Jake Hager

Growing up in Perry, Oklahoma, there's not a lot going on, so we would go wrestle anywhere and anyplace we could. It really is who I am.

I am Jack Swagger. My background, it's there for the world to see, and you look at MMA today, you look at boxing today, you look at professional kickboxing today, you need that entertainment value. You want people to relate to you as a character, as a personality. Honestly, that's what they're going to remember.

Chris Jericho is on the Mount Rushmore of professional wrestling.

In my first fight, I acknowledged it. I'm a professional wrestler, this is who I am, who you know me as. But guess what, I've also been wrestling since I was 5 years old - real wrestling - amateur wrestling, Olympic wrestling.

People know my name, and because of that, I have more leverage as a professional fighter. And as a professional fighter, as a professional wrestler, that is something we are all battling for. We want to make our brand a name brand and a household name. And that essentially gives us more leverage and helps us provide for our families.

I was young; I signed with the WWE when I was 24. I was up on the main roster when I was 26 and 10 years later that is a lot of learning and a lot of growth.

The level of difficulty in most areas of MMA is very high. It's a high learning curve. The footwork in boxing alone takes years to master. I will rely heavily on my amateur wrestling to get out of bad situations and take me from defense to offense. I'll try to dictate the fight on my terms.

I would say to the critics that they don't have a black belt in time management like I do.

Toward the end of my career with WWE, I found myself in a comfort zone. Looking back at it now with a little more perspective, it was killing me.

Anyone that holds a championship you are on a list of a very few people that have had that special honor, and it is really incredible to say that no matter what you say about my wrestling career I was a World Heavyweight Champion and you can't take that away from me.

A lot of people want me to say negative things about WWE, but I'm very grateful for my career there.

Before I signed with WWE, I thought my athletic career was done. I was going into the finance industry and I just thought I couldn't compete any more. But the mind is a really powerful thing and you can unlock your potential if you choose to ignore what your mind is telling you.