IGN TV: The schedule for you guys is a grind, but once you get to WrestleMania, does it give you that extra boost of energy because it is the event that it is?
Dean Ambrose: Yeah, once you get within a few weeks of the show and it becomes WrestleMania season, the energy starts picking up, and the energy feels different. You can feel it in the air, and every show means a little bit more, and everything is a little more focused and directed. Everything's directing toward that day of WrestleMania. So there's definitely a certain energy in the air when it gets to WrestleMania season. It's impossible to deny or ignore. Everybody's competition steps up a little bit, and little switches in your brain that you didn't even know you had start turning on. You start digging into new ideas, whatever you can do to step your game up, because nobody wants to be left in the dust during WrestleMania season.
IGN: It's been an interesting few months for you guys, with The Shield. People were starting to back you more and more and now you’ve made the switch to faces. Does it feel different to have the crowd with you, instead of against you, or is it all just variations on the same thing?
Ambrose: You know, we never went out of our way to do anything that is… We're doing the exact same thing that we've always done; we're just focusing it in a different direction. Our destruction is now pointed at the same place as fans -- our enemies that are in our sights are the same people who fans might see as enemies. Look, we haven't changed anything we've done, and we don't do anything any differently; it's just positioned in a different way, so people might feel a different way about it.
IGN: Right. You already had supporters and now the floodgates have opened.
Ambrose: There is a noticeable difference from a crowd surging against you and a crowd surging with you. A crowd urging you on to do well can be very encouraging. It's very fun. It can be a really cool feeling. I'm a guy though where -- I can't speak for the other two -- deep down, I feed off negativity. You know, those moments where just everybody in the building -- and it's a little bit more rare to get that real kind of heat nowadays -- but where people just really hate you, just hate you. To me, that's much more powerful. It drives me a little bit more; I feel a little bit better. I'm much more comfortable being hated than being beloved. But, you know, having a crowd of 12,000 or 15,000 people chanting your name or cheering you on is a very cool, positive experience. Who gets to experience that in their lifetime, you know? That's the kind of stuff you dream about, an arena cheering and chanting for you. It's really cool.
IGN: Was there a moment where you guys felt, "This is working, the three of us. It's resonating"?
Ambrose: I don't know that I can remember a first moment with us, but it was really early on when we could tell… Actually, you know what? I say that, but it was probably TLC 2012. That was our first real match together, and it was our first match in WWE. For myself that was my first match in WWE, so it was nearly a decade buildup to this one match. It took me that long to get here. For the other guys, they have their own personal journeys and stuff. Whatever it took to get there, that was the first time we were really going to find out -- you know, the crowd was going to see, and we were really going to find out ourselves just how well we could work together, because we were all on the same page. We knew we could trust each other, and we all had faith that we could deliver, but that was the first time any of us I think probably really felt that chemistry between us. It was so seamless and so easy, probably easier than we thought it was going to be. That was probably the moment where we were just like, "Yeah, this is a thing. This works."
I like that he clarifies that the Shield will stay as badass as they've always been and won't suddenly become corny babyfaces.
Those are my hounds of justice.
Dean Ambrose: Yeah, once you get within a few weeks of the show and it becomes WrestleMania season, the energy starts picking up, and the energy feels different. You can feel it in the air, and every show means a little bit more, and everything is a little more focused and directed. Everything's directing toward that day of WrestleMania. So there's definitely a certain energy in the air when it gets to WrestleMania season. It's impossible to deny or ignore. Everybody's competition steps up a little bit, and little switches in your brain that you didn't even know you had start turning on. You start digging into new ideas, whatever you can do to step your game up, because nobody wants to be left in the dust during WrestleMania season.
IGN: It's been an interesting few months for you guys, with The Shield. People were starting to back you more and more and now you’ve made the switch to faces. Does it feel different to have the crowd with you, instead of against you, or is it all just variations on the same thing?
Ambrose: You know, we never went out of our way to do anything that is… We're doing the exact same thing that we've always done; we're just focusing it in a different direction. Our destruction is now pointed at the same place as fans -- our enemies that are in our sights are the same people who fans might see as enemies. Look, we haven't changed anything we've done, and we don't do anything any differently; it's just positioned in a different way, so people might feel a different way about it.
IGN: Right. You already had supporters and now the floodgates have opened.
Ambrose: There is a noticeable difference from a crowd surging against you and a crowd surging with you. A crowd urging you on to do well can be very encouraging. It's very fun. It can be a really cool feeling. I'm a guy though where -- I can't speak for the other two -- deep down, I feed off negativity. You know, those moments where just everybody in the building -- and it's a little bit more rare to get that real kind of heat nowadays -- but where people just really hate you, just hate you. To me, that's much more powerful. It drives me a little bit more; I feel a little bit better. I'm much more comfortable being hated than being beloved. But, you know, having a crowd of 12,000 or 15,000 people chanting your name or cheering you on is a very cool, positive experience. Who gets to experience that in their lifetime, you know? That's the kind of stuff you dream about, an arena cheering and chanting for you. It's really cool.
IGN: Was there a moment where you guys felt, "This is working, the three of us. It's resonating"?
Ambrose: I don't know that I can remember a first moment with us, but it was really early on when we could tell… Actually, you know what? I say that, but it was probably TLC 2012. That was our first real match together, and it was our first match in WWE. For myself that was my first match in WWE, so it was nearly a decade buildup to this one match. It took me that long to get here. For the other guys, they have their own personal journeys and stuff. Whatever it took to get there, that was the first time we were really going to find out -- you know, the crowd was going to see, and we were really going to find out ourselves just how well we could work together, because we were all on the same page. We knew we could trust each other, and we all had faith that we could deliver, but that was the first time any of us I think probably really felt that chemistry between us. It was so seamless and so easy, probably easier than we thought it was going to be. That was probably the moment where we were just like, "Yeah, this is a thing. This works."
I like that he clarifies that the Shield will stay as badass as they've always been and won't suddenly become corny babyfaces.
Those are my hounds of justice.
