Dean Ambrose on Bret Hart, Fan Reaction, Roman Reigns

WWE Superstar Dean Ambrose will have another shot at the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match at WrestleMania. While Ambrose prepares to “steal the show,” he spoke with the Sporting News to discuss a multitude of topics related to his wrestling career.

Ambrose spoke on who he admired growing up:

“I don’t really remember exactly. If I had to say anybody, I’d probably say … probably Bret Hart would have been one of the first guys because I was never a Hulkamaniac. I kind of missed that. When I first started watching wrestling, I don’t know how old I was, maybe seven years old because Bret Hart would have been there at the time. I remember the first times watching WWF, Bret Hart was kind of the man, winning King of the Ring, technical master and he could go for an hour. He had a million different moves he could beat anyone with. Just rugged, dynamic champion. He was so cool. He was the opposite of (Hulk) Hogan really looking back now who was one of the indestructible hero from comic books. He was the realistic, relatable guy and these giant litany of bullies, Bam Bam Bigelow and whoever else, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Yokozuna. And he’s always find a way to outsmart them, out trick them, outlast them. He was one of the first guys who resonated with me as a kid. So I say Bret Hart if I had to answer. Not that there’s a specific moment or anything I really remember. I just remember really being into Bret Hart as a kid.”

He talked about the reactions he’s been getting since his time with The Shield ended:

“I’ve gotten used to it to a point. It’s very weird for me to get used to … Not so much the crowd cheering for you in a match because have cheered for me and I’ve spent my time as a fan favorite here and there. But I’ve always enjoyed more being hated and was always comfortable in that role. I’ve always found my best work feeding off negativity and loving in a — this sounds weird — living in a negative kind of mindset in space and using that as fuel. I feel that some of my best work has come from that. For me, kids and dudes are like ‘Yeah! You’re the man!’ And teenage girls or chicks are like ‘oh, Dean Ambrose’ and I’m like yeah, OK, that’s normal. But when kids are like ‘Dean Ambrose you’re my favorite’ and like the kid has the shirt and he’s dressed like me that like whoa, that’s trippy. Like little ten years old girls are like ‘oh my God, I love you Dean’ I’m like what? What? What happened to me? What’s going on? This is weird right? Anybody showing me super levels of attention or positivity … it’s takes a while to get used to.”

Amrose also threw his support towards his former Shield brother Roman Reigns as he is set to take on Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania:

“To me, it’s all like people love to discuss and dissect and people have no idea … People really don’t know anything about, not that they don’t know anything about wrestling, but, like, people don’t really know what they’re talking about. Anybody can have a — especially in today’s day and age with Twitter and all that crap — everybody on Earth can … If you have a phone and an internet connection you can have a podcast and you can be like ‘oh, let’s discuss this controversy’. It makes it out to be more than it really is because I’m in the towns with him every single night and people cheer for him pretty much every single night. He’s a big freaking star who a lot of people love which means a lot of people are going to hate him too. To me, the whole ‘will the fan accept Roman Reigns?’. Well, they’re going to have to because he’s probably, if he wins the WWE Championship, well, then he’s going to be a big star and you’re going to tune in and watch him every single week and you can write whatever you want on your little blog or whatever. You’re going to watch him every single week on TV and you’re going to pay for the (WWE) Network and you’re going to buy pay-per-views and buy tickets and you’re going to essentially pay his bills. To me, the whole will the fans accept Roman Reigns thing is, I’m pretty bored with that. It’s like creating a story out of … That night at the Rumble it was a story. It was a pretty wild scene, unexpected or not, whatever. To me, it was like, I don’t (pause) I’m not a fan of wrestling because I care what the crowd is doing. I want to watch the match. I want to see these two guys go at it. I want to see how it plays out.”