it got real. And it was almost as if everything under God’s green earth had been lifted off my shoulders and it was a nice feeling. It was a bit surreal, but I would have to say it was really the next day when everything settled in. Honestly, getting to make that speech on RAW, I felt like the luckiest guy in the world honestly. I couldn’t think of a better way for it to go, for it to end, and to have the opportunity and the time to express all of that on RAW was wonderful. That’s when it’s all allowed to be real and you’re allowed to talk about the wrestling business and your life in the WWE, in a very real sense. And it was a joy to be able to do that well.
NBA players who would do good in WWE:
Well, you know what… every once in a blue moon, I think about Kevin Garnett maybe. But I honestly don’t know. I think those guys who did it, they found out really quick… if you ask any one of them, they’ll tell you, “My goodness, I don’t know how those guys do that on a regular basis.” I think that’s the thing that every athlete who tries to do what we do, very quickly comes to have a great deal of respect for us. They see what they’re putting their bodies through on that one night and then they sort of grasp that we do that 250-300 times a year and don’t have an offseason, and that’s when they say, “Not for me.”
How proud he is of Daniel Bryan:
Oh, very! Very! But at the same time, not surprised. He was a talented young man, he was always a hard worker and that’s a combination that is hard to deny. The only thing you have to have is patience and an attitude that you aren’t ever going to give up. He had that as well. As proud as I am of him, I’m not surprised by it and I don’t think other people should be. That’s one of the things that I think is funny, people have a hard time grasping; people like him and people like me didn’t get into the wrestling business just to do it, just to be average. We got into it to excel and to be really good at it, and hopefully make an impact that lasts a long time, and he’s no different.
Not returning to the ring:
Well, I appreciate it. Everybody always asks me, “Gosh, do you have one more in you?” and I tell them, “No, I’ve got about 15 more in me.” But I always felt like that was the point. I mean, I just think it’s a bad idea if you shoot your last bullet and you’ve got none left. That just makes you vulnerable for Heaven’s sake. The whole point of leaving on top is to leave on top.
What he wants to be known as today after being Mr. WrestleMania, The Showstopper and The Heartbreak Kid:
You know what? As far as out there in the world, it doesn’t really matter to me. I want my wife to see me as a loving, Godly husband, and I want my kids to see me as a loving, Godly father. That’s about the extent of it. And I don’t mean that disrespectfully towards fans, but those three are the only people I’m really concerned about right now. I think over time, people’s reputations, the history, all of that kind of stuff changes. It all depends on who’s writing it, who’s spinning it. So I don’t put a lot of stock in all of that stuff. I just want to be a good dad and a good husband, and whatever else is out there about me professionally, I’ll leave that to the rest of the world to determine.
