On teaming with Team Hell No and on Daniel Bryan’s presence right now in the WWE: “Yeah he can do some stuff, can’t he? When he blows that comeback, as we say, he gets the people going. You know, he’s got a little, he goes crazy with the Ultimate Warrior thing, it’s like he is always morphing into like Bryan Hogan, instead of Bryan Daniel-or Daniel Bryan, or whatever his name is now. I remember, one time my dad, like I just had a match and I came home and I’m talking about how Bryan Danielson, you know hit me in the back of the head with a title, and I feel like I got a concussion. And my dad the next day was like, “you know I was really worried about you cause you kept calling him Bryan Danielson.” And I’m like, well that was his name, that’s how we know him, I call him that. The WWE likes to change things up, don’t they?”
On how gimmicks or catchphrases happen, do they just catch on randomly or planned: “It’s one of those things where they’re trying, there is a creative team and you know I’m my own brand so I’m always thinking. A lot of the time, things like that come out of nowhere. Like you just stumble on to something. Hasn’t really happened with me, but you’ll see it happen. I’m not the stick guy. I can’t go out there like John Cena and cut a babyface promo that makes you want to kill yourself five minutes in, as good as he can. You know what I mean? No offense, John. Obviously he’s very successful so, I don’t know what I am talking about.”
Randy tells a funny John Cena story: “I tagged with him, last week or the week before, on a Raw Supershow, or a live event Supershow, both rosters were there. And we’re out there in the ring. And it’s me, Cena, and somebody. Maybe Kofi or Sheamus, against Big Show, Mark Henry, and somebody else, I forget. And Cena says, “Can you do a dropkick tonight?” And I go, uhh, yeah. Can you? And he goes; and we’re in the ring! Like, we’re about to—the bells about to ring. And he’s starting, and he goes, “Alright, I’m gonna tag you in in a second. Let’s do a double drop kick.” Now I’m thinking in my head, “This motherf**cker don’t need to be doing no dropkicks.” That’s what I’m thinking. So he tags me in, ducks a punch from Show, Show turns around. Before I can even step through the ropes, Cena is up in the air dropkicking Show. And I’m like, looking at him, I thought you said a double dropkick? So, next time he calls anything, I’m gonna think twice. Because I ended up jumping up in the air, while Shows already on the ground, and just landing on my head. So it was a double dropkick where he (Cena) went and I then I slip- Oh-Oh-I tried to get—nope. So everyone in the back, I come back and they were like, (clapping) “Great dropkick.” I watched it back, and it looks like I just jumped up in the air as high as I can and then land. Nothing happened; I just jumped up and fell. It was brutal. Thank you, John Cena.”
On John Cena’s Five Moves of Doom: “No. Hold on. I only got about four moves. So don’t throw stones, now. But yeah. He shouldn’t be doing dropkicks. Nah, I tell him all the time actually. But, dammit. He tries.”
On since coming back he seems to be enjoying himself more in the babyface position: “Yeah. It’s always fun when the crowd reacts like that. And you know what? We will be in some country over in Europe sometimes, and they’re not like that at all. But you gotta just, each crowd is different. And you gotta know that. You can do the same exact thing, or have the same finish in one town, that’s over huge. And the next town, it’s like a fart in church.”
On the crowd at Raw the night after Wrestlemania 29: “Oh Yeah! I had to just—I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to be part of the wave. I thought; should I do the wave with them? Like what—cause they obviously were crapping all over us. Not on purpose. But they weren’t like. We were in the ring, beating the crap out of each other, and they were doing the wave. So it was like, it’s the European, it’s the whole multicultural fan base from all over the world that had been at Wrestlemania, and stayed there the weekend, and got tickets to Raw. So you got a lot of different kinds of people out there. And that European crowd, they do that. They’re loud, they’re singing, they’re drunk, they’re fighting, they’re brawling. That soccer crowd over there? The football crowd? And that’s what it was. That’s what they were doing. And I knew that, you know. Cause we wrestle in Europe all the time. But yeah, it was definitely—I had to just kind of sit back and what is going on?”
On if the Wrestlemania crowds are consistent: “You know, you can’t. Anything can happen. Anything can happen. It just depends. Like the first year that Rock hosted Wrestlemania, not when he worked Cena, but when he hosted Wrestlemania? It’s almost like it didn’t have the appeal when it happened. You never know what you are going to get. You never know if—these three hour Raws? That’s a lot of wrestling. And they’ve already been there for an hour, they got there early, got their t-shirt, got their concession, sat down, watched the dark match. You know that’s a lot of wrestling. Our fans, they’re die-hard fans. And they’ll sit there through it, man. And they’ll sit through the stuff they might not want to see, to see their guy. But you can guaran-damn-tee the WWE Universe is there for us. And that’s cool. And before as a heel, I never really cared about the fans. But now as a babyface, I see more than ever how important they are.”
