Dean Ambrose Reveals How Crazy His Fans Can Get
As previously noted, Dean Ambrose was a guest on The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast and he had plenty to talk about in his discussion with WWE's Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins. To start, Ambrose explained how he's beginning to embrace his full first name, Jonathan.
"I've been John most of my whole life because people just – it's easier," Ambrose said. "When I was a little kid, people just – 'My name's Jonathan.' They just go, 'John!' So I just got used to it. Now that I'm getting older and a little more grizzled, what's the word? Like a Tom Selleck. Now that I'm getting a little bit older, I'm embracing going by Jonathan. I'm gonna start wearing, like, brown dress shoes and calling myself Jonathan."
Ambrose then mentioned how he doesn't have any issues with signing autographs for hours on end when it's at a designated, scheduled event. He does, however, dislike when people force autographs on him in inappropriate settings, or when they force their kid to try and guilt him in to signing items.
"So I'm always first introduced to this stuff by signing [action figures] at signing events...I'm all about fans, I've got all the time in the world for fans," Ambrose said. "I've done every appearance and signing that lasts 3 hours, I always wait until everybody's done, no matter how long it takes. When being a babyface, I always stay out there and sign all the autographs at the end of the show every single night. It takes an extra twenty minutes. But, some of these people ruin it for everybody. Come to a signing! I'll sign all your sh– at a signing. One of the worst is when they send the kid. You see them over there and the kid just walks up, 'Can you sign this?' And you can't say no to a kid."
Ambrose recalled a strange occurrence that happened with some fans at an airport in Newark. After changing his flight to visit Renee Young and booking it with a travel company completely unrelated to WWE, Ambrose was surprised to find a huddle of fans waiting for him when his flight reached the airport.
"One time, when I was first dating my now-wife, she lived in New York and sometimes, on the day off, we'd spend some time at her house, some time at my house depending on where in the country we were," Ambrose explained. "So one time, I change my flight to go to New York. I didn't change it, I bought a new prime flight completely unrelated to the company travel. And when I landed in Newark, as soon as I got to the gate, there were like ten people there with all this Dean Ambrose stuff for me to sign. And for a second, I just woke up from the plane and I'm like, do I have a show today? What's going on? I thought I was going home?
"And I sign all their stuff and then I'm sitting in baggage claim, and I'm like, how do they know I was gonna be here?" Ambrose continued. "It was an autonomous decision by myself to buy my own new flight. How did they know? Because you hear there's leaks in the travel department, but I just did this on my own, so they have leaks in the airlines! And then this dude came up to me in baggage claim with some stuff, and he's like, 'Hey dude, I'm not trying to bother you dude, I'll give you $50 to sign these few things. I went, 'Keep your money, I'll sign these things for you but tell me how you knew I was here.' And he goes, 'Oh dude, we got like a whole system. Dude, we got a whole system and we got people everywhere.'"
In contrast to that experience, Ambrose described Hidalgo, Texas as having a more "pure" form of appreciation for the wrestlers that fly in to town.
"When we go to this one particular town in Texas, right on the border of Mexico, Hidalgo, when we land in this tiny little airport, it's like The Beatles just landed," Ambrose said. "The whole town comes and they're not collectors, they're just really passionate fans. It's one of our best crowds and you gotta take the time for them. It's pure. You gotta step back and be like, 'Alright, I'm living the dream right now.'"
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.