The Problem With WWE's 'Chosen One'

Jon Moxley - or, Dean Ambrose - was where this article started and it's where it'll end, because no one man has made clearer the fatal flaws in the WWE creative machine.

At most points during his solo run, 'The Lunatic Fringe' was far closer to the second part of his nickname than the first, and not because his hair still ran past his eyes. Ambrose was perpetually a fringe player in main event terms, not least because the only time he approached being a "lunatic" was when his violence was reduced to rotten comedy.

That's to say he couldn't have cracked the main event. His 18 months since leaving the company has provided ample evidence, including yet another pay-per-view headliner at All Elite Wrestling's Full Gear. He'll almost definitely go on last at February's Revolution too, buoyed by solid-to-strong numbers for his television quarter hours, title defences and prior supercard appearances.

It almost definitely wasn't that WWE didn't see all that lurking beneath, but quite possibly that it was more that they didn't give much of a sh*t either way. In a Universe where the results are predetermined, the pushes are too. As a wrestler it must be soul-destroying. Decades of ratings decline suggests that it's much the same for fans too, and that's the biggest problem of all. If there's one thing worse than Vince McMahon forever inadvertently using the shovel on his top babyfaces, it's when he takes it to bury his head in the sand.