9 Times WWE Killed A Popular Star In Less Than 60 Days
4. Dean Ambrose
Out of all three members of The Shield, it was Dean Ambrose who was originally feted as a megastar in the making when all three were still in the FCW/NXT developmental system. CM Punk raved about him, as did Mick Foley. At one point, Ambrose had set up a feud between himself and Foley that made the papers for a short time. Nothing ever came of it, and then he, Reigns and Rollins were called up to form a paramilitary heel stable. The rest is history.
Or it would be, if The Shield’s subsequent split hadn’t left him completely out to dry. While Rollins was earmarked to be one of the central figures on Monday Night RAW, and Reigns was carefully (yet incompetently) groomed for the main event, Ambrose was lucky to have anything at all.
Because he was the Lunatic Fringe, a wild and crazy guy, the powers that be seemed to decide that it didn't matter if Ambrose won or lost. Unfortunately for Dean, it tended to be the latter. He came out the loser in pretty much every major feud post-The Shield's split, as his popularity gradually waned in the face of his dreadfully 'zany' antics. Brian Pillman he was not.
In an attempt to rehabilitate Ambrose, he was suddenly elevated to the very top rung in 2016, winning Seth Rollins WWE title at Money in the Bank. His run was insipid to say the least. It took a major injury - and huge spell on the sidelines - for fans to finally get back on board with Ambrose, who returned a totally different, notably less 'wacky' person.