2017 WWE Superstar Shake-Up Ranked - From Worst To Best
7. Dean Ambrose
Is Dean Ambrose in a better position now than he was in 12 months ago? It is difficult to argue in favour of that. Ambrose was initially the big winner of the brand split - he went from being a guy struggling to establish himself as a main event man to a genuine champion. The first few months of post-draft SmackDown were marked by Dean Ambrose becoming a major, major player.
One year later, The Lunatic Fringe is back in The Shield. Times have changed in that faction however. The first time around, Ambrose was the big singles star in waiting. In 2017, Ambrose comes across as the gooseberry in a three-man team.
The move to RAW was far from catastrophic for Ambrose, but it did him no favours whatsoever. He went from being a top babyface to another guy in the packed upper-midcard. Sure, he was saved the indignity of losing to Jinder Mahal, but the good work of those first few brand split months went to the dogs in April 2017.