“I wanted John [Cena] to be my retirement match, I don’t know if you knew that, but I requested that to Vince. He said, ‘You’re going to have to wait until next year because you have a program with Baron Corbin.’ So I was like, ‘Ok, but I don’t think I can go another year, Vince.’ He said, ‘Well, then, it is what it is.’
“I love Baron Corbin, but I just felt that my second time in WWE — I wasn’t so much appreciated. I think it has a lot to do with me leaving the company high and dry in 2006 and going straight to TNA. See, I was supposed to go back to WWE in six months. Vince wanted me to take six months off and come back. So, literally when I left his office and I quit, I called [TNA] and got a contract that day. I didn’t wait a second. I knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. And I think they were like, ‘Ok, well, if he comes back, we’re going to teach him a little lesson.’ You know? [laughs] Which is fine, I understood.”
