6 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (August 21)

4. Ambrose Changes Things Up

dean ambrose dolph ziggler
WWE.com

Memo to WWE: If this is the new and improved Dean Ambrose, then the announcers should completely ditch the Lunatic Fringe motif in their comments.

Ambrose returned to action for the first time in 2018 on Monday night, defeating Dolph Ziggler in a match that was more about showcasing the former world champion than to be a wrestling clinic. When he returned last week, it was obvious that Dean has bulked up a good amount, and he wasted little time in putting it to good use.

The match seemingly focused on Ambrose’s increased mass, as he caught Ziggler and hit a fallaway slam, and even caught a Dolph jumping DDT and turned it into a Dirty Deeds for the win. Throughout the match, the announcers kept referencing that Dean clearly had been hitting the gym during his rehab, so that only added to the focus on his new style.

Gone were the crazed mannerisms and goofy selling. There’s no guarantee that this is a complete and permanent change, but it was good to see someone return from injury and be somewhat different in the ring rather than the same guy when he left.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.