A guy like AJ Styles, the cream always rises to the top. He gets all the credit. Bobby Roode is another one. Their talent got them to where they're at. Talent gets you to the top. Attitude keeps you there.
— Jeff Jarrett
The international wrestling scene has so much growth opportunity - Asia, South America, Africa, Europe - all around the world.
Vince McMahon - he's third generation, and his enormous empire, he ran it much like the territories. The buck stopped with him; he made the decisions. That's how a company should be run. Feast or famine, right or wrong, the WWE is driven off his decision making and always has been.
When I was growing up, I could tell you everything about the three radio stations in Nashville. My 12- and 14-year-olds can't tell me one radio station here but can tell me three on Sirius.
The great thing about wrestling is that it's very subjective. They'll let you know what they like and don't like.
My grandmother got into this business in the 1940s, so it's all I've ever known. So I've seen a lot of wrestling.
My time in TNA, I was working extensively in the international side of things - India properties, the U.K. properties, Africa, all of that. So, I know the international business side quite well.
My favorite TNA match would have to be the first Ultimate X.
During intermission, we reward the loudest, rowdiest fans with backstage passes, so we have a meet-and-greet, and then, at the end of the night, we give all the fans an opportunity to actually get up in the ring and have their picture taken with a TNA star. So we're very, very fan interactive.
Now in the digital age, in the age of social media, all of the wrestling audiences are so much more connected. I cannot stress that enough, how much more connected wresting audiences are around the world.
People that don't know Owen Hart or just know his passing... what a great guy above anything - a family man, father, husband - but he had more integrity in his pinky than most people had in their entire body.
He is Razor Ramon. His athletic ability and mind for business... he knew how to connect. He connected with millions around the world.
Being back with Impact wrestling, I couldn't be happier for those guys, but from a professional and business side, it energises me so much to find the next AJ Styles, the next Bobby Roode, the next Samoa Joe.
When you look back on my career, my in-ring work has been watched across the world.
Wrestling continues to evolve and change, and we plan to stay ahead of the curve, beginning with 'Slammiversary.'
I'm a pack rat. There's only a couple pairs of tights I've worn throughout my career that I don't have. I save everything.
I've never been a rearview mirror guy. I'm always looking forward, always looking downfield.
I was a stickler. I wanted to learn every nuance to my craft. And that's not just talking about in the ring. It's all facets. Production, marketing, PR. I've always looked at this business as a business.
As a wrestling promoter, I believe that it has to be a unique, special situation. Intergender matches should be treated on a case by case basis. If they become the norm, then I don't think it is interesting.
One thing Vince McMahon does, and he does a lot of things great, but he knows how to create great television, very compelling television.
My oldest grew up on Disney, but my youngest is all about Snapchat and YouTube.
I've seen promotions rush things to market and not be strategic about it. The first impression is the lasting impression.
The digital component is enormous in not only wrestling but all of entertainment. Every day, you read a new blog or article on Netflix, Hulu, this program and that program. It's where everything is heading.
If I had to give my advice to someone else starting the business, my standard answer is so, so true, and that's to learn the fundamental basics of this business. If you don't have a fundamental base to build upon, your house will fall, and you will never truly achieve the status you desire.
Our product, our brand of wrestling fits a videogame better than any other form of wrestling. From our X-Division to our signature matches, just the whole gaming nation, a whole generation of people out there are going to experience TNA for the first time, so we're really looking to do some creative, innovative things with our game.
At TNA, I like to promote the time that the doors open. And they open up an hour before showtime, and you have autographs and pictures from the time you come in the door.
Whether I'm in the Hall of Fame or not, I can say whatever I like; it just depends on how it's interpreted!
WWE is the 8,000 pound gorilla in the room, and the market share they have is north of 90 percent.
John Cena is John Cena - it's really not a character he is playing.
I was a fan first; then I became a wrestler, then a promoter, then a businessman and everything that goes with it - marketing, merchandise, licensing, legal, everything. But I've always enjoyed it.
I've been approached for views about doing a book, but I never wrapped my head around it in terms of, where does it end? I suppose, after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, that gave me a second thought.
Whether it's a song you write or a television show or a movie or professional wrestling, there are three components to IP law. There is publishing, there are writers, and there are performers. The publisher is always the owner.
Basketball was my first love. I still love the game of basketball.
When I closed the chapter, I'll say, in the book with TNA in 2013, literally within, it was under 30 days - it was 20, 25 days - I was already into a production agreement with a production company based out of Los Angeles.
No matter what the circumstances are in our business - travel, politics, injury - you got to be in the game. And to be in the game, you got to work hard, and you have to know your craft.
An entertainment property - specifically, a wrestling property - you have to have a decision maker. You have to have somebody who sits on top, that is guiding the ship, that makes the decisions.
In the wrestling industry and the entertainment industry, weekends you never have off.
My grandmother started as a ticket-taker and basically became the CFO of my dad's company. It was a very important first impression for me - I've always looked on the business with more eyes than just as a wrestler.
My grandmother was a promoter. My father was a promoter.
It's amazing the footprint WWE has around the globe. When you look at the scope of the amount of live events they run, it's mind-boggling.
I worked seven years in territories in Japan and Puerto Rico and worked my way up to the main events on those cards, then went to the WWF and spent a little while there before I got into the Intercontinental run and a main event runs with Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash.
Every year, I sort of look at where I've been and where I'm headed. I'm coming up on my 25th year. Rejuvenated, I guess, is one way to look at it. I'm absolutely having a blast with what I'm doing.
I go to Mexico quite often, and wrestling the Lucha Libre style, the pageantry - those experiences, you truly have to live. Television or social media doesn't do it justice.
Pretty much my entire life has been played out in front of wrestling fans, even the stuff - I guess you could say the legend and lore - which has grown.
Without Roddy Piper, you can't have an equal good. He was a great villain and so believable. He wasn't playing a part ever.
When you look down in history, whether it was The Rock or Stone Cold, they are the perfect example that you can be given the ball, but you then have to run with it.
Antonio Pena, the founder of AAA, and I worked together in 2002/2003. I have worked with the Pena family for years. I am the longest-reigning non-Mexican Mega Champion.
I was shocked and surprised and very humbled that the Hall Of Fame came about. Going into it and coming out of it, all the support has been amazing; it really has.
You can connect with an audience by being a conduit. I'm a big believer of connecting wrestling audiences.
To look back and reflect on the career and sort of look at the seasons of it before I got to the WWF, working the territories and Japan and Texas, Puerto Rico, and then the WWF and WCW, then obviously the TNA years - it's been quite a journey, I'll say that.
