The Thursday, June 26th edition of TNA Impact Wrestling on Spike TV drew 1.136 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. This marks a decline compared to last week, where the show drew 1.330 million viewers.
Impact Wrestling on Thursday faced unique competition as the NBA Draft took place during the same time slot, a show that drew 3.451 million viewers on ESPN.
The final Impact Wrestling rating should be out later today.
The following are highlights of a new interview with Drew McIntyre:
How he feels after being released: “Literally I went from a school schedule to a university schedule to a WWE schedule, so it’s kind of nice to relax. I’m going kind of stir crazy, because I‘m not used to relaxing!…..It’s nice to chill out for the first time in my life!”
His thoughts on Vince McMahon touting him as a future WWE Champion: “He endorsed me himself – I didn’t know he was going to do it! He literally walked out and they said “you’re going to go out after Vince and do your promo” ……It’s pretty crazy, but I thrive under that kind of pressure……..That was just unbelievable!”
His favorite places to wrestle: “Scotland, WrestleMania and Madison Square Garden!”
Wrestling at Madison Square Garden: “It’s the mecca over here…..it’s an incredible crowd; they’re so passionate and knowledgeable. When you go there, it’s a different vibe……It’s such an incredible arena. “
Being Intercontinental Champion in WWE: “It was amazing! If you Google my name and IC Title, that (picture) is my legit reaction. It was my life-long dream to be Intercontinental Champion….It was beyond a dream come true.”
His future plans: “I plan to be the biggest wrestler in the world, outside of WWE……I have a clear idea in my mind what I’m going to do….I will be back in WWE!”
Check out the complete interview above.
The following are highlights of a new VOC Nation interview with Brodus Clay:
On how WWE uses the term “Superstars” instead of “wrestlers”: “That’s for a tax break & stuff though. We’re entertainers. The game has changed. It’s a tax break.”
On Grim’s Toy Show: “[Grim] He does these reviews of toys all the time & he sends them to me whenever he reviews one of my toys. He would send it to me & he’d be like, ‘hey, can you check out my stuff?” & he’d be all gracious & real polite & nice about it. & then the version that I saw wasn’t the version that he put up. He does this thing that he wants you to approve his stuff & then goes back & tries to turn it around. He’s an annoying little guy, y’know? & he was on my bucket list… When you get released, you go looking for the guys who trolled you or talked trash about you & run their mouths & all that kind of stuff. (When you’re a) WWE Superstar, you have to just let that stuff go; (now I can confront them). With the modern technology, you no longer have accountability so anyone behind a computer screen, usually their mom’s [computer screen], can be as tough as they want to & they can say what they want to. Everyone has this opinion & they don’t have to back it up or be accountable or respectful or have dignity because there’s no consequences.”
On Social Media in Wrestling: “For every 100 tweets, I get maybe there’s one that’s like that [disrespectful] so I wouldn’t trade all of the good stuff on the Internet…Twitter or Facebook & stuff & the people that are fans & they enjoy it. Y’know I’m one of the guys that, if a fans send me a question, 90% of the time, I try to answer it. It’s a good tool to stay in touch with the fans. I appreciate it, because, if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I’ve gotten. So I appreciate that but, at the same time, it keeps me humble. I enjoy that aspect of that.”
On his favorite gimmick he’s had: “Funkasaurus. It was a lot of fun. That was a chance to do a character that hadn’t been done in a really long time. Probably not since Junkyard Dog. & to bring fans back into the ring, the interaction, to make them part of it, I enjoyed that. That’s something that I’m always glad I took that risk. I can be tough any day of the week & honestly, the way in America, if you stare at people, you’re automatically tough. That’s not really challenging in terms of acting & like, stepping up, & really challenge yourself. Funkasaurus was the character that I had to step out of my shell & really challenge myself & I had a lot of fun doing it.”
On His Former Tag Team Partner, Sweet T: “I talk to him all of the time. He’s a trainer now & he’s doing announcing. He’s a great asset to the company. Whatever they ask him to do, he’ll do it well. There’s no question. He’s an all-around great guy.”
