I miss being around it, miss being around the guys, miss being around it all. If I never get a change to go back, I'm fine with that. But if I have the chance to do something, then it'd be very tempting. Especially if it's something like Smackdown! where it's on a Tuesday and I still get to spend the weekend with my family.
WrestlingINC: What was that night like, going back for Raw 1,000 with all the guys being there?
Layfield: Coming back was awesome, it was like I had never left as far as being in the locker room with a lot of these guys that I had wrestled with and all. You add the legends, guys that I really idolized like 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper and Harley Race was backstage. It was really cool to be back and I wanted to come back for the show. I passed up a deal in London where I was going to be part of a big Rugby thing to do it and I'm really glad I did it.
I wanted to come back as the APA. I wanted to come back with Ron. When they called me asked me to come back, I was really happy about it. Then, when they called me a week before, they asked me if I had any old APA shirts because they couldn't find any at the time. I was really excited that they had decided I was going to come back as part of the APA.
WrestlingINC: You've been involved in a lot of projects since then. You dabbled in MMA commentary, you have The Layfield Report and now the Summit Climb.
Layfield: Well, I'll try to keep it as short as possible. I started up this program here in Bermuda, working with what society deems under-privileged kids, at-risk kids. I had an idea to do the seven summits to raise money for the kids that I work for. WWE signed to partner with me on that which was just phenomenal. I wanted to do something to raise awareness. I've always been a news junkie. So, LayfieldReport.com is part of what I want to turn into. Where I can do things to promote sport for change-charities around the world that work with kids like I'm doing.
There's a wonderful group out of London, Yawn Sport, that has about 1,000 charities that they highlight. I wanted to have a way to be able to do that. Also, have a way to be able to help fund the program. So, I'm trying to build up Layfield Report to support my program. If you have a website -- I've got a website called BeyondRugbyBermuda.com but nobody goes to it. [Laughs.] There's no reason to go to it. Layfield Report has all your news and everything. What I can do -- I'm still building on that site -- is I can put stuff about our program.
There's a great program in New York called Play Rugby USA or a great program called Project Alcatraz down in Venezuela. I can do stuff to highlight that within the news, so it's interesting to come on there. But, a lot of LayfieldReport.com -- and it's not finished yet -- was built to help fund the program, hopefully, if I can monetize it. So, I'll be able to raise awareness about the Seven Summits and the charities that work with kids around the world.
Layfield also discussed why he chose to wrestle Rey Mysterio for his final match, his heat with Tully Blanchard and apologizing to him, Ron Simmons' thoughts on his JBL character, how Eddie and Chavo Guerrero helped his career, and much more. You can check out the full interview at WrestlingINC.com by clicking here.
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