The importance of hard work was a message I learned from my parents, and that is something I worked to pass on to my kids and grandchildren. Winning is important, and you should want to win, but the main priority is to strive to be the best.

Bill Goldberg kicked me in the head and ended my career because he didn't know what he was doing.

The best wrestlers don't hurt anyone for real.

I wrestled 23 straight years all over the world.

The safety of my opponent was critical to me.

You can take your Jake Roberts and your Hulk Hogans and your Ultimate Warriors and a lot of these guys that were big names back then, but they never did anything for me. They never helped me, they never thought of helping me, and when they had a chance to help me, they never did.

I owe a lot to Roddy Piper.

Ric Flair is an old nemesis of mine.

Something happened in 1997 that changed the whole industry, at least for the next five, six, or seven years. It wasn't about the 24-inch arms and the cartoon characters anymore. It was about the wrestling and what we were doing in the ring physically.

If I could go back in time, I would have loved to have done more with Triple H. He blossomed into a bigger star after I left. I regret, looking back now, that we didn't have more matches or better matches or at least one pay-per-view match where we could have really showed our best stuff - or, at least, I did.

Triple H is a bodybuilder nut. He goes after the bodies. He doesn't care how good - and he can look in the mirror - guys work; he cares how guys look.

I was champion, off and on, for quite a few years, and I never missed one title match from an injury. I got hurt lots of times, but the reality is you've got so much pinned on you and so much tied onto you, the company and your peers can't afford for you to get hurt.

I always took a lot of pride in being a safe wrestle. I never injured anyone.

All the times they put tag titles on me, Intercontinental titles on me, or the world title on me, the only time I couldn't defend the title was when I had to forfeit the belt when I quit WCW and retired from wrestling forever.

I suffered a stroke in 2002 that made everything else in my life that happened to that point pale in comparison.

A lot of people don't realize how severe a concussion injury is. You have to listen to the doctors. You have to be really careful about them.

Cesaro is a guy who does a lot of unique stuff and is a great talent. He does a lot of strong-man stuff that is just impressive to watch.

I hope Seth Rollins becomes the safest, best wrestler in the world. And I wish him all the luck in the world.

You can't just think up a move in your head and go, 'Okay, I'll just pick somebody up, and I'm just going to throw them backwards into the post.' You have to think, 'Would you want someone to do the same thing to you?'

I got into wrestling to make some money, see the world, and meet girls.

When I look back on everything, I'm really amazed by my career.

I had so many wonderful guys that I worked with and great matches - that's what was most important to me - and the fans.

It's hard to explain, but it's a beautiful thing to watch in wrestling when someone loses in the exact perfect way.

I've always taken a lot of pride that people believed in me as a hero. I tried not to fail them in my life.

I'm living every day that it could be my last, and I'm grateful for every day.

Every year, I think you earn the right to eat cake on your birthday.

I love going back to cities where I had a strong fan base - like San Antonio, Minneapolis - those were really good fan bases, like Iowa and Chicago.

I always had a much softer approach to my interviews and promos. I was not so much that wrestler that was yelling at the screen; I was always the one that was talking to my fans.

My dad was always genuine with the fans and said, 'You must appreciate every single one of them,' and I always did. I always tried to make time for every autograph or every picture. What's an autograph? It's the simplest thing in the world.

I take being a hero really seriously.

Growing up in wrestling - and I have been involved in wrestling, really, my entire life - I learned right from the get-go that you never forget your fans. They are the ones that put your food on the table and pay your bills.

Eric Bischoff is a total, complete idiot, maybe the single stupidest idiot that ever got into wrestling.

If you look at wrestling when I started to get my big break back in 1992, I changed wrestling from the cartoons of Hulk Hogan and Iron Sheik and the matches with the leg drop and the hand behind the ear and the playing to the crowd. They were just cartoon characters if you ask me.

Hogan had the same match every night for years, and so did Warrior. They didn't tell great stories, to be honest.

When you see Bret Hart versus Steve Austin, it just seemed so much more real than Hulk Hogan versus Sgt. Slaughter.

I can say I know Linda McMahon quite well, yet they've only been brief encounters going all the way back to 1985 when I first worked for WWF/WWE. I started in 1984, but I don't recall meeting her until 1985. I can say this much: Linda McMahon has never changed. I think of few women in my lifetime that I respect more than her.

I do remember meeting 'The Donald.' He seemed to really enjoy the WrestleMania 4 battle royal. He watched me take a very hard front turnbuckle bump, and it seemed to stun him that I wasn't seriously hurt. Backstage, Trump gave me a big smile and a handshake.

Undertaker was always a leader in the dressing room, always a man's man. No one ever doubted what he said because his word was good. He was a guy that set the dressing room standard. If you had an issue or personal problem, you could go to Undertaker and he would help you.

The Undertaker stood up for what was right. He earned everything he got.

My heart was always dedicated to giving fans around the world the best match possible, and the fans grew with me.

I worked hard, and I was always frustrated when wrestlers didn't want to work as hard.

If I could wrestle somebody at a WrestleMania, I would have really loved to wrestle with John Cena. It would have been nice to have a great WrestleMania match with The Rock and Edge, but my history would have lined up perfectly with John.

My relationship with fans is based off the love of my work and my work ethic.

If I was going to build a logical defense for myself in a match against Hulk Hogan, I think I would try to work on his legs. Take out any mobility.

Wrestling fans dictate policy; they really do. What direction each wrestler takes usually revolves around what the fans think of them.

Curt Hennig was one of best guys I ever wrestled. If I could've come back and wrestled one last match, I wish I could've wrestled Curt. He was my favorite guy to wrestle.

I always had trouble being proud of how they were using me in WCW. It was hard for me to be interested in what they were doing, and what they were doing with me was pretty pathetic.

I would have loved to have worked with Kurt Angle. He would have been a lot of fun to be in the ring with.

The feud with Jerry Lawler was one of the best feuds I ever had. He was the perfect heel and kept his heat. People hated him.