Below is live coverage of Dean Ambrose appearing on Steve Austin’s WWE Network podcast airing immediately after Raw.
Austin kicks off the interview asking Dean Ambrose about his childhood in Cincinnati. Ambrose says his father lived out of state and he lived at home with his mother and sister. Since his mother worked nights, Ambrose said he and his sister learned how to do things themselves, like make dinner, etc.
Ambrose added him and his sister were very independent people, and because their father worked out of state and mother worked nights, they wandered the streets a lot and that made Ambrose into who he is today. He said his mother recently quit her factory job and that was the greatest accomplishment of his career. Ambrose said despite growing up in public housing, he had a happy childhood and always did well in school.
Ambrose talked about dropping out of school at an early age, and then the conversation shifted into the wrestling Ambrose watched growing up. Ambrose said wrestling has always been a passion of his, and he missed the Hulkamania era as he grew up when Bret Hart was on top in WWE. He said he always loved Bret Hart because of his technical prowess and in-ring ability, and he called Hart a “cagey son of a bi**h.” Ambrose admitted to stealing pro wrestling tapes when he was a kid so he could learn as much as he could about wrestling, because he felt like he could be good at it someday. Ambrose then apologized to the now defunct Blockbuster Video. Austin compared Dean Ambrose to Terry Funk, and Ambrose said he loved the ECW era of Funk.
Dean Ambrose then talked being mentored by Cody Hawk of the HWA promotion, and Les Thatcher’s school in Ohio. He said he sold popcorn and swept arena floors until he was 18 and old enough to begin training. He said there were times when he doubted his future in the pro wrestling business, and it was when he went to work in Puerto Rico that he learned to be “vicious” in the ring. Ambrose said he didn’t know if he would become rich and famous in wrestling, so he decided to put together the best body of work he could, and that was when things started to take off for him. He recalled watching WWE back in 2008 and thinking he could be as good as top guys like John Cena, and while living on a friend’s floor in Philadelphia, Joey Mercury was able to get someone in WWE to look at Ambrose’s wrestling tape. Ambrose said shortly after, he received a call from former WWE official Ty Bailey, and Ambrose thought it was a friend ribbing him. An hour later, Joey Mercury called him and he realized that the earlier WWE call was legitimate.
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.