On being an activist against the slaughtering of dolphins in Japan: “I’m working with the son of Richard Barry. They shot the documentary, ‘The Cove.’ If you haven’t seen that, you really need to check that out. I’m going out there to join with Lincoln & Richard in a protest in the season of the round-up. Like they did with the Cove, I’m doing the same thing. Honestly, we’re not going out there to power-bomb Japanese fisherman. The money that they would make doing tours with tourism & the hotels in the city, as a whole, as opposed to one time a year, making money for a small group of people would be astronomical. It would raise the economy in the town & create jobs. It would build prosperity. There’s people who want to come see the dolphins. & I think they’re missing the boat on that. I’m trying to give them information that the world is watching them, because it’s not the way. It’s not tradition. It’s not like they just started doing that by being taught by another fishing village… it’s just guys who are making money. If it’s about making money, then there’s other ways to make money.”
On Weight Control and being part of Fitcamp: “Kids don’t play outside anymore… so that’s one of the things with FitCamp that they stress on parents. Make them play outside. You can go outside, too, y’know? Get back to that. When was the last time you saw kids arguing over a wiffleball game? I would probably be happy if I walked out of my house to see a baseball go through my window & two kids standing there, saying ‘I’m sorry. I started with Fitcamp meal when I was (trying to) cut (my) weight. They basically calorie-out your food everyday & it’s made fresh so it’s not frozen or anything like that… They ship it to your doorstep. It was important for me… I wanted to stay power-lifting & I wanted to drop the weight. I was able to drop 170 lbs with (Fitcamp) & I was able to keep the muscle at the same time.”
On John Laurinitis: “Mr. Laurinitis hired me. He’s always been a great supporter of mine; I enjoyed working with him & I have nothing but love for him. He’s a good guy. He did his job.”
On his schedule, post-WWE: “Busy is a very good feeling & I’m definitely busy.”
Check out the complete interview at VOCNation.com.
The following are highlights of the second part of a two-part Slam! Wrestling interview with Michael Hayes:
Can what worked in the territorial era work today? “There’s a couple things there. One would be — just going back to your last question about kids and what they should do — the kids today, their athleticism far surpasses anything that most of us ever did. We had a few that were in that high echelon that could probably keep up with the kids of today, but the moveset is just not to be believed. With that said, what they don’t do in my opinion is they don’t learn how to captivate an audience. Some of them are almost scared to try to captivate and audience and they are somewhat scared of the audience. And it can’t be that way.
Because, see, I’m a tell ya, you can go all the way back in time and it takes you back to the territorial days, but you can have a great wrestler and if he or she was a mediocre talker, I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen. They’re just going to make mediocre money. But you can find a mediocre wrestler who is a great talker and he or she will make great money. And that never changed and it still won’t today.
And that’s why I don’t understand why kids don’t try to go out and perfect promos and talk that talk, and walk that walk, because everybody wants to be entertained. As fans, your lives are so hard working so you can to feed your kids, feed your wives, or whatever, and you want to escape and you don’t want to pay to see Bob the next door neighbour. And when everybody else is able to do these triple moonsaults then it’s not that special. But if everybody else can’t talk for three minutes and captivate people, and piss them off or make them happy, or get some emotion out of them, well then I don’t understand why so many kids don’t see that that’s the avenue to the pay window. And in the territorial days that’s what made it happen.”
Does he see himself as an artist? “I do, in a different way. I’m a classic artist. Fortunately for me, I’ve never followed the rules. I pay attention to them, and I know where you can bend them and where not to break them, and I think that’s pretty much what most successful people do. You know when to push and when not to push, and that’s the fun of it, and then life evolves and life changes.
And part of that too is, and I don’t like to elaborate on this much, but working with Vince [McMahon] and all this young talent, I look back at that and I get a lot of enjoyment off of that. Like our last pay-per-view, Payback, when you see a pay-per-view like that and you see these kids put everything out there and it paying off, you feel good that you’re a part of that, a big part of it. Helping orchestrate it and getting it to work and calling a play. But those plays are only as good as the people running them, and at Payback the kids ran great plays and everybody wins. The fans win and the kids win because they feel great about themselves, when you make an achievement like that there’s no feeling like, there’s no high like that.
