I learned very early that you don't get time back. I'd miss my children growing up, so that's the reason I retired.
— Shawn Michaels
My life now is about my heart going pitter-patter for my children.
Sometimes - and I don't mean it disrespectfully - the easiest people to work in the wrestling business are the people in the locker room.
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.
There's no one of us that's perfect; there's no one of us that can't do just a little better.
I wasn't great at a lot of stuff, but I was good at not worrying about being a wrestler.
If I'm appearing on 'Raw,' then I'm usually there to help sell tickets to something, and that's when you see the 'HBK' Shawn Michaels come out. At panels, I can be more open and honest and show some more humility. They don't want me talking about my family on TV, but I can in a panel setting.
There are faith-based movies that some people don't consider good, but every time it comes to the scene where someone's life is changed, that still affects me.
I look at Samoa Joe, and I've told him a number of times that I see his stuff at 'NXT' and think to myself, 'Man, I could have a great deal of fun with you.' He's a guy I have sort of enjoyed, and one of those sleeper guys that no one talks about.
I'm one of those people who would be OK with fading back into the background a little bit.
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.
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.
Being a good husband and father... that's the most important thing I'm going to do on this earth.
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.
The wrestling world is unique. There are things that happened, and there are things that didn't happen, but in wrestling, you just say they all happened. Some of it's fun to let stay out there - it adds to the mystique and wrestling lore.
Whether it's NASCAR or whether it's football, or whether it's the NBA, any time something spills over to the point where somebody makes a WWE reference, I always think it's a good thing.
You do your best with the realization that nothing gets you in ring-shape better than being in the ring.
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.
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.
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.
I have no doubt that LeBron James would've loved to have played against Michael Jordan, but that simply is not going to happen.
I think I was given a gift to wrestle. And I think when I came back, I had a much better appreciation of that. And I believe the way I went about doing it made me better at it. I didn't identify myself with the job as I did so much in the '90s. In the '90s, I didn't know who I was other than 'the wrestler.'
My faith is sort of where I got my confidence. And it was the confidence of, 'It's going to be what it's going to be.'
That's what I love about my faith and Christianity. It's the polar opposite of darn near everything I experienced in the wrestling business. I still love the business, and I'm thankful for everything that it's provided, but the idea that it deals in the truth is the furthest thing from reality.
My faith and family has helped me a great deal in that it helps me to live to a different standard.
There were times that we'd be in the locker room there before everyone else, and a guy would walk in, say, 'Is this the Kliq locker room?' So we'd draw with a sharpie on the back of a program and write 'Kliq locker room'. I can promise you that none of those signs were ever on WWE letterhead.
The only thing you have to have is patience and an attitude that you aren't ever going to give up.
One of the things my dad and I got to bond over was going to the San Antonio Spurs games when Gervin was there, James Silas... I can't remember the rest of the guys' names, but it was a fun time.
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 would love to have gotten into it with Harley Race. He was such a good wrestler and rough and tough. We wrestled at the same time but never each other. And wrestling Sting would have been something I would have enjoyed.
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.
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.
Acting is something I always wanted to try after wrestling, and I felt like this was a perfect fit.
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.
My whole intention at 'WrestleMania XIV' was to drop the belt to Steve, but I was going to make everybody sweat it out and make them think I wasn't. Obviously, I got that accomplished. That's extremely unprofessional, but that's exactly who I was and what I was doing.
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.
