What’s Next For Dean Ambrose?

The Lunatic Fringe is back with a new haircut, all is right in the world. So much speculation has floated around the internet for the past six-to-seven months on what exactly the plans are going to be for Dean once he finally returns from injury. Having missed WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble and many more huge WWE events, there’s a lot of lost time to make up for now that the former WWE Champion is fit and healthy.

But where exactly should WWE be taking Ambrose in the coming months? Would it really be worth all this hype just to put him back in the role of Seth’s BFF? Dean Ambrose is a hot topic for WWE, he sells shedloads of merch and is able to get himself over with pretty much any crowd. Unfortunately for him, it seems that every time they’ve given Ambrose something worthy to run with, he’s either been overshadowed by a bigger feud or by his Shield teammates. Aside from his brief rivalry with AJ Styles, there has been very little of note in his singles career.

Now is the time for WWE to give him the ball and allow him to sprint with it. Many have had Dean pegged to be face of a new generation of wrestling, echoing the ripple effect that Steve Austin once had on the sports entertainment genre. After all, the fans that were enthralled with the likes of John Cena are growing up, much like in the Hogan boom, younger fans are looking for more rebellious characters to help channel that inner teenage angst. Ambrose is the perfect candidate for that vessel.

With that in mind, the scenario screaming out at us all is that Dean Ambrose turns heel against his partner Seth Rollins; reversing the roles from a few years back, post Shield break-up.

Seth is about to wrap up this feud with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, me being a betting man, I’d put my money on Seth reclaiming the Intercontinental Championship. No disrespect to Dolph Ziggler, his run with the title has made him the most interesting he’s been in quite some time, mostly thanks to being teamed with the Scotsman. But quite frankly, there’s more for Seth to do with that title than Dolph, starting with a feud with his former tag compeer.

Dean Ambrose needs to ride this momentum into the main event scene, a feud with Seth Rollins has already proven to be more exciting than the title picture in the past, I can definitely see it happening again. WWE seem to be on a never-ending quest to elevate the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship, what better way than to have two of the biggest names of this era duking it out in a blood feud for it?

Seth and Dean have an undeniable chemistry in the ring and have the potential to be the defining feud of this era of wrestling. Letting the two really come into their own on the microphone as the respective babyface/heel characters that they have been destined to become could really make for something special. Dean’s new look beckons a change in character – who’s going to say that won’t happen at SummerSlam?

On the other hand, Dean doesn’t necessarily have to be tied down to working with Seth Rollins. At this point, Roman Reigns has seemingly cut ties with The Shield and isn’t really held down by his allegiance to Seth – i.e. he doesn’t have to be teaming with him on every single show, he can go off and do his own thing, then come back to work a tag match with his bros whenever necessary. Perhaps it would make more sense for Ambrose to be allowed to carry on with his business on his lonesome, and eventually return to working with Reigns and Seth when the next big trios match comes around.

The story seems to be pacing itself towards Roman finally defeating Lesnar at SummerSlam to become a four-time world champion. Roman’s going to need himself a big time opponent to keep that title looking strong following this long period of rarely being featured on the card. Now I’m not saying they need to have Roman defend the title every week, but maybe it’ll be worth giving him a big feud right off the bat with someone that is on a high enough pedestal to be a threat to him.

Naturally, many would point the finger to Braun, what with him holding the Money in the Bank briefcase, but what about Dean? Wouldn’t it be a shame to see him fall into the mid-card and flail about doing his ‘crazy boi’ comedy skits again? I wouldn’t say no to Dean pushing himself into the main event scene, defeating some top names upon his return and being granted a title shot. Reigns and Ambrose have only ever had one PPV singles match, in which they weren’t really given enough time to truly put on a stellar 20-minute bout. Now’s that time.

Whether Ambrose wins the title from Reigns or not is another story, but by being given the honour of facing the Universal Champion straight from injury would be a massive credit to his name.

Or maybe after all this comeback rigmarole, he enters a series of matches with Constable Corbin and loses. Who knows?

What would you like to see Dean Ambrose doing over the next few months? Were you satisfied with his comeback? Let us know in the comments.