Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho: Winner and Reaction from WWE Payback 2016

Dean Ambrose bounced back from his WrestleMania loss to Brock Lesnar on Sunday night at WWE Payback, defeating Chris Jericho in a grudge match.

Ambrose hit Jericho with a knee to the gut and pulled off the Dirty Deeds for the win. 

After the match, Ambrose wasn't thrilled with the result, via WWE:

Kevin Berge of Questionable Critics and Scott Fishman of the Miami Herald provided their initial takes on the match: 

Ambrose and Jericho are among the best all-around talents in WWE, and a large contingent of fans has long considered a rivalry between them to be a dream feud.

The possibility of an angle involving the top-flight Superstars first came into focus at last year's Night of Champions pay-per-view, when they had a disagreement after teaming up with Roman Reigns in a loss to the Wyatt Family.

Although many forgot about it since Y2J left and then returned to feud with AJ Styles, he reconvened with Ambrose following WrestleMania.

The angle between them began when The Lunatic Fringe attempted to replace Jericho's The Highlight Reel talk show with The Ambrose Asylum. That led to several comedic segments and set the stage for one of the most highly anticipated matches of 2016 thus far.

Much of the buildup toward Payback featured Ambrose and Jericho cracking jokes, but things finally heated up on the go-home episode of Raw.

The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla fired up Ambrose with his arrogance, courtesy of WWE Universe:

That resulted in the unstable Superstar making a bold prediction for Payback and attacking Jericho ahead of the pay-per-view:

The future WWE Hall of Famer got the upper hand by applying the Walls of Jericho on top of the announce table, which gave him a great deal of momentum entering the WWE Network event.

Jericho also scored a victory over Styles at WrestleMania, which meant his credibility and profile ahead of Payback were greater than they had been in several years because of his previous penchant for putting other talent over regularly.

While no titles were on the line Sunday, the implications were significant. Both Jericho and Ambrose are main event-level performers, and a win could have conceivably launched either of them into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship hunt.

Despite Jericho's recent success, Ambrose prevailed at Payback and potentially put himself in position for a major push moving forward.

The Lunatic Fringe didn't have the opportunity to put on the type of performance that most hoped for at WrestleMania against Lesnar, but a win over Jericho should get him back on track.

Their rivalry could potentially continue, depending on how much longer Y2J's run with the company lasts, but Ambrose is ready for bigger challenges moving forward—and Sunday's win gives him the credibility needed to take the next step.

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