On how he feels on being a heel vs. a babyface: “Well the more over I can get as a babyface, when I turn, the bigger the heel I’ll be. So if they wanna keep me a babyface, I’ll just keep doing my thing. And keep my five or six or four, whatever it is, moves. Keep them crisp and see what happens. But right now, being the good guy, it’s cool. Because they’re digging it.”
On being in an odd spot, all over placement wise, is it frustrating: “It could be frustrating, but I just don’t let it be. There was a time in my career where I would let it get me frustrated, but now it’s like I get paid well to do what I love. They tell me to do this, they tell me to jump, I’ll jump. And I’m gonna jump as high as I can because I know that all my fans out there, all those 2.5 million people that follow me on Twitter, they want to see me give a hundred and ten percent. So I’m gonna do what WWE tells me to do out there, I’m gonna work with who they want me to work with. I’ll give my suggestions when I feel they might be used wisely but I’m just gonna give it my all. And that’s kind of the unspoken motto backstage. Just give it a hundred and ten percent. And our guys do.”
On being not the typical babyface: “Maybe? I think the face thing works for me because I tried the best I could when I was turning to keep some of those heel characteristics. And I think I did. But then there was a point where they were really big on me smiling when I came out to the ring. I swear, I shit you not. I’m sitting there, and my music plays, and then I hear someone calling my name. And I look over, it’s Vince. And he takes his headset off and he stands up and he goes “SMILE!” And I’m like, okay. I’m thinking in my head, a year ago, a little nine-year-old girl in the front row, if I gave her the right kind of look or expression and walked towards her. Still 20 feet away from her, but if she was ring side, I could get her to cry, or get behind her mom. They were scared of me. I had like this Undertaker type, weird aura. They didn’t know what I was. They knew I was capable of doing anything. They didn’t know what they were going to get from me. I’m kicking people in the head. I’m kissing Stephanie McMahon and nailing Triple H with the sledgehammer. It was a good time.”
On Triple H/ McMahon family feud, Wrestlemania match being underrated: “The buildup was great. The match suffered because Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker kicked out of each other’s finishers for twenty minutes before we went out there. They should have been last. They really should have. If we would’ve been earlier on that card, I think it would have been better for us. But I think, like I was saying, those fans, god love them, but that’s a lot of wrestling. And they’ve already been winded by watching these big match ups with Shawn Michaels kicking out of tombstone piledrivers and Undertaker kicking out of superkicks. And then, what a finish. And now they’re like, well we’ve seen our main event. And now when me and Triple H go out there, and we’re not doing five RKO’s or five pedigrees and kicking out of them. It’s not the same.”
On how having a family has changed him in his career: “Big time. The responsibility factor. Really getting married, settling down, and having a kid; that was the biggest thing for me. I realized, this little girl that came into my life, that I created with my wife, and how special is that? I wanted a little girl so bad too. The whole daddy’s little girl thing was intriguing to me. And I got that relationship with her now. So it’s really been cool, but it’s taken me back and I realize my decisions affect her. So you gotta think before you act.”
On being a multi-generation star, is it a blessing or a curse: “Yes and no. I think it might depend on who your old man was too? Mine is a hall of famer. So is Cody’s, so is Ted’s, so is Curtis’s. I wanna say Michael McGillicutty, but that’s blasphemy, that’s awful. Yeah I’m happy for him by the way; he got the Curtis Axel moniker, in respect of his father, and his grandfather, Larry the Axe. That’s cool. So I’m happy for him, that was a long time coming. But yeah, I don’t think Curtis Axel, his father being Mr. Perfect, hurts him. I think it helps him. Immediately, you know who he is. Even if you don’t know who he is, you know where he came from. And you know you loved where he came from. You remember his dad if you are any kind of wrestling fan. So you’re gonna wanna be interested in what this kid has to offer. Whether or not he is able to provide the entertainment factor is another story. That’s up to him.”
On if the next “class” of WWE superstars along the same caliber of his 2001-2002 class: “I could say yes, I could say yes it is. The class that I was in with Lesnar and those guys, there’s no Lesnars or Batistas walking around there right now. Big E, he’s a strong dude. Ryback’s a strong dude. But if you put Batista next to those guys, he was 6’6, 320 lbs. Those guys are pushing 6’1-6’2. But Batista was wide. He was a big old dude. Those guys could beat him in a bench press contest but I’d rather look like Dave. If I was gonna intimidate somebody? Give me the Batista build, any day.”
