This past week on CBS Radio/106.7 The Fan Washington DC’s The Chad Dukes Wrestling Show, Chad Dukes broadcasted live from the Verizon Center before the Smackdown tapings and had the opportunity to interview Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper of the Wyatt Family.
The show airs live at 7pm on Wednesdays on 106.7 The Fan Washington DC (http://washington.cbslocal.com/station/106-7-the-fan/) and the full show is also available as a podcast on iTunes, Play.it, and http://chaddukeswrestlingshow.com/
Below are some interview highlights:
Luke Harper on his career ambitions and the opinion that the Wyatt Family “doesn’t need championships”:
I want to win every title that this promotion has. I want to be the World Heavyweight Champion, on my own, I want to be the Intercontinental Champion, want to be the U.S. champion, wanna be a Tag Champion, I personally want all of that for myself. But at the same time, I have brothers at arms that we are very successful together and I understand that part of it too.
I don’t know why I would be here if I didn’t want a championship. We’ve dominated lots of people, we’ve beat up lots of people, we’ve sent a lot of messages, we’ve been successful, but there’s another level of success that we have yet to attain and that we want to attain.
Dean Ambrose on his current role in WWE:
Lenny Harris was a utility player for the [Cincinnati] Reds, he’s on my favorite players because he literally played every position on every night he played a different position. First base, short stop, whatever, but he was a beloved guy because he was always there and could do anything. I think I’m one of the only guys here, I mean we have so much great talent here, but I can do anything. I can literally do anything. That’s not me being like, “oh I’m so great,” I’m just like. I know what I’m doing. I’m not some schmuck they just hired and threw down in the Performance Center and gave him an entrance or anything that like. I’ve been around enough and have enough experience, I know what I’m doing pretty much. I like to think I’m a good mechanic for the company. “Oh well, we sprung a leak? Call Ambrose, throw him in there.” I like that because I think it has really upped my value with the company and I think that they realize nowadays too another Dean Ambrose isn’t going to walk through the door anytime soon or ever. So. I kind of exist in my own little space, I kind of got my own little corner of the room carved out for myself which I like.
Dean Ambrose on comparisons to Roddy Piper and his favorite Piper moment:
I don’t know how you can not take it as a compliment. I was able to have a lot of good conversations, spend a good amount of time with him through the last couple years which was, that’s a rare opportunity and I don’t think a lot of guys got that. Me and him really just kind of clicked because he just kind of sensed that we had a similar outlook on stuff. The thing I like about him, I’ve been asked about him since he passed away a few times, the thing I always say is my favorite Roddy Piper moment was one of the nights he was wrestling Hogan it was in WCW. He’s wrestling Hogan and he’s the big hero finally going to go up against the NWO or whatever and just the entrance makes you go, “Man, that’s what wrestling, that’s where you captivate people.” ‘Cause they just went out there and back raked each other for fifteen minutes, they’re both like fifty five by that point, but the entrance he just walks down, Roddy Piper music, and he just walks to the ring, down the ramp, with like this death stare at the ring, like this thousand yard, like he’s in a different mental place. He’s doing nothing but doing everything. The way he walks the ring, you know that Roddy Piper is ready to die in the ring fighting the NWO that night, he does not care, he will fight to the death. This is the end of the world fight. It’s so hard to capture that anymore because it’s such a fun, entertainment thing nowadays. We have so many shows and so much content. When is there an end of the world fight to the death anymore?
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.
