10 Things I Hate About WWE Champion Dean Ambrose
6. He’s Become Complacent On The Stick
I’ve said something similar about CM Punk back in the day: they’re so naturally talented on the mic, so into the characters they’re playing, that they can improvise bullet points in a live promo almost without trying.
Almost. Like Punk before him, Ambrose’ innate ability to talk has made him overconfident. These days, for every scorching, intense promo he delivers there’s a long-winded fudge-job where he loses track part-way through and grins and sleazes his way through the rest. Most recently, in the build-up to SummerSlam, the effort going into promotion of the WWE World Championship match was almost all Ziggler.
His recent podcast interview with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin was infamous for its awkwardness, Ambrose seemingly feeling no need to provide any entertainment value as Austin’s special guest, despite representing the company with its top title, the belt itself sitting on the desk right in front of him. He was so casually indifferent that analysts referred to his performance in the interview as ‘the Lunatic Cringe’.
When he’s not motivated or prepared, Ambrose has become lax, prone to repetition, stumbling over himself on the stick with that rambling, lazy drawl of his. It’s not nearly as cool when he’s not saying anything worthwhile.
Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you don’t need to keep putting the effort in.