Dean Ambrose

'Terminator' is one of my favorite movies.

It's not like I'm not constantly dealing with a litany of injuries that I have myself. If it's not one thing, it's another thing, but I've just been able to keep rolling.

I keep myself flexible; I just compete at my normal body weight.

In the back of my mind. I always knew WWE was where I should be and where I would end up. Or where I could end up. Where I deep-down wanted to end up.

I may not be the biggest guy in the world or strongest guy in the world. I don't have those gifts. But I will take more punishment, and I'm willing to withstand more abuse.

I always take pride in the fact that nobody can mess with me, and I never let anybody mess with me my entire life.

The history of the business is very fascinating to me.

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.

I keep my inner circle of people very small and tight, and I like to relax if I get a chance.

I'm really into rock climbing and hiking and stuff.

There is no creative process to come up with a character of Dean Ambrose.

I kind of miss that whole NXT thing. When I was there, it was Florida Championship Wrestling with Seth Rollins and the other guys who were there. I wrestled on, like, local-access Florida TV in front of 30 people. It was a tiny little situation.

It's all so surreal seeing yourself in a video game.

When you're going in there with Brock Lesnar, you can't have anything else on your mind.

I just go out there and be myself and turn up the voltage a little bit for entertainment value.

The thing is that, not only do you learn so much about being in front of a camera and stuff being on 'Monday Night RAW,' but at the same time, I'm not really acting on 'Monday Night RAW.'

It's such a high-pressure form of live entertainment that I found, once I got out there, being on a movie set isn't that different from being on 'Monday Night RAW.' It's all stuff that I was prepared for.

I said, 'What I'm going to do is dress as plain as humanly possible.' I'm not going to wear anything fancy, I'm not going to have fancy music, I'm not going to have fancy pyro - I'm literally just going to be a dude walking into the ring. I'm going to look like I just got off work from a construction site, and I am now punching you in the face.

It is hard for me to understand I am on television and people around the world watch me every week in a country I have never even been to.

To be in an Intercontinental title match at WrestleMania, that is the stuff dreams are made of.

I'm doing some more dangerous stuff on a weekly basis than professional stunt men are doing.

WWE is like showbiz boot camp.

If I got hit by a bus tomorrow, I get to say I was in a movie.

You'll find that all WWE performers, when they go on to any television show or set of any kind, we're more prepared that we get credit for. We don't get enough credit.

Where a new guy may only know one or two ways to do something, I know all of the moves, and I've forgotten more stuff than the newer guys might even know.

I'd rather have too many weird fans than no fans at all.

I want my performance to be at the highest level of anybody in the company. I want to make everybody step up to me.

WWE prepares you for so much other stuff in entertainment.

From day one, The Shield was a vehicle. It wasn't, 'This is what we're doing for the rest of our lives.' It was, 'This is the vehicle we'll use to bust into WWE, to ride to the top of it, and then we fight each other.' That was always the plan.

I was pretty happy with what we were able to do on 'SmackDown.' It was one of the best, most fun runs of my career because it was essentially a new show.

I hate ladders. I don't mind heights, but I hate getting hit with ladders and falling into ladders. Anything where there are ladders involved or inanimate, unpredictable objects or multiple people gets dangerous.

You have these magical moments in these live events that are never captured on film and that only live on in your memory. Those are always my favorite.

I love adrenaline. I like senseless violence.

I can't remember a time when wrestling wasn't my thing that I watched. As far back as my memory goes, I was already obsessed with wrestling.

If you're a wrestling fan, and you watch it on TV, that's great, but there's nothing quite like being there live.

The calmest part of my day is right before a match.

I listen to some Hank Williams before I go out. I tell some jokes. I have fun. I don't waste too much energy thinking about it - I like to save that all for the ring.

I've been around in WWE for quite a while now and before that had - even in Florida - I've been all around the world and seen every type of style in opponent; the way I was trained and stuff, I got a lot more tricks up my sleeve.

No one really has any idea about me. To me, what I give you is what happens onscreen, and past that, anything you're coming up with in your own head, you're creating in your own mind.

As far as social media and all that, I understand connecting with fans on a different level, but I don't feel the need to open myself up to the opinion of everybody in the world with a phone or computer. I just don't get that, being connected to everybody on such a superficial level like that. It's not really for me.

I probably don't have any more of a bigger following on the Internet than anybody else does - I just probably have a stranger one.

There's a lot of guys in WWE - you would know who they are - you know you're going to see the same thing every single match. You know you're going to hear the same thing every time they pick up a microphone. You know John Cena is never going to get mad at you no matter what you do.

You're always going to get comparisons. Everybody comes out and says, 'He's the next so and so,' or, 'He reminds me of so and so.' I have so many influences and stuff in my brain, who knows what's going to pop in and come out.

I don't really try to pattern myself after any particular person. I pretty much make it up as I go along.

Having that main event load to carry is very comfortable for me. Anything less is uncomfortable.

I've always fed off negativity and wanting people to hate me. That attitude really fueled me for my entire career. So being a guy that people like and want to cheer for is the weird part.

I never pictured myself being liked by anybody.

I'm trying all kinds of crazy stuff at house shows just for my own amusement and to see what the people are gonna do.

I like to fly close to the edge. I like to play with fire.

I don't know if I would ever sleep well again if I actually saw a ghost. If they exist, that's fine. I just don't want to see one.