Along with Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose has been a major thorn in The Authority's side since The Shield's demise last June; he spent the better part of 2014 feuding with Seth Rollins, but always fell short of defeating his former friend thanks to The Authority and their constant interference. He then shifted his focus away from the villainous faction for the final few months of the year as he feuded with Bray Wyatt, but unfortunately came up short against Wyatt in each of their encounters. Following the conclusion of their feud, he announced his intentions to take part the 2015 Royal Rumble. On the January 12 edition of Raw, The Authority made The Lunatic Fringe suffer the consequences of his recent actions by assigning him a therapist which ultimately led nowhere, later teaming with Daniel Bryan and Reigns that Thursday night on SmackDown to defeat The Authority in six-man tag team action. Aside from a win over Bad News Barrett this week on Raw, Ambrose has been down on his luck lately; that said, it'd fitting for him to overcome the odds and shock the world by winning the Rumble, but only after entering from the No. 1 spot. His anti-authority persona makes him a likely target of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon's tomfoolery, hence why him kicking off the bout wouldn't be completely out of the question.