030216-roberto-ruizWWE’s Dean Ambrose Needs Spotlight

No matter how many times the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) tries to push Roman Reigns as its next big thing, he continues to be outshined by his former Shield teammates. Dean Ambrose continues to get the cheers and adoration that the WWE wishes Roman could get. Yet when the WWE audience sees Reigns, all they see is somebody being shoved down their throat.

First it was Seth Rollins, “The Architect” of the Shield, who stole the shine from Reigns during last year’s Wrestlemania main event. Reigns had battled Brock Lesnar for over 30 minutes, mostly to jeers even though he was being pushed as the good guy of that match. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Reigns had overcome all odds and had won the Royal Rumble to earn himself a title match in the main event of Wrestlemania, but when he stood tall after the Rumble, he was greeted with such a loud negative reaction that the shock on his face was clear. The WWE had expected Reigns to be received somewhat poorly, so they booked fan favorite The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) to make a surprise appearance and put Reigns over at the end of the broadcast. What followed was best described as laughable, as the crowd excitedly cheered The Rock whenever he wasn’t raising Reigns’ hand, but booed incessantly whenever he lifted his real life cousin’s arm in victory. WWE fans love wrestlers who refuse to stay down, so WWE booked Reigns to get continuously get beat down by Lesnar in the main event, only to keep coming back for more. While some of those boos turned into cheers, they were nothing like the reaction that Rollins received when he arrived and stole the championship from the two behemoths.

This year it has been Dean Ambrose stealing the show. Once again WWE has tried to get Reigns over with the crowd.

From having him defend his championship against 29 other superstars in this year’s Rumble to having to face multiple 4 on 1 beatdowns after matches, he has been booked to garner sympathy. Yet when Reigns is standing tall all you hear is the boo’s. Ambrose on the other hand has the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. He is anti-establishment and never knows when to fold his cards and walk away from the table. He got in Brock Lesnar’s face and lived to talk about it. When it was Ambrose and Triple H battling for the championship at the end of the Rumble it was Ambrose who the crowd was behind. The crowd had cheered when Reigns was eliminated. Ambrose has forced his way into a title match with Triple H at the special live event on March 12th. The biggest reason Ambrose is unlikely to walk out as champion is because there just hasn’t been much time invested into his storyline. Wrestlemania would either have to be Ambrose vs Reigns or Triple H vs Ambrose vs Reigns, and neither of those make much sense at the moment.

The WWE has a month to figure out the storyline it is going to stick to and push it into Wrestlemania. They have to tread carefully because Reigns is close to reaching the point where the crowd may never get behind him again. Force feeding more Reigns to the audience would be unwise, especially when Ambrose is better in the ring, on the microphone, and actually has a connection with the audience. He may not have the “look” of a WWE champion, but he certainly has the attitude. He has never disappointed when given an opportunity, so it is time to give him the biggest opportunity of them all. Give Ambrose the spotlight at Wrestlemania.