Dean Ambrose leaving WWE?

[jmt225]

I'm very conflicted about my feelings towards Ambrose.

On one hand, I used to be a pretty big fan of his. When he was Jon Moxley on the independent scene, I thought he was terrific and one of the best pro wrestlers in the World charisma/promo wise. Then in the Shield, I thought he played his role perfectly and once they broke up, he had a tremendous feud with Rollins and I was impressed how he consistently remained one of the most over babyfaces in the company.

Then he became WWE Champion on Smackdown and I just didn't think he was living up to his potential. During that run, he had an abysmal appearance on Steve Austin's podcast and not long after, dropped the belt and got injured.

Since coming back from injury, Dean has been absolutely atrocious and one of the worst things about WWE programming. If he wants to say it was all because of the writing, I'm willing to take his word for it and see how he does someplace else, whether it's in AEW or Impact.

So I'm going to give Dean one more chance and keep an open mind whenever I see him again on another platform. Good for him to stand up for himself like this, and I truly hope it works out. If it doesn't though, then it just goes to show that HE was the problem all along, not WWE.

[smarkmouth]

From wwe.com; Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) will not be renewing his contract with WWE when it expires in April.

We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE.
The source of this certainly muddies the waters. If this is a work, then it's a work. If it's not, then this article is a point of no return for Dean now.

Also, any fan who chants Dean at Renee Young can pick off in advance.

[Yaz]

The only time I ever enjoyed Ambrose was when he was doing the hokey shit he claims to hate. He won't be missed on the roster, as he is currently in a place where he can easily be replaced. I know WWE had some missteps with him, mostly the recent heel turn that become "Well I won't wrestle in [insert city] because you all smell bad." His matches always felt lazy and repetitive and he never felt truly unhinged or insane. He just occasionally did an elbow drop on a standing opponent. Or that good ol Wacky Line clothesline.

[FunKay]

Then he became WWE Champion on Smackdown and I just didn't think he was living up to his potential. During that run, he had an abysmal appearance on Steve Austin's podcast and not long after, dropped the belt and got injured.

This was about the time I turned the corner on Ambrose.

He was the most over babyface on the roster at this point, something that had organically developed over time, had people invested, and finally had the company invested in him too as champion. Then there was this appearance on Austin's podcast and it was so painfully underwhelming. I remember Austin trying to put over how good a promo he was and then asking Ambrose to demonstrate this live, and he just flopped. You could just tell Austin was really disappointed and gave him a hard time the rest of the show.

This then seemed to creep into his on-screen performances as he was horrendously overshadowed, at first at SummerSlam where he worked a perfectly servicable but wholly underwhelming programme with Dolph bleedin' Ziggler of all people for the WWE title, and then week by week by AJ Styles. It was so obvious Styles was leagues above Ambrose at this point, and having him beat Cena while Ambrose was slumming it with Dolph never put the results of their encounters in doubt. Personally I was a fan of their storyline that involved James Ellsworth (it had continuity, logic and was genuinely funny... for the most part), but based on this report, it sounds like something Ambrose would detest.

I think its maybe one of those perfect storm situations. When Ambrose was treated seriously, larger forces undercut him: Project Roman, the brand extension, the SHIELD reunion's, Lesnar's indfference to their match at Mania, Lesnar's stranglehold over the Universal title etc... So the default position was to make his character "quirky" rather than unhinged, because whne he was treated seriously, he "failed" - hence the germaphobe stuff when he frankly should've been a nasty evil bastard. Its a shame, because that character had legs, especially with the vacancy of Lesnar on the majority of shows. Alas, it isn't meant to be.

I won't shed any tears, and I look forward to seeing what he does outside the WWE framework.

[BaconBits]

I don’t think Dean has the natural charisma to be much more than he ever was at WWE. The podcast appearance kinda proved that.

Also, he was effectively a death match guy whose promos relied on swearing before coming to WWE, so what he considers to be not hokey probably isn’t going to line up with the WWE’s current product.

[Yaz]

I don’t think Dean has the natural charisma to be much more than he ever was at WWE. The podcast appearance kinda proved that.

Also, he was effectively a death match guy whose promos relied on swearing before coming to WWE, so what he considers to be not hokey probably isn’t going to line up with the WWE’s current product.

This isn't far from the truth in my experience. He could wrestle a serviceable match and by no means were his indie promos bad, but everything that made him a hot commodity was stuff that WWE would not let fly. The swearing, the over the top violence, the excessive blood. That all has a place, we've seen ECW and CZW and Big Japan carve out niches in the wrestling world by offering that, but those places were never going to be mainstream, and that is what WWE is.

It doesn't help that he is very private and reserved. I'm not saying that's bad, wanting your privacy and alone time is fine. He was never going to be a big time star like a Cena or Roman when he was so reclusive and not a fan of media appearances and such.

There is a rumor going around that the situation with Nia Monday night was the last straw for him. He didn't appreciate them having Nia interrupt him and then hit him from behind. Kind of a penis move on his part if true.

[Miko]

Never got Dean Ambrose anyway, the jacket, chewing the gum, the attitude, bad punches, looking like just about anyone on the roster would wipe him out in a fight. A bit like Mr. Kennedy, who was shite