Some could argue Dean Ambrose has been the most consistently booked member of The Shield ever since they separated in 2014. While that may sound like a positive, it also means The Lunatic Fringe has basically been the exact same character for three years, and familiarity can often breed contempt. When Ambrose was a guest on Stone Cold’s podcast last year, Austin challenged the man who is essentially being booked in a bit of the Rattlesnake’s mold, to take more chances with his character both in and outside of the ring.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Ambrose was a big part of the WWE‘s 2017 Superstar Shake-Up and part of the reason to move the former WWE Champion to Raw could have been an attempt to literally shake up his career. On this week’s Raw, The Miz seemed to work a lot of the rumored complaints about Ambrose into his promo with the Intercontinental Champion. At first, this seemed par for the course for the former Real World star, who became a master at working reality into his WWE storylines with John Cena and Daniel Bryan over the past six months.
It now appears there is more to the cutting promo than just The Miz trying to get heat as Pro Wrestling Observer‘s Dave Meltzer noted this week that when some statements make it into a promo, it is because somebody higher up feels that there is truth in those words. He would continue to say that these arguments about complacency are coming straight from WWE’s management. Miz’s promo managed to get a ton of heat while also connecting with the subsection of fans who had higher expectations for Ambrose’s post-Shield career.
Blurring the lines of kayfabe, The A-Lister also pointed out that even with all the support that Ambrose receives from the company, he still hasn’t been able to accomplish much of anything–specifically pointing out how Ambrose was bumped down to the WrestleMania 33 pre-show.
With Ambrose now sharing the Monday Night spotlight with his former Shield members, he’ll need to either take his current persona to a new level if he hopes to jump the babyface line to get back to the top of the card. A more likely scenario may see Ambrose finally turning heel and channelling the sadistic edge he brought to the company from the independent wrestling scene as Jon Moxley.
Has the Lunatic stalled out? Let us know how you feel about Dean Ambrose’s place in the company.
MORE WWE:
Update On Rusev And Lana WWE Breakup
Former Diva Returning To The WWE
The Real Reason Stone Cold Wasn’t At WrestleMania
Listen to the Over The Ropes podcast
