John Cena find his free-stylin’ character

If not for one specific trip in Europe, I would still be searching for my connection with fans. My chance to develop my free-stylin’ character arose from something we were doing to pass the time during a bus ride in England.

We were on the Rebellion Tour in the fall of 2002, and that’s one of the few times that everybody travels together. By the end of the week, the traveling got real long and tedious. Whenever we go overseas the fans are incredible, they are just awesome to us. All that energy in the building was keeping us going on the bus.

Stone Cold drives a Cement Truck!

Story taken from the book: The Stone Cold Truth (Buy it on Amazon)
Some of my favorite over-the-top bits on Raw involves Stone Cold driving and smashing different kinds of vehicles. Probably the one that started the trend was when I filled up Mr. McMahon’s nice classic Corvette with tons of fresh concrete from a cement truck at Nassau Coliseum. I was looking for major ways to PO Vince and figure that might do it.

There aren’t too many times when you get to wreck a Corvette on purpose. When I saw that car, I said I would just as soon take it home as destroy it. It was a nice car that WWE had purchased out of the newspaper for this stunt.

Sorry, wrong room!

Sorry wrong room -by,Kane Story taken from WWE book – Are We There Yet? (Buy it on Amazon)

When you are sitting around the arena all day, some nights you just can’t wait to get out of there when you are done. At one show, I was in the last match but knew that after the bell there was going to be a run-in on my opponent by the guy he was feuding with at that time. They were set to go at it for a few minutes after I left the ring. I knew I wanted to beat the fans out of the arena so I wouldn’t sit in traffic for an hour; these few minutes were my only hope.
I ran back to the locker room and didn’t shower or anything. I just threw on my workout stuff from that afternoon – shorts, a tank-top and sneakers. I didn’t even put on socks. As I am sprinting to the car, I realize I still had my make-up on, too. I didn’t care. The only thing on my mind was getting out of the arena parking lot and to the hotel immediately.

The People’s Rookie – The Rock’s first WrestleMania

This story is taken from WWF WrestleMania: The Official Insider’s History (buy it on Amazon)

In 1997, The Rock was known as Rocky Maivia – a clean cut, physically impressive wrestler with an unparalleled pedigree. Rocky’s father, Rocky Johnson, was one of the sport’s first African –American superstars; his grandfather, Peter Maivia, was a Samoan High Chief and a legendary wrestler in his own rights some two decades earlier. Rocky had grown up in the business, and that certainly helped facilitate his meteoric rise through the ranks. At this point he was just two years removed from his football days at the University of Miami and less than one year removed from wrestling’s minor leagues. Already, though he was the Intercontinental champion.

Just Blame Vince – PEOPLE DO GET HURT imitating professional wrestling

Story is taken form Mick Foley’s book – Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling (Buy it on Amazon)

PEOPLE DO GET HURT imitating professional wrestling. That is a fact. Critics of wrestling world jump at the chance to show you that.

My kids love to wrestle, and I let them. I have sat down with them and explained that several of the moves hurt, and that many are extremely dangerous. They have a decent understanding of the spinal cord, and which move pose a threat to it. They know that they can never use these moves on each other or anyone else. If they do so, they know that they will not be permitted to watch the shows or wrestle anymore. Watching the two of them wrestle, complete with “uh-oh, both these guys are hurt” commentary by Dewey, is a thing of beauty. He is extremely gentle with his little sister. With the exception of an occasional bumped head or banged knee, they can wrestle without incident for hours at a time.

Giant Heat: real fight between the Big Show & Khali

Story taken from Chris Jericho’s book – The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea (Buy it on Amazon)

Khali and Show have been at odds for years, as they had what the boys called “Giant Heat,” which meant they resented each other because they were both Brobdingnagian. They had spent their lives being the biggest person in the room, astonishing specimens that everybody stared at and instantly feared. Now, for the first time, they had to deal with the competition for that honor and neither of them liked it. Khali was taller, Show was better in the ring, each was jealous of the other as a result.
We (Chris Jericho & Big Show) were in Aricebo, Puerto Rico, having a tag-match against Khali and Taker. The match itself was nothing special, highlighted only by the Khali stealing one of Show’s spots right in front of his face. Show had this trademark move where he took a guy into the corner, shhhh’d the crowd with his finger, and delivered a BRUTAL overhand chop that sounded (and felt) like it had caved in his opponent’s chest. It always got a huge reaction, which made it a little more bearable. Khali had stolen it from Show and used it all the time during his matches, even though Show had asked him more than once not to. But who was going to stop him? Khali was seven feet tall and didn’t give a shit what anybody thought, especially his nemesis, the Big Show.

Classy Indian hotel doesn’t get many five-hundred-pound guests

Risky Business – by, Big Show
Story taken from WWE book – Are We There Yet?

A few years ago I went over to India to do a promotional tour for WWE. I’d never been there, so I was curious to see it but was real paranoid about some health issues.

We had to get like twelve shots before we went over. I was worried about eating the food over there and also brought like eight cases of bottled water with me. I am drinking bottled water, I am brushing my teeth with bottled water, showering with bottled water. That’s right I was doing the Hollywood movie star, Evian bath. It might have been a bit much, but I didn’t trust the water.