Dean Ambrose Is Leaving WWE: How Did We Get Here?

WWE announced that Dean Ambrose won’t re-sign when his contract expires in April, leaving us wondering how it got to this point.

Throughout the history of professional wrestling, the career trajectory of a wrestler often comes down to one booking decision, or even one moment. Shawn Michaels turning on Marty Jannetty, Mark Callaway debuting as Undertaker, Glenn Jacobs debuting as Kane, Keiichi Yamada debuting as Jushin Liger, Austin 3:16, Becky Lynch turning on Charlotte Flair, and Kenny Omega winning the 2016 G1 Climax are a few examples of how a career can change in a good way from one decision.

Others decisions have not gone as well for performers, such as pairing Cesaro with Paul Heyman, Bray Wyatt losing to John Cena at WWE WrestleMania 30, Damien Sandow losing his Money in the Bank cash in match, and every horrendous gimmick wrestlers have turned up in over the years, from Braun the Leprechaun to Kerwin White and the Yeti. Decisions such as these are not always bad for a company’s bottom line, but they kill momentum that a wrestler may be gaining.

In the wrestling business, momentum is everything. When someone starts to get hot, whether it be for an original gimmick such as Rusev Day, from being underrated like Daniel Bryan, or from killer booking itself such as with Batista in 2005, the natural thought is what will the conclusion be? Will this momentum lead to a championship win and more, like Becky Lynch, or will it lead to being thrown off a stage in a wheelchair and seeing a love interest leave you, like Zack Ryder? Once momentum is lost, it is almost impossible to be brought back. And when it is killed by a booking decision, there can be consequences for both the wrestler and the promotion in question.

Which brings us to Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good). On Tuesday, following a report from PWTorch’s Wade Keller regarding his expiring contract and his future in WWE, the company released a statement confirming his departure following WrestleMania 35.

Ambrose’s fall was sudden, and as of a month ago, completely unfathomable, as he was in the midst of a heel run against the company’s hottest star, Seth Rollins. At TLC on December 16, Ambrose won the Intercontinental (IC) title from Rollins, and on the surface, cemented his place as the company’s top heel following his shocking betrayal of Rollins on the night their Shield brother Roman Reigns announced the return of his leukemia and relinquished the Universal title.

Ambrose’s Road To The Turn

However, things were not so simple for Ambrose. He was riding high in 2016, after winning the WWE championship from Rollins at Money in the Bank after cashing in the briefcase he had won earlier in the night. This reign was extra significant because he was soon drafted to SmackDown Live in the new brand split, making him the first champion on what was essentially a brand new show. After dropping the title to AJ Styles at Backlash in September, he won the IC title in early 2017 before being drafted to Raw to join his Shield brethren.

It became clear after the trio reunited that fall that another betrayal was inevitable. Ambrose was the clear pick to brand the knife this time, for Rollins had already done it and Reigns was being pushed so hard as a face that the company had too much invested to pull the trigger (although it would probably have made the most sense).

When Ambrose tore his tricep in December 2017, things were still looking good. Upon his return in August of 2018, Reigns was on the verge of winning the Universal title and Rollins was about to reclaim the IC title at SummerSlam. With the stable of Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in place as heels, the Shield had a clear foil upon their inevitable reunion, and Ambrose had two champions to set his sights on when he turned.

And then, of course, Roman Reigns stepped away. It was one of the most emotional nights in WWE history. Rollins and Ambrose were tearful wrecks upon walking to the stage to pose with their Shield brother for the last time. It was only natural then that they would win the Raw tag titles in the main event that night over Rollins and McIntyre. It was a feel good moment on a night that needed one. And then……. the turn.

In hindsight, this was one of the most well-executed turns in history. Although it had been teased for a while leading up to it, the circumstances of the moment made it impossible to fathom it happening when it did, thus increasing not only the shock value, but also the heat on Ambrose. He was immediately the biggest heel in the company, and was primed to tear the house down with Rollins in what promised to be the most bitter and emotional feud in years. Ambrose also seemed like a natural heel, having cut his curly hair and adopted a stern, menacing look to go along with the charisma we already knew was there. There was no reason for this not to be a springboard for Ambrose.

What Went Wrong?

