The prestige of the resurrected ECW title: "I've got a decent spot, I'm at all the pay-per-views defending my title but I do feel that ECW is a little bit of the redheaded stepchild of WWE. But that's not all negative, either. I actually embrace that."

Regarding his work ethic: "I'm hungry and more passionate than anybody I know about this business. For me to stand out, I don't think it was hard. I never take 'No' for an answer, and this is the only thing I've ever wanted to do my entire life."

Dealing with all of the bad press this year as a wrestler: "You're going to get sensationalized bad publicity regardless of what it is. I think the easiest way to stay out of it is to stay clean. I don't think I get mucked in with all the other stuff; if anything else it's just the opposite. I'm a guy you can look at and say that the stereotype of a wrestler isn't true."