The Brooklyn Brawler made a shocking return to the ring last week battling Vito on SmackDown, and Kurt Angle on ECW. When WWE.com asked the Brawler if he's out of retirement, the Brawler responded assuredly that he's "always out of retirement."

"Anytime the Brawler is called up, he's ready. He's got his gear in the car, always waiting. The Brooklyn Brawler has wrestling in his blood," he said.

The Brooklyn Brawler, a WWE legend most popular in the mid-'80s and early-'90s, hasn't been a regular competitor in WWE in more than a decade. Despite his shaky win-loss record, the Brawler has always been a WWE fan favorite. In one of the Brawler's most notable matches, he faced Shawn Michaels at Madison Square Garden in 1997 for the WWE Championship.

The Brooklyn Brawler was especially pleased with the reception he got by the ECW fans at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom, even though he lost the match against Angle.

"Walking out at the Hammerstein Ballroom, I got a reception that I never expected. I got the respect of the ECW crowd, which I've always remembered in my whole career, my entire career, my 25-year career. People would tell me the ECW fans are the most critical. The ECW fans will actually tell you the way it is. They don't pull no punches," the Brawler said. "If you're a piece of garbage, they tell you you're a piece of garbage. When I walked out, all I heard was ‘BROOKLYN BRAWLER, BROOKLYN BRAWLER.' I had an all new respect. I got chills in my body like these fans actually hit me emotionally. These fans are some of the greatest fans I have ever, ever, ever competed in front of. I totally, 100 percent respect ECW. I respect the fans of ECW, because the ECW fans respect me."

On SmackDown, the Brawler met fellow New Yorker, Vito. The toughest man to ever wear a dress beat the Brawler, but he's not backing down.

"Wrestling Vito in a dress, I kind of blacked out the dress. He's a guy from Staten Island. He's a big tough guy. He's a cross-dresser. I don't play into that. I don't know if he's trying to psych his opponent out. I don't know if he's just a cross-dresser. I don't really care. I was in there for the competition. I floored Vito. I am more experienced than Vito, but Vito's got these stupid tactics, which makes it hard to concentrate on a match when you're wrestling a he-she," the Brawler said.

The Brooklyn Brawler also wants to reassure WWE fans that he has not renounced Brooklyn, despite what happened with former WWE Superstar Heidenreich on SmackDown on April 21, 2005. At Madison Square Garden, Heidenreich read the Brawler a poem about being his friend, but the Brawler said he hated the poem, ripped off his signature-torn New York Yankees T-shirt to reveal a Boston Red Sox shirt, and called himself the Boston Brawler. Naturally, the New York City fans booed the Brawler.

"I did that just to get a rise out of Madison Square Garden. I wanted to just get to Heidenreich because I didn't want to be his friend. I walked out there and I said, ‘How can I get a rise out of some of the greatest fans in the world?' I said, ‘Take the rival team, the Boston Red Sox, and wear that shirt, they'll really get a kick out of that.' But they respect me enough not to hold it against me," the Brawler says.