And I found another high in my life too, which is really cool, because I’ve had a lot of highs (laughs). This thing has been around forever, and I hadn’t tried it ’til recently and it’s called sleep. God darn, why didn’t someone tell me about that years ago. And it’s free! Wow. Getting a good night’s sleep and waking up, I mean, wow this is different.”
Participating in WWE’s Legends of Wrestling roundtables: “It’s fun. I dig doing that. I watch it back sometimes and think, wow, I’m really an asshole. And you’re good at it too! That’s kind of my job on the show. We had Kevin Nash on the show one time and he was fantastic, the stories he told about WCW, during the (Monday Night) war, and we were just about to wrap up and I go, “Whoah whoah whoah, what about the Arn Anderson parody?” And he looked at me, and he goes, “I thought I was going to get away without having to address that.” But somebody’s got to be Simon Cowell and God put me in that role.”
Check out the complete interview at Slam.Canoe.ca.
The following are highlights of a new Digital Spy interview with Alberto Del Rio:
How much do you enjoy a ladder match compared to other matches? “No – I don’t really enjoy them because they’re painful! But it’s part of the game, and in this case, if you want to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion you have to accept the challenge and prepare yourself and your body for a lot of pain on Sunday.”
Roman Reigns is going to be there – what did you think about the break-up of The Shield? “I don’t really think about The Shield, but I can tell you something – Roman Reigns is a great competitor. He’s strong, fast. I would say he is the new rising star for the WWE.
“He’s going to a great competitor that night, but unfortunately he’s going to be in the ring with Alberto Del Rio, so I don’t think he’s going to win the title.”
There’s been a lot of mumbling about the return of Brock Lesnar – if you win on Sunday, how would you feel if Brock goes after you? “We all know who Brock Lesnar is and how dangerous he can be, but he’s no different to any other competitor in WWE.
“All the people, all the wrestlers in WWE are great fighters, great wrestlers, so it doesn’t really matter who you need to face when you’re the champion. That’s the reason someone is the champion… to face everybody in the world.”
It was another Heyman Guy, CM Punk, who took the title from you at Survivor Series in 2011 – do you think he’ll come back to the company any time soon? “Yeah, of course. He’ll be back soon. I don’t know when, but he’ll back.”
A lot of people were recently released from the company including some great guys. You’ve been around a long time now – is it harder than ever to stay successful? “It’s always hard. Wrestling is no different from any other job – you need to bring your best every single day because there’s people behind you trying to take your job. You can see that everywhere, not only in wrestling.
“That’s the reason you have to be in shape all the time, you have to try to bring something different every time you’re in the ring and you need to make yourself and your opponent good every single time, so you can keep up with the game.”
When you one day retire, what do you want the legacy of Alberto Del Rio to be? “Everybody knows I’m a hard worker and they know that regardless of if you like me or not, I’m going to bring the best matches every single night, because I have pride for this business, I love this business.
“It was passed to me by my grandfather and my father. That will be my legacy: somebody who gave everything in the ring every single night.”
Check out the complete interview at DigitalSpy.com.
WWE Superstar Bo Dallas joins the ever-growing list of current talent in the company that has gotten married in recent months.
Dallas’ sister Mika announced the following recently via social media:
“I am blessed, honored, joyed, FREAKING ecstatic to announce Mr and Mrs. Taylor Michael Rotunda! I have a beautiful new sister in law and can’t wait to watch these two shine through life together and take this world by storm!”
WWE has continued sending out various surveys related to the WWE Network in recent weeks. The most recent surveys are focused on those who have six-month subscriptions that are about to expire, where WWE asks them questions intended to gauge their interest in renewing.
The questions included in these surveys ask about their overall experience with the Network, whether they are likely to renew their subscription for another six months and whether or not they have the auto-renewal function set.
