3. Dean Ambrose: Wasted Opportunity
There was a point last year that it looked like Dean Ambrose was poised to be the surprise breakout star from the Shield post-breakup. When Roman Reigns went down with a hernia, Ambrose stepped into the limelight and started getting massive reactions from fans. So how did WWE react to this potential star-making opportunity? They proceeded to job out Ambrose at every turn, having him lose to a hologram (Hell in a Cell) an exploding monitor (TLC) and just about any other method imaginable. At Fastlane, Ambrose found himself in an Intercontinental Championship match against Bad News Barrett which he got by forcefully forging Barretts signature and lost after getting himself disqualified. Thats the second time Ambrose has lost a PPV match by DQ in three months. Ambrose has gone from a potential mega-star to being unable to win a midcard title from Barrett, who has lost nearly every non-title match hes had and is apparently afraid to put his title on the line. Somehow, this isnt reminiscent of Steve Austin and the Rock feuding over the IC title. How is any of this going to make fans rally around Ambrose? Spoiler alert: Its not.
Scott Carlson
Contributor
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.
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