Last October, ahead of the Hell in a Cell match against Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose was the hottest wrestler on the planet. Hotter than John Cena, hotter than Randy Orton, hotter than any other star Vince McMahon was promoting at the time. He was wild, crazy and unpredictable. Dubbed "the Lunatic Fringe" by commentator Michael Cole, he was the antihero the fans had eagerly anticipated since the dying days of the Attitude Era. And did WWE capitalize on it? Instead, Ambrose fell into a feud with Bray Wyatt that left him looking like an over-the-top cartoon character, a Wile E. Coyote to Wyatt's Road Runner. following the exploding television fiasco. Since then, he has been wasted in the midcard, lost in the shuffle without anything interesting to do. He played hot potato with the intercontinental championship, wrestling some excellent matches with Daniel Bryan, Bad News Barrett and even Stardust in the lead up to WrestleMania XXXI. Yet, despite drawing one of the biggest pops of the night at the Showcase of the Immortals, he appears poised for more midcard mediocrity in the form of a rivalry with Luke Harper, another outstanding wrestler in a similar position. Dean Ambrose is a star who should be mixing it up with former Shield members Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins rather than making little impact in the midcard. The antithesis of the cookie cutter characters elsewhere on the card, and particularly in the main event scene, the Lunatic Fringe could be just the injection of adrenaline that WWE programming so desperately needs.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