Additionally, WWE has been trying to gauge what time of day subscribers traditionally watch the Network in order to find out when the appropriate time would be to launch their potential “SportsCenter” type news program.
As reported recently, Amazon released a SummerSlam DVD pre-order recently, which featured cover artwork that displayed John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar, leading many to assume that Cena would be winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship this Sunday and headlining the event against Lesnar in August.
After it was released, WWE was reportedly none too pleased that the image was made public and it has since been removed from the website.
Shortly after all of this, however, WWE issued a “news slam” in which they once again teased Cena vs. Lesnar, even going as far as to address the leaked pay-per-view poster. The caption on the “news slam” reads as follows:
“We have an early sneak peek at SummerSlam’s poster, which seems to pit John Cena against the man that brought down the streak, Brock Lesnar. August 17 can’t come fast enough!”
It’s worth noting that even though Cena and Lesnar were featured on the SummerSlam DVD cover, it did not list the two as competing in a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
At Thursday night’s Impact Wrestling tapings from the Manhattan Center in New York City, Bully Ray put Dixie Carter through a table.
WWE has announced two more matches for Sunday’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view. Rusev will face Big E an Summer Rae will face Layla, with Fandango as the guest referee. With those matches set, here’s the updated card for MITB 2014:
Ladder Match For The Vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship:
Money In The Bank Ladder Match:
Divas Championship Match:
Paige (c) vs. Naomi
Tag Team Championship Match:
The Usos (c) vs. Harper & Rowan
– Goldust & Stardust vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Rusev vs. Big E
– Summer Rae vs. Layla (Guest Referee: Fandango)
Money In The Bank Kickoff Show:
– Daniel Bryan interview
Join us here this Sunday for our Live Coverage Results of WWE Money in the Bank.
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley published the following on his Facebook this week, explaining why he’s a fan of Hulk Hogan:
WHY MICK LIKES HULK
Yes, I like Hulk Hogan – and here’s why. With each passing year, I think I gain a better perspective on what’s really important in life. There was a time – a period of many years – where Hulk’s name would bring up some negative feelings for me. He was the guy who made far more than I did with a style that was the antithesis of mine.
But for the past several years, whenever I see Hulk Hogan, all I can think of are the words Shane Douglas shared with me about Hulk Hogan and the kindness and warmth with which he showered the kids facing life-threatening challenges, who seemed to find strength and inspiration in Hulk’s larger than life physique and personality. I’ll never forget those words Shane told me, “Those kids would just be beaming.”
Those words are all I think of when I see Hogan, People can take issue with his wrestling style…as they often do with mine. But, when it’s all said and done, Hulk Hogan used that oversized personality, and really big heart to ease so much suffering that he saw around him..
In the bigger picture, does anything else really matter?
Check out these photos of WWE Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins and his girlfriend, Schultz. On her Twitter page, Schultz describes Rollins as, “My best friend, my rock, and my soulmate!”
Here’s a preview for tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown, the “go home” show before Sunday’s Money In The Bank pay-per-view:
– US Champion Sheamus vs. Bray Wyatt (non-title match)
– Roman Reigns vs. Kane
– IC Champion Wade Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose
– Rob Van Dam & Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro & Alberto Del Rio
– Divas Champion Paige vs. Cameron (non-title match)
– Rusev in action
The following are partial TNA Impact Wrestling tapings results from the Manhattan Center in New York City, airing Thursday, August 7th. The rest of the show will be taped on Friday night. Thanks to Tom for the live report:
– Knux and The Freak of The Menagerie vs. Robbie E and Jessie Godderz is up first. The Menagerie gets the win in a long boring tag match, according to our correspondent.
– Dixie Carter and King Mo take a seat on the balcony to watch the next match.
– The eight-man “hardcore war” is next. Tommy Dreamer and Ethan Carter III are the first two out for their teams and they start the match off. Two new wrestlers come in every 2 minutes with a weapon. Devon and Rhino are out next. Snitsky and Bully Ray are out next. Ezekiel Jackson and Al Snow are out next. Snow gets a big pop and a “we want head” chant from the crowd. TNA actually passed out “Heads” to people in the crowd before Snow came out, essentially spoiling it for people in the crowd. Snow actually did a moonsault out of the ring. Team 3D got the win for their team after hitting a 3D on Rhino.