And then? After a solid promo three weeks after the turn where he burned his Shield vest and said that his brothers made him weak, he came out the following week and proceeded to attack the fans in attendance for… their bad hygiene. He did so to the point where he brought out a towel to cover his face, and then was shown the following week getting vaccinations, saying that the fans would give him diseases such as Ebola if he were not vaccinated.

Cheap heat such as this can work for someone like Elias whose job it is to make people care about his otherwise meaningless songs. But for this to be the storyline after a turn like Ambrose’s is just inexcusable. He tried a few backstage mind game attempts which also fell flat, while also coming to the ring in a gas mask to hammer home the fact that the audience stunk.

What truly hurt Ambrose’s heel run was his match with Rollins at TLC this past December. This match had the unfortunate distinction of going on after Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles had put on an instant classic, but it had more than enough going in for fans to be excited about. The pair had delivered in the ring many times before, and even after the poor buildup, there was still enough leftover heat from the turn alone to make people want to see the two go at it.

The match was not good. It wasn’t so much the wrestling itself that made it not work, but the nature of it. They had a normal match that you could see on any episode of Raw, which is not what a turn and feud of this magnitude called for. After a war of words, the match opened with a lockup and hammerlock sequence, which led to Ambrose working over Rollins, which led to Rollins making his eventual comeback with his traditional move set.

The crowd, who had no reason to hate the match coming in, and began the match with loud “Burn It Down” chants for Rollins, turned on it and started chanting for Becky Lynch among others. The match ended when Ambrose put out his fist to make the Shield symbol, a move which the crowd hated, and Rollins snapped upon seeing it. His anger would get the better of him, as he got in Dean’s face before going for the final stomp before getting caught in Dirty Deeds for the pin. Ambrose won the IC title, but his stock could not have fallen faster as a result.

If NXT had not shown the fans what a feud between best friends is supposed to look like over that same year, maybe that match would have been received differently. Every moment that Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa were in the ring together, the emotions were raw and boiling over. Their matches worked because their actions made sense due to their hatred for one another. There were no wrestling holds, only stories to be told through symbolism and carnage. The final story of Gargano letting his anger get the better of him has blossomed into his heelish persona today, and was exactly what the finish of the Rollins and Ambrose match tried and failed to copy.

There is a great argument that Rollins vs Ambrose should have been even more personal than Gargano vs Ciampa considering the nature of the turn. While Rollins and Ambrose are not Gargano and Ciampa in the ring, the perfect story was there to be told, and somehow it was not. This is solely on WWE, its match producers, and its writers. The feud itself was disingenuous, and the eventual blow off exemplified that. What should have been fraught with emotional turned out to be a run-of-the-mill, mid-card championship feud.

What’s Next For WWE, Ambrose?

WWE now risks losing one of its top stars potentially to its newest rival in All Elite Wrestling. As AEW executive vice presidents The Young Bucks have learned from their time in TNA, going after former WWE superstars is not always the way to build a new promotion. Performers such as Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, Mr. Anderson, Al Snow, Mick Foley, Ric Flair, and of course Hulk Hogan, turned what was once a breeding ground for promising talent into a “Heroes of Wrestling” style reunion of older stars, causing young stars such as the Young Bucks, known there as “Generation Me,” to flounder.

However, Jonathan Good is not washed up by any means. He has not only had very good matches, but he has shown charisma, and would be on fire coming off of a high profile departure. While he would probably not be as high on their list of WWE talent they would want as, say an AJ Styles, his presence could help the younger performers as well as give his own career new life.

WWE is already scrambling to keep talent like the Revival, who have no direction in the company but would shine anywhere else, from leaving. A recent former champion and top star like Good finding success in AEW would be severely damaging, for it would lay the groundwork potentially for others to follow.

This is a lesson that WWE will likely learn the hard way. For nearly the full duration of the 21st century thus far, Vince McMahon has had to answer to no one for the decisions he has made. Not his fans, nor his talent, nor any TV executives or advertisers. Now, with legitimate competition on the horizon, he has no choice. Throwing new wrestlers such as Andrade, Mustafa Ali, NXT call ups, and any other underbooked performers such as Finn Balor at the problem will only do so much. But if they are given bad material to work with and are lost in the shuffle as a result, they may now have a way out thanks in large part to Dean Ambrose.