What was it like facing the great Dean Malenko?
It was the very first time Dean and I had wrestled. I’d been studying him for a long time, watching tapes of his style. He’s a shooter, and that means he knows what he can do, and he can break you. I think the match couldn’t have been better. I wouldn’t change anything. Dean is the kindest guy I’ve ever met and he’s one of the wrestlers who took me to the next level in WCW. Did the match silence all that backstage mumbling? After the match, when I went into the locker room, all the boys stood up and clapped. I got chills. It was crazy because Randy Savage came up to me to say, “Hey, good job kid!” It was my first big step into the world of American wrestling. Nowadays, a Superstar will make his debut on Raw or SmackDown. Why do you think WCW introduced you on a PPV? I think they had a lot of confidence in what I brought to the table, so they just threw me into that pay-per-view. Today, that seriously would have freaked me out. But freaking out and being nervous is part of being a wrest