– Bully Ray wants to put Dixie Carter through a table but she won’t come down from the balcony. Fans want to see this too. They tease a fight between Bully and King Mo. Bully promises that he will put Dixie through a table “tonight” on the episode. The ring is cleared and they get ready for another segment.
– King Mo escorts Dixie to the ring. Rhino, Rockstar Spud and EC3 are also there. Apparently Dixie has fired Snitsky and Ezekiel already. They’re interrupted by Dreamer and Team 3D, who bring a table out. A big brawl breaks out but Dixie escapes. The TNA locker room empties out and blocks her from running to the back. They toss her back in the ring and Bully puts her through a table with a Bully Bomb. The crowd popped big time for this. The roster surrounds the six-sided ring on the apron and applauds while Dreamer and 3D are in the ring and Dixie is laid out on the table. Dixie gets stretchered out to end the taping.
The following are TNA Impact Wrestling tapings results from the Manhattan Center in New York City, airing Thursday, July 31st. Thanks to Tom for the live report:
– Kurt Angle cuts a promo from the balcony and puts over TNA’s six-sided ring and the company in general.
– Team Dixie comes out to huge heat. Ezekiel Jackson and Snitsky are wearing the Dixieland t-shirt. Rockstar Spud and Rhino are also there with Dixie Carter. Ethan Carter III cuts a promo and challenges Tommy Dreamer, Devon and Bully Ray to one final battle. Dixie also called out Bully for later tonight.
– The Hardys vs. The Wolves for the TNA Tag Team Titles is up next. Both teams come out to big pops. The Wolves retain after hitting a powerbomb backstabber combo on Matt Hardy. This was said to be an excellent match and the best one for TNA in a long time.
– DJ Zema Ion vs. Manik vs. Low Ki is next. The winner will qualify for an X Division Title match. This is the first of 3 three-ways. Low Ki wins after a Ki Krusher on Manik. Great match.
– James Storm comes out and cuts a promo on Sanada and talks about how they are friends now.
– The next three-way is Sanada vs. Brian Cage vs. Crazzy Steve, who came out with The Menagerie. Sanada qualifies after getting the pin on Steve.
– Tommy Dreamer, Bully Ray and Devon come out to a huge pop. They cut promos and respond to Ethan’s challenge from earlier. Team Dixie comes out on the entrance way and interrupts. An eight-man Extreme Weapons Tag Match is announced for “next week.” Apparently it will be EC3, Rhino, Ezekiel and Snitsky vs. Dreamer, Bully, Devon and a partner.
– Samoa Joe vs. Homicide vs. Tigre Uno is the final three-way. Joe comes out to a big pop as does Homicide. Joe destroyed Tigre and got the pin on Homicide after a Musclebuster. Homicide and Joe followed ROH’s Code of Honor after the match. The vacant X Division Title match will be Joe vs. Low Ki vs. Sanada.
– Austin Aries vs. Bobby Lashley for the World Heavyweight Title is next and is the main event. Aries gets the title shot after giving up his X Division Title “last week.” Lashley retains with a spear after blocking Aries’ finisher.
– Founding member of The Fabulous Freebirds and a longtime WWE executive, Michael Hayes is scheduled to release a new album in the next month or two with new songs on it.
– Daniel Bryan is scheduled to shoot an anti-smoking commercial at some point in the near future.
– The following are some recent WWE attendance figures:
June 20th in Providence, RI drew 8,000 fans
June 21st in Long Island, NY drew 5,000 fans
June 21st in Reading, PA drew 3,000 fans
June 22nd in Philadelphia, PA drew 7,000 fans
June 22nd in Newark, DE drew 2,000 fans
June 23rd in Washington, DC for RAW drew 9,500 fans
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
WWE has been continuing to find ways to make as many budget cuts as possible due to enormous losses expected as part of the WWE Network upstart costs.
