leave the company. Stupid me, I let Vince talk me into dragging it out all the way to WrestleMania , but if I didnât agree to that, they probably wouldnât have paid me a lot of the money they owed me already. So financially, it was smart to agree to stay through Mania .
I know Vince was pissed off. In his universe, I was ungrateful. I had turned around and spit in his face. But itâs not like he shouldnât have seen it coming. How many times did I tell him I needed time off? How many times did I tell him I wasnât happy with the life, or what it was doing to me? Vince always had his stock reply: âBrock, youâre so much tougher than that.â
But it wasnât about being tough. It was about having a life. A year or two bouncing around town to town, bar to bar, girl to girl, Vicodin to Vicodin, vodka bottle to vodka bottle, is not a life.
I loved being in the ring and performing. Bringing people to their feet. Getting people to hate my character. Entertaining the fans. I had a great time doing all of that, especially when I got to work with people I liked. But I wanted to have a family, too, and I knew there was no way to do that with the schedule I worked. I donât hate professional wrestling, and I certainly donât hate the people in it. Life on the road is just not for me. Itâs not the life I choose to live.
When the time came, I made my announcement and told everyone I was leaving the WWE. From that day forward I became the outcast. None of the guys wanted to be seen with me, because I was the bad apple. I was turning my back on the wrestling businessâtheir business, their life. I was leaving. I was jumping off the train. They couldnât understand it, because that train was the only ride most of these guys would ever know.
I didnât care, because I had made my choice. I still walked around like I owned the place, because there wasnât one guy in that company who could even hold my jockstrap. If I wanted to shoot on anyone in that locker room at any time, there wasnât a thing anyone could have done about it. I could have stretched every single one of them out. But thatâs not what the business is about, so I tried to be good about it. Be a professional. Do my job. Earn my check. Be a provider for my family.
My daughter, Mya, changed my life. I wanted to be there for her, wanted to watch her grow up. So many of these guys, with their multiple ex-wives, and broken-up families in different states, missed everything thatâs really important in life. I didnât want that, and I didnât want that for my daughter either. She deserves a real father.
Donât get me wrong. There were a lot of good things about working for WWE. I made a lot of money, even though I spent quite a bit of it trying to get out of my contract. I became famous, which did help me when I wanted a chance in the UFC. I learned about promotion and marketing. But the best thing was meeting my wife. If I hadnât been in WWE, I wouldnât have met Rena. Sheâs given me two healthy sons, and sheâs been wonderful with Mya. When I say Iâm a man who has been blessed by God, I mean it.
Rena stood by my decision to leave WWE, which wasnât easy for her because she was still with the company at the time. But she could tell there was no way I was going to stay any longer. Besides the lifestyle and all the bullshit, I wanted to compete and get back into athletics again. I thought maybe I would give pro football a try.
But, in my desperation to get out of WWE, I made the biggest mistake of my life. I signed a release that included a noncompete clause.
Vince was pissed at me because we had just done the new deal in July 2003, and he claimed it was the best deal he ever gave any wrestler. But by then I didnât care about the money or the contract. I had money, and I just wanted to be done with Vince.
At the time, I didnât know I was going to pursue
I know Vince was pissed off. In his universe, I was ungrateful. I had turned around and spit in his face. But itâs not like he shouldnât have seen it coming. How many times did I tell him I needed time off? How many times did I tell him I wasnât happy with the life, or what it was doing to me? Vince always had his stock reply: âBrock, youâre so much tougher than that.â
But it wasnât about being tough. It was about having a life. A year or two bouncing around town to town, bar to bar, girl to girl, Vicodin to Vicodin, vodka bottle to vodka bottle, is not a life.
I loved being in the ring and performing. Bringing people to their feet. Getting people to hate my character. Entertaining the fans. I had a great time doing all of that, especially when I got to work with people I liked. But I wanted to have a family, too, and I knew there was no way to do that with the schedule I worked. I donât hate professional wrestling, and I certainly donât hate the people in it. Life on the road is just not for me. Itâs not the life I choose to live.
When the time came, I made my announcement and told everyone I was leaving the WWE. From that day forward I became the outcast. None of the guys wanted to be seen with me, because I was the bad apple. I was turning my back on the wrestling businessâtheir business, their life. I was leaving. I was jumping off the train. They couldnât understand it, because that train was the only ride most of these guys would ever know.
I didnât care, because I had made my choice. I still walked around like I owned the place, because there wasnât one guy in that company who could even hold my jockstrap. If I wanted to shoot on anyone in that locker room at any time, there wasnât a thing anyone could have done about it. I could have stretched every single one of them out. But thatâs not what the business is about, so I tried to be good about it. Be a professional. Do my job. Earn my check. Be a provider for my family.
My daughter, Mya, changed my life. I wanted to be there for her, wanted to watch her grow up. So many of these guys, with their multiple ex-wives, and broken-up families in different states, missed everything thatâs really important in life. I didnât want that, and I didnât want that for my daughter either. She deserves a real father.
Donât get me wrong. There were a lot of good things about working for WWE. I made a lot of money, even though I spent quite a bit of it trying to get out of my contract. I became famous, which did help me when I wanted a chance in the UFC. I learned about promotion and marketing. But the best thing was meeting my wife. If I hadnât been in WWE, I wouldnât have met Rena. Sheâs given me two healthy sons, and sheâs been wonderful with Mya. When I say Iâm a man who has been blessed by God, I mean it.
Rena stood by my decision to leave WWE, which wasnât easy for her because she was still with the company at the time. But she could tell there was no way I was going to stay any longer. Besides the lifestyle and all the bullshit, I wanted to compete and get back into athletics again. I thought maybe I would give pro football a try.
But, in my desperation to get out of WWE, I made the biggest mistake of my life. I signed a release that included a noncompete clause.
Vince was pissed at me because we had just done the new deal in July 2003, and he claimed it was the best deal he ever gave any wrestler. But by then I didnât care about the money or the contract. I had money, and I just wanted to be done with Vince.
At the time, I didnât know I was going to pursue
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