Dean Ambrose has one of the more fruitful relationships with the WWE Universe. So the news of his upcoming departure has left much of the wrestling world scratching their heads — and that includes Dolph Ziggler.
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During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Ziggler discussed the Ambrose story but admits that he never saw signs of the Lunatic Fringe wanting to leave.
“I think he heard about my hiatus and he was just trying to one-up me, that’s what it sounds like. No, that’s very surprising to me. I don’t know too many people who are too close to him to have any insight and I really wouldn’t wanna guess anything.
I didn’t see that one coming. I thought that guy was always going to have something going on with WWE. He’s always in a prominent role doing something great. He seems beloved by the fans. He’s just trying to move on and do some other stuff and I understand,” he said.
Ziggler went on to say that he and Ambrose were friendly, but not exactly close – a status that many within WWE seem to share.
After early reports of Ambrose seeking an exit from WWE, the wrestling conglomerate confirmed the rumors with the following statement.
“Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) will not be renewing his contract with WWE when it expires in April. We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE,” wrote WWE in a statement to Wrestling Inc.
PWTorch was the first to write an “Ambrose Is Leaving” story and their scoop asserted that the former WWE Champion was perpetually frustrated by WWE’s creative process. Ambrose reportedly turned down a handsome contract extension in favor of walking out of the company. Right now, all we know is that he’ll be gone sometime in April.
However, we could be done seeing him on WWE programming altogether. While it looks like he’ll be around for WrestleMania, WWE may have zero interest in building a story around a lame duck. Per PWTorch, Ambrose may be in the early stages of being phased out as he had a quick Royal Rumble elimination and ate a clean loss to Seth Rollins on Raw.
It’s worth noting that on Monday, Ambrose did hint at a potential feud with Triple H and Nia Jax. Those interactions lend themselves to speculation that Ambrose’s departure could be a “work” but for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.
[H/T Ringside News]