Outside of talent and executive cuts that we have reported in the past few weeks, WWE has done away with unnecessary things such as Fandango’s entrance stuff and Bad News Barrett’s giant podium.
It is believed that WWE will continue to make budget cuts wherever they can manage to, including more potential talent cuts and other production cutbacks.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– As things stand right now, WWE Hall Of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart is scheduled to appear on the upcoming WWE RAW show in Montreal on July 7th. If he doesn’t appear on the televised portion of the show, he is scheduled to at least appear at the live event. Hart is also likely to appear at the WWE SmackDown television taping the following night in Ottawa.
– Apparently the WWE website traffic numbers that WWE touted recently are very misleading. WWE is reportedly counting all of their websites combined, as well as WWE App numbers, and that is how they came up with the numbers that they were pushing.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– The latest news regarding Kevin Steen and Prince Devitt is that Steen’s final Ring Of Honor date will be on July 19th, while Devitt is no longer accepting bookings in Europe after the end of July.
– WWE’s “Total Divas” program on E! was recently nominated for “Best Reality Series” in the Teen Choice Awards.
– Kurt Angle will be the next guest on Jim Ross’ “Ross Report” podcast next Tuesday night. The following week, TNA star Bully Ray will join JR on the weekly PodcastOne.com show.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
As we reported recently, WWE Superstar Fernando suffered an injury during a match he was involved in at the WWE live event in Newark, Delaware on June 22nd. The Los Matadores member suffered a severe sprain of his ankle, as well as sprained knee ligaments.
As things stand right now, he is expected to be out of action for three-to-four weeks.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– The current working plan is for Batista to make his WWE return following the release of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” film, which is scheduled to come out on August 1st. This would make an August or September return the most likely plan for “The Animal.”
– There’s a funny story regarding the local coverage of the news that Pat Patterson “came out of the closet” in his hometown of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. TVA Sports and Le Journal, the leading French-language newspaper, covered the story of Patterson’s revelation on Legends House as if it were new news when in fact the same publication, when writing about Darren Young coming out of the closet last year, listed Patterson among the wrestlers who were already openly gay.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
Daniel Bryan is still being advertised locally on television in Canada for WWE live events on July 5th in London, Ontario, July 6th in Toronto, Ontario and July 7th in Kingston, Ontario. He is being promoted as the headline attraction, as a match featuring he and Kane is being advertised as the main event for those shows.
Either this means that WWE didn’t bother to change the advertising, or that he will be back in action by that point. Considering the fact that he was pulled from the advertising for the July 12th event in Madison Square Garden, as well as the upcoming shows in Japan, all of which take place after the aforementioned Canadian loop, it’s likely that WWE simply didn’t bother updating the advertising for the Canadian shows.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
WWE talent is scheduled to receive their WrestleMania XXX pay in the next two weeks. Most of the talent is said to be unsure how the pay is going to be structured, as they don’t know if they will only be paid based on the actual pay-per-view buys, or if WWE Network subscriptions will be taken into account.
If they are paid strictly off of PPV buys, they will be looking at a substantial pay decrease compared to recent years. If the Network is taken into account, they will still be looking at less pay, but nowhere near as much as if they were only to be paid based off of the pay-per-view intake.
Talent is said to be frustrated already due to the fact that their pay from live events is significantly down from last year, so if the WrestleMania payoffs are down quite a bit as well, considering it’s their big annual payoff, there is going to be a lot of unhappy campers in WWE.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
The following are highlights of a recent RVAMag.com interview with Dean Ambrose:
Money In The Bank is this Sunday night and you’re in the traditional match alongside six other wrestlers. What kind of thoughts or reservations do you have going into this match, especially considering ladder match pioneers like Edge and Matt Hardy have been so vocal about the long-term damages from them?
