The following are highlights of a new interview with Dean Ambrose:
On having big ambition when first coming to WWE: "On the real, from the day we started this and had this opportunity, it was ‘O.K., screw everybody else in the world. We’re going to take over this company and this business for the next 10 years, whatever it is. We’ll fight whatever battles we need to fight together and we’ll stick together and have each other’s backs in circumstances. It was an all-for-one, one-for-all mentality. And we’ve done that and it’s been successful. I think you see that and it comes off as very real, cause it is real."
"Does that mean we have to be finishing each other’s sentences and smiling and happy, high fiving all the time? No. Did Guns N’ Roses like each other every night? No. Did the Kinks like each other? No. Ray Davies and his brother hated each other, but onstage, magic."
"As long as the three of us can get to the ring together, that magic that happens when all three of us are together is going to happen, whether we were arguing about who gets to sit in the front seat earlier in the night. By the time we get out in front of the audience, that magic’s going to happen."
On his love of the wrestling business: "My favorite part of the job now is – I think it’s the same for everybody – from the moment you walk through the curtain to the moment you walk back behind the curtain. It’s being in front of the audience and letting it all hang out, whether you’re on TV or not, or a live event or pay-per-view. Any time the red light of the camera’s on. It’s a great escape. That we have the opportunity to do something that’s so much fun for a living is a real blessing."
"No matter how bad your day’s going, whether your flight’s delayed or whether you got stuck in traffic or whether you’re hurt, sore, tired, whatever it is – your puppy died – whatever’s going bad, once you’re out there in front of the crowd, feeling the energy and having fun letting it all hang out – that’s the payoff to me."
"The work for me is traveling, getting in and out of the buildings and stuff like that. The pay is getting the chance to wrestle in front of the entire world on TV, in front of big crowds, just being in front of the audience getting to do what you love to do. Just performing. I love performing whether it’s a live event or a pay-per-view or whatever it is; any time that red light of the camera is on. That’s the fun part for me."
On Old School RAW, Roddy Piper and Jake Roberts: "He [Piper] was from two eras before me, so he’s a guy you never think you’re never going to get a chance to work with. When I found out I was going to get the opportunity to do that, it was like ‘whoa.’ When you’re on the ride and you’re going so fast, it’s hard to stop and smell the roses. That was one of the things where you had to go ‘I’m on Piper’s Pit right now, that’s crazy. The real Piper’s Pit right here in front of me. That’s crazy.’ It’s hard to – I keep saying it – but it’s another one of those things that’s hard to wrap your brain around."
"Seeing his thought process before he [Piper] does something – it’s much different today because back when he did it was all him and it was wild west and he just did and said whatever he wanted – so it’s a little bit different today; watching him work, watching him go through his process was really cool to me and really interesting. Working with him beforehand, just kind of sharing some back and forth in preparation for it was really cool."
"Going out there on live TV with a mic against Rowdy Piper is like going out there and hitting against the best pitcher in baseball or going out there and fighting Mike Tyson on TV. It’s like having a loaded gun with Rowdy Piper with a mic in his hand. You’re out there against the absolute best with a mic in his hand. That’s a rush."
"I didn’t know until very late about the Jake the Snake deal. That was cool too, another icing on the cake, bucket list thing. Everybody was giving me crap because I was laughing when the snake was on me. The reason I was smiling is because I could not stop laughing. It happened so quickly. The whole thing was like ‘O.K. Jake the Snake’s here. What? Of course he is.’ And, the whole thing was like some wacky; trippy I drank too much cough medicine reality."
age outlaws somehow had the power to become the new hitmen for the corporation
