WWE Youth Movement: “I think it’s brilliant. I think itshows that WWE listens to the WWE Universe – the fans. I think that they know that no matter what industry you’re in, things change. There’s always going to be new people coming in. I think it’s created a whole new, fresh era. You saw back when they had “The Next Generation” with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and Yokozuna was there. Then they did it again in the “Attitude” era. Austin stepped up. The Rock came in. I think every so often the whole climate changes. And right now it’s very exciting. I like to think that me becoming the WWE champion so quickly really set the ball rolling for this whole new wave of talent.
“And there’s a lot of exciting talent coming in. Drew McIntyre, myself, Wade Barrett… Of course you’ve got Bryan Danielson. You’ve got Kaval, who’s on the way in NXT. The son of Mr. Perfect, too, is coming in. It’s exciting times, fella. I’m just really happy to be involved at this time. Like I said, all these guys are coming in hungry – just as hungry as I was. That’s the whole thing… It keeps the product fresh. It drives the product forward. Every week we’re out there, everyone performs 110 percent. Because if we don’t, somebody is just going to step over you. So I think it’s good for everyone. Everybody wins. The audience wins. The talent wins. And the product itself – the WWE product – wins. So I think it’s very exciting.”
WWE’s New Themed Pay-Per-Views: “I think it’s a great business move. I think sometimes when people see the same things over and over again, it just becomes maybe a little bit repetitive. And I think these pay per views are separating each other. I mean you look at the Elimination Chamber pay per view we had in February. It’s not the greatest memory for me, personally, but it’s still a great concept. Mania is a big event. The Royal Rumble is a special event. And this Fatal 4-Way now – it’s two main events, world championship matches with eight of the top guys.
“You’re not seeing singles matches all of the time. I think it cerates that… anything can happen in a four way. There are so many variables that can happen in there, you know what I mean. It’s not your standard one-on-one. It’s the four top guys in each brand basically fighting to be the one. I think it creates a different scenario, a different backdrop, a different setting. To me, it’s exciting. I’ve been a fan all my life, too. I mean, this is all I ever wanted to do. And as a fan, even me, I find this intriguing. There are so many variables. You just don’t know who’s going to walk out – I know I’m going to walk out the WWE champion. But on the Smackdown brand, who’s going to walk out of there, with Swagger holding it, Big Show, Punk, Mysterio… There are so many different variables, and that’s why it’s going to make a great pay per view this month.”
