On his time in WWE developmental, Dean Ambrose said he enjoyed it. Ambrose said it was great to be a part of a program written by Dusty Rhodes, and he said he is very proud of the feuds he had there with William Regal and Seth Rollins. He compared developmental then to what the current NXT product is like, and he said back then it felt like they were on an island by themselves, and that put a chip on his shoulder to make it to the WWE main roster.
Ambrose then talked about how much different promos were in FCW than they are on the WWE main roster. Ambrose said he was surprised when he was first handed a script on main roster TV, as he was used to improvising his promos in developmental. Ambrose then cut a promo on an imaginary match between him and Steve Austin. Austin then asked if Ambrose has a chip on his shoulder, and he said he used to when he was first with The Shied, because he was out to prove everyone wrong about him. He added the chip isn’t there as much anymore and it has been replaced by confidence.
Austin then asked if the business is real to Ambrose, and he said it is very real to him because everything he did to get to where he is now has been real. On the formation of The Shield, Ambrose said it was all organic, and not something thought up in an office, which is why it worked so well. He added The Shield had a very real “screw everybody” attitude when they came up, and they had a super work ethic and wanted to outperform the rest of the roster every night. Ambrose surprisingly brought up CM Punk’s name, and revealed at one point The Shield were supposed to be “goons” for Punk’s character on TV.
On the breakup of The Shield, Austin asked if WWE did it too soon, and Ambrose said no, and that it was done perfectly. Ambrose added The Shield accomplished all they could, and dominated everyone they could, so there was nowhere else to go for the group. He called Seth Rollins’ heel turn one of the greatest off all-time and that all of the members of The Shield were red hot when the group broke up. Austin thinks the Dean Ambrose character was possibly setup to not get over, and Ambrose agreed, saying the character had a “him against the world” feel to it. Ambrose says he is in a great position with his character right now, as he gets to put smiles on people’s faces, and does thing like Make-a-Wish, which is a real honor to him.
Austin then brought up Ambrose’s WrestleMania 32 match, and Ambrose said he was pissed walking to the ring because he had big plans to make that match special, but Lesnar didn’t want to do anything for the bout. Ambrose added he wanted the match to be epic, but he was met with “laziness” from Brock Lesnar. So instead of the big match he thought they could have, they just went out there and whacked each other with weapons for a bit and Ambrose took some suplexes.
On being the WWE Champion, he said it symbolizes inspiring people, and it symbolizes never taking “no” for an answer and always believing in yourself and what you can accomplish. He says he takes the responsibility of being champion very seriously, because he can be a role model for children and although that might be “weird” he thinks it’s very important.
On Vince McMahon, Ambrose says he has a great relationship with the boss, and while many people are intimidated by Vince, he feels very at ease talking to him. Ambrose joked that he is Vince’s favorite wrestler although he won’t admit it.
Finally Ambrose talked about the WWE brand split and says it’s great. He added it gives the talent an extra night off and that is good for everyone’s health. He also says it allows him to be the leader on his brand, not a leader like John Cena, in terms of calling meetings, etc, but a leader in a different way. Ambrose says he leads by example.
Austin then asked Ambrose if he feels comfortable in WWE. Ambrose said yes, but now it’s time to get to work, as he has so much he wants to accomplish to build a legacy and cement his Championship run. Austin then put Ambrose “on blast”, and challenged him to step up and take more chances. Austin said he thinks Ambrose might be losing his edge a bit, and said the WWE Universe deserves Ambrose to be edgier, push the envelope, go out on a limb and take more chances. Ambrose then said it feels like Austin just put him on blast, but that he likes it. Austin then shook Ambrose’s hand and ended the interview.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