You know, it’s one of those things where a lot is at stake and you might have to take a big risk to get up that ladder. There’s a lot in play. Lots of metal, high heights, and a lot of players in the game. It’s a very unpredictable situation. You just have to go into with no fear and no reservations. You just have to go for it. You got to pick your spots and be smart though. Once you’re in front of that crowd, those lights go up, you see the briefcase hanging, and you feel the adrenaline; all your fears disappear. If you have fears in your head, that’s when you’re going to get hurt. You got to let that stuff leave your head, otherwise it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You can be smart, but just don’t hesitate. It’s like Patrick Swayze said in Point Break. “Fear causes hesitation and hesitation causes your worst fears to come true.”
Now, three weeks ago, Seth Rollins turned on you and judging by the recent TV, it looks like you and Roman Reigns are no longer partnering together. What did you think about the turn and how it was done?
You never know what’s going to happen on Monday Night RAW. You always got to to tune in because anything can happen and the same things goes for us when we show up each Monday night. You never know what’s lurking around the corner or what twist they’re going to throw your way. The cool thing is The Shield never started going on the downslide. We went out at our absolute apex with a clean sweep of Evolution, one of the most decorated and dominate stables of all time. The cool thing to take away is that we did go out on a high point whereas other groups don’t and I take a lot of pride in that. We’re all still three of the best performers in the company and are still always going to carry that mindset and that work ethic and be that symbol of excellence. That becomes part of your psyche and you want to go out there every night, bust your ass, put on the best show possible, and refuse to be out-done by anyone. You’re still going to see that from us. You won’t see us working together in the classic Shield way, but all three of us with all of our egos and aspirations and desire are still going to be on your TV making our way up top. It’s an exciting time for the fans.
With Reigns being booked as WWE’s next big star and Rollins aligned with Triple H, are you worried at all about getting lost in the shuffle like so many other superstars are lately?
Nope.
Pretty confident, huh?
I’ve got confidence for miles and miles every day I wake up. If you know anything about me or anything about my history, if I’m backed into a corner, I will put my head down and swing and bite and scratch and crawl and throw punches until my arms fall off. I get where I want to go whether anyone likes it or not. I’ve made a career and life out of proving people wrong and making people eat their words. I get where I want to go and get what I want. It’s not always a typical storybook because it’s Dean Ambrose – it’s not going to be. It might get ugly and might not always be the prettiest. I might have some scratches and bruises, but I’m going to get to where I want. You know, it can be really easy to listen to people. I’m a guy – I don’t listen to things or to the little things that is. The gossip or comments of public perception. All that matters is the crowd. I know who I am and I know what I do and I know how hard I’ve worked to get here. You never know which way the road is going to turn. I think the top guys wake up every day in the morning and look at themselves and say, “I’m a top guy, I’m a world beater, and no one’s going to stop me from getting what I want.” I do the same and I feel the same and have for a long time.
To finish up, who in the locker room are you closest with?
Roman Reigns. He’s still my best friend, my buddy, and travelling partner. Me and Roman are tight. We’ve had on our differences on TV and we get into each our faces because we’re two alpha males so we’ll butt heads, but that’s why we love each other. We’re brothers and push each other and still got each other’s back. For Roman, he’s a super-charismatic, loveable, soulful guy that can be a beacon for everyone in the locker room which I think is just really good right now.
Check out the complete interview at RVAMag.com.
The following are highlights of a recent Between The Ropes interview with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin:
Which WWE star would have the least difficult time on “The Broken Skull Challenge”: “I think Seth Rollins and Antonio Cesaro might be able to get through the course. But you know, they would have to get through the challenges first and had the competitions and then take on the course. It would be (laughs) very interesting to see Seth Rollins compete against Antonio Cesaro at the Broken Skull Challenge.”
Next mainstream star in WWE: “Whew, that’s a great question. There’s three guys who have big superstars written on them. I think Bray Wyatt is one of them, Cesaro is one of them, but when I got to mention the guy your asking for is Roman Reigns. He happens to be related to The Rock. Good looking kid, damn good worker in the ring, I want to know some more about his promos. But man, if I got to look at the roster right now and say whose my next megastar, his name is Roman Reigns.”
Check out the complete interview at BetweenTheRopes.com.