Source: The Miami Herald
Not wrestling again: “I really want to get past that stage in my life. I’m trying to put that part of my life behind me. I want to produce and direct. I want to work behind the scenes. Let the guys like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, The Shield do it and get to that next level. It’s not about me anymore. I understand that first and foremost. Don’t try to fool myself that I can still hang with these guys because they can run circles around me. Over a period of time anyway, I can hold my own for one night. It’s about these guys and the young guys. It’s about WWE and the superstars and looking at WrestleMania, looking at it 15 years from now. Who is going to be that big superstar? What superstars will be created in that time? The evolution of life goes and goes and never stops. You have to be prepared for that. Thank God I have been preparing that for many years.”
His WrestleMania moment: “What’s a WrestleMania moment? That is for the fans to decide. For me, just being a part of WrestleMania and the week of festivities and the celebration of what we do on the highest level has been the biggest thing to me…My dream was to headline WrestleMania. I wanted to be in the spotlight at WrestleMania. I got a chance to do that. I got a chance to wrestle Triple H in the spotlight [at WrestleMania XIX]. That was my biggest moment there. One thing I never dreamt was, I didn’t dream to win. I didn’t win that night. It would have been sweeter, but life goes on. I became World champion and King Booker. I left a winner.”
Reconciling with brother Stevie Ray at the WWE Hall of Fame: “It was kind of like burying the hatchet and putting that part of our life behind us and moving forward. WrestleMania weekend was a chance to do that and the Hall of Fame was a way to mend that bridge. Now we are as close as ever. The Hall of Fame ceremony was a once in a lifetime thing we wish we could do every year. It proved to my fans, my peers, that all of the work I put in was worth it. I always wanted to leave my mark and legacy on the business so that one day 50 years I will be remembered. It’s something I strived for many years to attain. My brother and I had not spoken for about five years, maybe six. Maybe a little bit longer. I thought it was time to get past that. Leaving the business the way I started was really important for me. We just talked about doing stuff together. It definitely filled a void that was there for a very long time, thank God.”
