12 Wrestlers Without Direction For WrestleMania 33

9. Dean Ambrose

dean ambrose xavier woods
WWE.com

It was the best and worst of times for Dean Ambrose in 2016.

After surviving a morale-crushing WrestleMania annihilation from Brock Lesnar, he rebounded hugely to cash in Money In The Bank and become the first WWE Champion of the post-Draft era, headlining the initial weeks of Smackdown Live as their Number One draft pick.

However, following an awkward performance on a live Steve Austin podcast for the WWE Network, the wheels completely came off, and after dropping the title to AJ Styles at September's 'Backlash' show, he spent the remainder of the year floundering in comedy segments with James Ellsworth while half-heartedly chasing his lost gold.

As 2017 arrived, Ambrose's relegation was confirmed as he was selected to take the Intercontinental Title from The Miz, more to shift 'The A-Lister' up the card rather than as a reward for the winner.

An unlikely option in the WWE Title 'Elimination Chamber' Pay-Per-View main event, Ambrose will almost certainly walk in to WrestleMania with his secondary title, which if previous years are anything to learn from, means he will yet again painfully lumber through a ladder stunt show that will already be forgotten before the end of the night.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett