People's negativity towards TNA being expressed through social media: "People think because that they watch a few DVD's that document one part of history and how the business went and they are able to predict what's going to happen in a completely new set of circumstance and I tend to ignore it and I don't really give it much thought. These are basically the people that throw something out there with no filter because they are nobodies and I'm not trying to knock anyone. It's easy to say when you have nothing to lose and to throw out an opinion in the hope that it actually happens and then you can say: 'See, I was right. I told you.'
"For some reason now we live in an age now where all wrestling fans think are obsessed with showing on how much knowledge they have and its either you're just a fan or you're in the business. Your knowledge is kind of irrelevant unless you are in the industry or unless you are making a living off of our sweat or talking about and I'm one of those people too, I have a column in a wrestling magazine that I get paid to do but the only difference is that I get paid to do it because people read that magazine because they want to hear something's on the ground that makes for a nice change.
"I use Twitter as a promotional tool and somewhat as a barometer, it's like an instant focus group and I think if you take it anymore serious, then you are probably wasting your own time and I tell my fellow peers the same thing especially the younger guys who don't have as much experience for their age and are bothered and affected by this kind of stuff on twitter and I said look: 'This is what twitter is. In terms to your significance, your life, your career and your psyche, don't take it seriously then you should do, which is not very much at all.'"
The state of TNA: "Honestly, I am not qualified to answer that. I'm not trying to dodge the question, I promise you. I'm not really qualified to speak on physical matters or anything like that as far as the company is concerned. I will say this that any wrestling fan who claims to be a wrestling fan should get off this bandwagon of: 'Let's all talk about the state of TNA's business.' Anyone would tell you that and I'm talking about people on Wall Street, people in any industry, particularly the entertainment industry where the reputation of image is very important, that sometimes all you need is the rumor even if there is no validity to it and then the rumor can actually become a possibility.
"It boggles my mind there are people out there that you read their bio or they will tell you: 'I eat, sleep and breathe wrestling man. I love it,' but then they are the ones that say, 'TNA is going to go out of business and yada, yada, yada.' Do you want that to happen? Do you want to have less wrestling on TV? Do you want all of these performers that you admire have to go find work somewhere else? I don't understand that.
"That to me has always been a strange thing and the irony of it is that these are the people that claim to be the most dedicated wrestling fans and the one who are not paying for the Pay-Per-Views, they are illegally downloading them and they are busy knocking everything at every opportunity and becoming armchair writers or armchair quarterbacks as the saying goes. You are harming the business more then you are aiding it and I don't understand why would do that if you claim to love it so much. It's not me trying to say, 'Oh please, stop expressing you opinion.' But if you are being overwhelming negative all the time then you should focus it somewhere else and focus it on yourself."
Focusing to be better: "Normally, it's studying tapes. Sometimes things happen organically based on the right opponent and suddenly and I've borrowed more than a couple things from Japan and the trips that I had over there over the last year have been very beneficial in that respect and being so close to (Samoa)Joe and A.J. (Styles) and learning from guys like that and also, it's funny because you do something once because it just happens to fit in that particular match and then sometimes the reaction is so strong or somebody that you trust like A.J. or Kurt or Joe, who really knows there stuff, will say, 'Hey, that's a keeper.'
"Pretty much my entire move set as we like to call it, is stuff that I have done somewhere along the line and when I comeback either Kurt, Joe or A.J. have said: 'That's a keeper' and no more has to be said about that. I'll keep doing that and once you do that, you are good from there. Once you get your foundation, you can play around with variations and let it happen very organically and it's up to me to make it happen. People didn't see me from day one and say: 'This is his future.' It was based off of my work with Samoa Joe in 2012 and I stepped up and it's funny because one you start getting labeled, that's when you get a lot of pushback and it bears repeating, the only reason why the conversation is happening is because of what I've done. The pressure is fine, I can handle that but it's up to me to make it happen and to take that step and make it mean something."
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