10 Wrestlers Who Suffered From The Curse Of Comparison
7. Dean Ambrose - Stone Cold Steve Austin
Dean Ambrose, the character, was by no means a failure. He succeeded as a member of The Shield and became a solo Triple Crown Champion. Yet one key characteristic left Ambrose lagging behind his stablemates - his ‘Lunatic Fringe’ persona.
The solo gimmick drew instant comparisons to Stone Cold Steve Austin. In hindsight, it was set up to fail at conception. Regardless of talent, no performer competing in WWE’s PG Era could capture the magic of The Texas Rattlesnake’. Austin was the antithesis of family friendly, or even just friendly, whereas Ambrose was forced to play up his craziness for laughs as a goofball closer to Al Snow than ‘Austin 3:16’. Of course, Austin did comedy, but he did so with a wild-eyed intensity that kept fans on the edge of their seats, knowing he could explode at any second.
Ambrose found the cure for his wrestling woes with a jump to AEW. Somewhat ironically, as Jon Moxley he is closer to the Stone Cold character now he has escaped Austin’s old stomping ground. Imbued with creative freedom, Moxley has been able to make the anti-authoritarian outlaw archetype his own.