His friendship with Chris Benoit: "For the people that didnât know Chris, he was the kindest human being you would ever find on this planet. I donât know what happened, I just honestly couldnât tell you what happened. Chris was one of the kindest, politest people. I never saw the guy get mad, not one single time. He didnât get upset about anything. When I was writing the book and reflecting back on him, it was kinda hard because then I started thinking about it again, and itâs almost like itâs hard to believe that heâs not here anymore. Me and him were pretty close; we confided a lot in each other. It was very tough, just thinking about it and talking about it. Back when it had happened, thatâs something that youâve got to push out of you mind right away, because you have to move forward. Weâre on live TV every week; itâs a sad situation, itâs hard to heal from something when you donât mourn over it. Itâs something that you have to do, just put it out of your mind. Otherwise itâll ruin you, it really will."
Returning from injury after WCW was purchased by WWE: "When I came back, I was like âWow, this isnât good if Iâm sitting around because of all these new guys coming in.â Your mind starts playing games on you, and itâs like âOkay, am I sitting out for a while now?â Iâve been sitting out for eight months, and I come back and weâve got the whole WCW thing going on, all these guys coming in. Itâs like, where do you fit in? You do worry about that. I worried about it, but then again, it was like âOkay, if they let me go, at least I have a trade to fall back on.â That was always in the back of my mind, that I had something to fall back on. Of course, thatâs not what I wanted to have to fall back on, I wanted to move forward with my career instead of backwards. That weighed heavy on my mind when they had all these guys, and youâre seeing all these guys in the locker room, and I was like âWow, Iâm gonna get lost in the shuffle here.â I tried to come up with ideas and stuff like that, and a lot of times it just didnât work."
Buff Bagwell's brief stint with WWE in 2001: "That guy, he blew it huge. He was on his own watch; he thought he was gonna do what he wanted to do, just like in WCW. The rules were completely different with WWE, and thatâs why Vince runs such a tight ship. We have certain times he wants us there, and for a good reason. Buff would just show up whenever he wanted to. For example - one night, the show starts at 7, of course, and weâre supposed to be there at 6. He shows up right when the show is starting. He doesnât change with boys, heâs gotta go find his own little locker room or something. He did generate a lot of heat, and he brought it all on himself. I always got along with Buff, I never had a problem with him, but I think he kinda blew it for himself because I think they had big plans for him. He just kinda threw it away, and he didnât want to play the game; he didnât want to follow the rules, and thatâs something you have to do."Â
Matt Cappotelli incident on Tough Enough: "If that was the case, if I was a bully, as some people say I was, do you really think Vince would have kept me? Do you really think Vince would have kept me if that was the true case, that I took advantage of this guy and roughed him up just for the sake of doing it? No, I wouldnât be there, trust me. Vince doesnât put up with that kind of stuff. Thatâs what I tried to get people to understand; once they start thinking about it, itâs like âOh, okay, that does make sense.â Also, youâve gotta understand, itâs like Randy Orton. These guys tell me to do something, well these guys are the ones that sign my paychecks, so Iâm gonna do what they ask me to do.
"Itâs 50/50 about the Matt Cappotelli thing; a lot of people understand coming from my point of view, and then some people understand from his point of view. I think the people that are on his side about it donât get the wrestling business. These are people that are not in the wrestling business that donât get in the ring and wrestle. Matt gets on television and cries because he has a black eye and a bloody lip. I did not break any bones, I did not knock any teeth out of his mouth, I didnât send him to the hospital. He was perfectly fine, except he got his feelings hurt and he had a black eye."Â
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