Podcast One presents the Steve Austin Show Classics.

Joining me today, the lunatic fringe, W.W.E. World champion. Dean Ambrose,

Dean, how are you? I'm good, man. I couldn't be doing any better. Rocking the tapout gear.

Before we came on live, we was talking pickup trucks in country music. I didn't expect that out of you. So why is that? I don't know. I was thinking maybe grunge era, thinking music influences, I didn't think country. I like grunge music. I'm from that era. I'm from the 90s. I like a little bit of everything music-wise, you know. I don't like genre specifically. I think there's good music. There's good country music, bad country music.

Good rock. I like a little bit of everything music-wise, you know. I don't like a genre specifically. I think

there's good music. There's good country music, bad country music. Good rock music, bad rock music.

I really like, I like old country, like I was saying. I like Waylon, Merle, you know, the old

stuff, you know, keep it on Willie's Roadhouse, Channel 59 on XM, or Outlaw Country, you know. I like the old stuff, you know. You heard something like the newer country? They got on, like... Dude, does it selects you that I will... Dude, if you turn on a regular radio station now? I'm not mentioning the names. I know. That's why I'm kind of stuck in my world. I kind of dig what I dig. I use the Pandora Radio. I won't drop my name, but I want to take you back. You're talking about the old days of country music. Let's talk about your early days growing up, because what was it like for a kid like you, Dean Ambrose, coming from the main streets of Cincinnati, Ohio? What was life like in your formative years? I'm from, like I said, I'm from Cincinnati. The Nasty Natty, yo. Also, the home of Brian Pilman, my old tag team part. True, true. And Jerry Springer, but you didn't know that one. Yeah. So me, Pilman, Jerry Springer, that's what Cincinnati is giving you. And that common electrow maybe. They have to check on that one. But, uh, about growing up. Yeah. So, uh, my mom worked, we lived in an apartment, a little apartment. My mom worked overnight. So like she'd be gone from like 11 to night till, like, 7 in the morning, whatever.

And my dad had, he lived out of the state.

So me and my sister kind of would just kind of have the, we kind of learn to figure out

for ourselves.

You know, my mom will come home and sleep all day, which I think I kind of gained kind of my

wandering kind of spirit, maybe, because me and my

sister just kind of figured out how to do stuff on her own, how to make macaroni and cheese or

whatever on her own. We just kind of wandered the streets, you know, learned things, met people,

did a thing, and just kind of, you know, me and my sister just kind of figured out for ourselves, and we became very, very independent. And, you know, I, I really love that I was, like, I really love that kind of upbringing for myself, you know, created me into the person that I am, you know, it just kind of. But what kind of, what kind of relationship did you have with your father? Was you living out of state, working out of state?

He worked out of state for his job.

My parents divorced when I was pretty young.

But they both, my dad works in a factory.

My mom, actually, my mom was able to just quit a job at a factory.

I'd been trying to get her to quit it for a little while

since I started having a little more of a run here. And that's probably the greatest, greatest accomplishment I've had in wrestling just because I've been able to, you know, do pretty well for myself. My mom's worked in this factory for 13 years, 12 plus hours a day, like, you know, in a hot, sweaty factor or whatever. And I was able to just be like, Mom, would you just quit your job already? And I was able to pay her house off and so she could quit her job. And it was probably the best accomplishment I can say that I've had in wrestling, you know. But would you say that you had a happy childhood? Yeah, I really would. You wouldn't expect that? No, I just read public housing.

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