I keep my inner circle of people very small and tight, and I like to relax if I get a chance.
Dean Ambrose
I'm much more comfortable being hated than being beloved.
Being a nocturnal creature myself, I often find myself in dark alleys or strange places late at night. If there were werewolves around, I'd be likely to run into them, being the night owl that I am.
The calmest part of my day is right before a match.
I want my performance to be at the highest level of anybody in the company. I want to make everybody step up to me.
People can see through crap pretty easily. Just go out there and be comfortable. Be you. Be authentic.
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.
A lot of guys come out, and they do the exact same thing, are in the exact same mood, and have the exact same entrance every night, I really just make up a lot of crap as I go along.
I had a hard time going to school. I probably wasn't the most pleasant young person to be around. I kept a very tight circle of trusted people.
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.
The first time that somebody handed me a sheet of paper with a promo on it, it was like a 'throw up in your mouth' kind of moment. And it's not, like, their fault, you know? It's not the writers' fault. But if was my world, there would be no written promos; there'd be no scripts.
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 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.
Threats mean nothing to me.
'Terminator' is one of my favorite movies.
A crowd urging you on to do well can be very encouraging. It's very fun. It can be a really cool feeling.
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.'
I put in the same hours to get good at this as a surgeon who went to college. It's just a much less important job in the realm of society.
You have to take a certain pride in your work.
I don't look any further than what's right in front of me.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 had always previously really fed off of negativity and enjoyed being the guy who everybody hated.
I have no fear of anybody or anything happening to me in WWE because nothing can be as bad as some of the injuries I went through and some of the grotesque things that have happened to my body.
There is a noticeable difference from a crowd surging against you and a crowd surging with you.
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.
The history of the business is very fascinating to me.
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.'
WWE is like showbiz boot camp.
Brock Lesnar likes to get his rest time, you know what I'm saying?
I like wrestling 30 minutes a night.
While it's cool to think ghosts exist, I don't want to see one.
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.
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.
A lot of people say, 'It takes a lot to beat him,' or whatever. I'm trying to show you in the most literal terms, my body is indestructible, whether its glass or fire or barbed wire.
I love adrenaline. I like senseless violence.
I never pictured myself being liked by anybody.
I wasn't 'gifted' in the way that Brock Lesnar or Roman Reigns or somebody like that is gifted, in that they got the physical attributes and so forth.
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.
I'll fight anyone for enough money. Give me half a million dollars.
Once you get within a few weeks of the show and it becomes WrestleMania season, the energy starts picking up, and the energy feels different. You can feel it in the air, and every show means a little bit more, and everything is a little more focused and directed. Everything's directing toward that day of WrestleMania.
It's all so surreal seeing yourself in a video game.
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 don't go out there and put on any sort of front for people. If I'm in a good mood, I appear in a good mood on TV, and if I'm in a bad mood, I just go out there and look like I'm in a bad mood.
When you're going in there with Brock Lesnar, you can't have anything else on your mind.
I could totally see myself limping down the aisle when I'm 60, jumping off the top rope and breaking my hip. I could be a hilarious geriatric wrestler.
