Quotes from Matt Sydal

I've been living this extraordinary life with a new enlightened perspective, to see things from a higher perspective. I feel like I'm able to see things from that higher perspective at Impact Wrestling right now where there are unlimited opportunities and room for growth and to make some work I can really be proud of.

I'm out there to produce the best content - The most creative content I can do and express myself through wrestling.

The thing I noticed most from challenging from country to country is not the differences but the similarities. Wrestling fans are all the same.

Of course, I was an insane ECW fan. You don't get this deep into wrestling unless you are obsessed with wrestling so that was the final hook.

Whether I am the Champion or not is irrelevant to me. I am not attached to it.

I watch Dragon Gate, New Japan, NXT, AEW. I love the Lucha Bros, The Young Bucks. Mainly I watch the guys in the shows that I'm on.

There are ties that began when I was just a young kid trying to cut my teeth in the business. I would drive 14 hours to wrestle on a Ring of Honor show that I didn't even get paid 20 dollars for.

That is why I can never walk away from wrestling because there's this moment - the bell rings and everything slips away. The path, the future. There's nothing but that moment right in front of you where the intensity is high, the risk and reward are high, and you have to enter into a mental state that doesn't allow for hesitation.

Triple H was so generous to me with his time and his knowledge when I was like the young up-and-comer wrestling Chavo, and every life event, after our matches, he would come back and give me just a list of things to work on which is exactly what I see going on in NXT, like how they're adopting a high-flyer style to the WWE audience.

When I'm out there, it's not even me who is doing the acting and the wrestling and the moving. It is something that I feel like I see channels more than anything else. So, for me, I tune into the right frequency. I get turned on and we're ready for take off.

When you're in the Ring of Honor locker room, you feel like something special is happening every night.

All the people who were on WSX Season 1 are the life blood of the alternative wrestling business, and now the mainstream wrestling business as well. That is what Lucha Underground is doing.

When I was at IMPACT and X Division Champion, my neck wasn't able to handle the workload and after losing the belt to Brian Cage in a match I just realized my neck just can't handle this anymore.

The Japanese style, they really do have concern for their neighbors kind of more than themselves.

Let's face it: when we were crazy into wrestling, there were 20 million people on Monday nights watching wrestling. So what you have are 17 million lagged wrestling fans. People who connect to it somewhere, but haven't really found an inspiration or a cultural connection to it.

So I don't think one type of wrestling is right and one type of wrestling is wrong, and I've used that ability to unlearn what I've done and really go back and get back in touch with that Dragon Gate style since now there's a lot of guys that can work with that.

So, I can't tell you the mentality behind the stuff, because that's thousands of hours manifested into one moment, maybe in the shower or driving down the road that the idea comes and the genius strikes and sometimes, it happens moments before you go to the ring.

For me, as much fun as it is to watch wrestling is, actually wrestling is what struck a chord with me.

My first venture to Qatar was with WWE. It was an incredible tour and we stayed at a luxurious hotel. I ventured out by myself and wandered down to a shopping center and there was beautiful architecture everywhere.

At WSX I think I was very much trying to figure it out on my own and we were creating our own style and our own thing. I can only speak for myself, I was not trying to be anything. I was not trying to be like anyone else.

Mostly the guys I worked with like wrestling AJ Styles, Jamie Noble, wrestling Chavo Guerrero, wrestling Rey Mysterio... As much as I try to be an individual or unique I can't deny the strong effect these guys have all had on me.

I can know what Brian Cage is doing before he's doing it because he's doing me. I've been facing the man in the mirror my entire life. That's been my hardest battle is the one where it's me versus me.