Hi Joseph, let's start right at the beginning. Where were you born?

In Jamestown, NY, up in the Great Lakes region of the state.

What is it like?

It's a small community. Not a hick town, but small enough that everyone knows everybody and word travels quickly. It's also a center for snowbirds, so in the winter it's dead and overrun in the summer.

How many kids in your family?

Four. I'm the baby. I have two older sisters and an older brother.

What were those early years like for you?

I guess you could say that my childhood wasn't so great. I saw some bad things when I was younger and so I guess I went on the defense and started looking out for the weak instead of just letting things ride. Especially for my sisters - I didn't want them to take crap from anybody.

What did you do for fun?

Soccer. I played soccer all spring, summer and fall, and I got into a premier league.

How old were you when you started?

I started playing soccer the same age I started wrestling, which was three and-a-half. The youngest age group was five years old so I was playing in my brother's age group. It never really seemed like I was two years younger than them, I always felt I was at their level.

It sounds like the thing you held onto as a kid was that you excelled physically — what else did you play?

Soccer, football, baseball, track ... and I will also admit to you that I did male cheerleading. (laughs) I actually learned a lot from it. I developed more flexibility and gained a lot of agility that carries over to me today. And communication skills. I learned to put myself out there, so I'll admit to that.

It seems like cheerleading might be a natural extension of participating in school sports and school spirit ...?

(JS cuts me off:) It had nothing to do with school spirit. Just like most stories it began with this girl. I had a crush on a girl who was a cheerleader, and she was begging me to be on the team because the opposing school had a guy on it. I didn't want to do it because I was practically living wrestling at the time. But she called me persistently, practically crying her eyes out. So finally I just said 'Fine, I'll do it.'

Of all the sports you were involved in, what did you like the most?

I really liked wrestling. Because it was individual. If you lost, it was really you. It wasn't like soccer where you had to pass to a buddy, it was just all you out there on the mat.

So you're basically competing with yourself?

Yes, it's hard to ever be satisfied with your performance. I can only think of a few times when I was satisfied. There's always a higher standard to attain ... first there's Divisionals, then Sectionals, then States, Regionals, Nationals, World, Universe ...