WWE is a weird position right now, one in which they haven’t been in since the New Generation era. Currently, their top two stars in the company in John Cena and Brock Lesnar are away, Randy Orton is out for 4-6 months due to surgery on his shoulder, and the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is out for 6-9 months with a torn ACL, MCL, and a meniscus tear. It was announced on ESPN by Johnathan Coachman that there would be a tournament to crown the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion now that Rollins will be on the shelf. With the champion gone and a number of main event talent on the shelf WWE is in a spot where they need to shake things up and give the fans something worth getting excited for. Roman Reigns is their clear choice for the next top guy, but now is the perfect time to finally give Dean Ambrose a shot to show that he is worthy of being in the main event spot.
The main event scene in WWE is rather dry, not many superstars on that roster are being featured as worthy of being the World Heavyweight Champion. Superstars like the returning Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens currently hold the mid card championships in the United States and Intercontinental championships respectively so they are more than likely not going to be featured in the main event. The “New Face of Fear” Bray Wyatt, though he seems like a great choice to be the next World Heavyweight Champion, it would be a waste for them to put him in the spot while he is currently in a program with the Undertaker. What makes things seem worse is that the rest of their talent has been booked poorly and have lost momentum with the fans so a win with a guy like Dolph Ziggler or Cesaro would feel like a waste.
Then you have the two other members of the Shield, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. Roman Reigns is currently being positioned as the next top babyface in the company next to John Cena. With a number of high profile wins under his belt and even a stellar performance against Brock Lesnar in the main event at Wrestlemania 31, Reigns has proven that he can hold his own in the main event spot despite his weak promos and lack of fan support. However, Dean Ambrose has not been booked in the same light as Reigns. Other than having a string of matches against former Shield teammate Seth Rollins, Ambrose has been booked farther down the card than his other former teammates. With Rollins on the shelf for 6-9 months, that could all change.
There are a number of options that could be done to book Ambrose higher up the card, let’s look at the first option, booking him heel. A lot of people will say “booking Dean Ambrose heel would be too obvious and he would get the face reaction” which is a legitimate argument. However, it is not like the idea is too obvious that it would not work. Dean Ambrose is an amazing worker and has shown in the past that he shines better and brighter as a heel, most notably in his work with the Shield and even his work with William Regal in WWE’s former developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling. The idea being too obvious also is not that big of a problem to worry about either, because if they book him in a heel manner then the fans will treat him as such. Just look at Kevin Owens for example, the fans support him, but he is one of the best if not the best heel on the roster and his actions in the ring support that notion. Owens does not waste a movement and is always in heel character no matter what he does.
If Ambrose were to turn heel that would set up a great program not only for the remaining months, but also for Wrestlemania season which is approaching fast. Dean could screw Roman out of a title opportunity and it could help give fans more of a chance to get behind Roman, who has been denied a chance at the title far too often. While Roman works his way back to the title picture during the next few months leading up to Wrestlemania Ambrose could feud with a number of top stars like John Cena or Brock Lesnar who will be returning soon after Survivor Series.
The next option would be to keep Ambrose as a face and turn Reigns heel, which seems like the better choice but is still just as obvious. While it would negate all the work WWE has been putting into making Reigns the next top babyface, it would help him find a relationship with the fans. Much like the Rock in 1997 or more recently the New Day, turning heel allows superstars more creative freedom to find what works best for them and if that is what it takes for Roman Reigns to develop then that might just be the best course of action.
Having him lose to Ambrose clean and slowly build to a heel turn would help cement a great program between the two at Wrestlemania. Roman could use the argument that he had been screwed out of the championship for over a year and Dean Ambrose took away his opportunity. Dean Ambrose as a face when booked correctly would be able to garner a huge reaction from the fans, especially since they already give him resounding cheers.
The WWE is in a unique position, with most of their top stars not around they have a chance to build new main event talent. With this opportunity they have a chance to give Dean Ambrose the push that fans have been waiting for since the Shield split. As much as it would be satisfying to see him take the title from Rollins, now would be perfect to help set up a program with the guy they want to build the future around in Roman Reigns.
-Chris
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