JUST WALK AWAY

That is all that I have heard ever since I was told that I would never wrestle again. They say me down and looked me in the eyes and told me it was all over for me. The thing I loved to do most was finished. I could no longer do what brought me so much joy. My road had came to an end and I was done -- I was finished and there was not a damn thing that I could do about it. The end came for me and they wanted me to sit there and take it. Sit there and listen to them tell me what I could do and what I could not.

THEY OBVIOUSLY DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE TALKING TO

This is all that I have cared about. From the moment I could walk and talk, I wanted to do this. I wanted to perform. I would sit down on my father's lap and we would watch wrestling. He loved it from a young age as well, when he was a child, the only difference was that he was afraid. He was scared to chase the dream. To give everything up and to take a chance. My father wanted to be a wrestler, but he allowed doubt to take hold of him and stop him. He could have done it if he wanted to, but when he reached that line -- the line between your dream and reality, he was too afraid to cross it. Instead he took his ticket and punched in at eight in the morning and rolled out at five in the afternoon. He put on a shirt and he took a job he didn't enjoy nor would he ever love.

THAT WAS NEVER FOR ME

I was addicted the moment I saw two men step into the ring and face one another. I did not care who was the heel and who was the face. Who was good and who was bad, the only thing that mattered to be was what they did in the ring. How they performed, how they told a story and best of all, how they worked the crowd. It was an art form. It was a performance that only the masters could do. Thousands have tried to be a master, have tried to be the best and only a few had all the skills needed to be the master of this artform. I wanted it. I wanted to be the best. I wanted people to look at me and say -- he was the best there ever was.

I chased my dream. Nothing could stop me. No one could stop me. The second I finished school, I packed my bags and I sold everything I had except for the clothes on my back. I expected my father to try and stop me. To reach out and rest his hand on my shoulder and beg me not to do this, but he was not like that. He would never stop me from doing what I loved, he basically pushed me out the door and told me to chase my dream. I enrolled in a wrestling school -- I remember it well -- I was the smallest one there. The other men towered over me -- they even thought this was some sort of joke -- but I was not laughing.

I want it. I wanted it really bad. I wanted it more than anyone else and I knew with my size, my shape and my look -- I would have to work twice as hard, hell -- ten times as hard as everyone else and I did just that. Whatever was asked of me -- I did. I was first in and last out. I did everything that was needed and then some and even when my teachers had nothing else to teach me -- I found new teachers. When I passed, when I got the seal of approval -- there was no contract for me for the big leagues. I was told what I knew they would tell me -- I was too small.

That would normally be the end for anyone else, but it was only the start for me. I worked hard from that day on. I took any booking I could. I took any booking anywhere. It did not matter what I was paid, I was not doing this for the money, I was doing it out of love. I would drive miles and miles to wrestle a match in front of two dozen people, for money that was only enough to get me a hamburger -- but I did it, because I loved to do it and after over a decade of blood, sweat and tears -- I made it.

I got into the big leagues and I did not let my size hold me down -- they gave me nothing. They had nothing for me, so I made something for myself. When they would give me one minute to get my ass handed to me -- I made it the best damn minute anyone ever saw. I worked hard to prove people wrong. For years they gave me nothing and yet the people cheered for me and chanted my name and when I uttered one word that changed my career -- people knew I was more than YES -- people knew that I was the best.

So to sit here an think for a moment that some doctor who has never stepped foot in the ring has the right to tell me that my career is over. That they have the right to say that I am done. That they have the right to tell me they will never clear me -- it pisses me off. I am not done. I will never be done. I love this. This is who I am. I can walk into any job I want and be the best at it, but I only have heart for wrestling. So I am not done, not even close -- I am only getting started and soon the world will once again see that I am still the best wrestler in the world today and when they see that I am not hurt -- that I am healthy -- that I am still as good as ever -- they will stand up for me and chant for me one more time --

YES YES YES YES YES