WWE Risks Doing Damage to Dean Ambrose's Career with Crazy Booking

As he attempts to make the transition from midcard wrestler to main eventer, Dean Ambrose has a lot going for him—charisma, in-ring ability, good looks and terrific mic skills.

Sadly, there is one thing the 29-year-old is desperately lacking: decent and logical booking.

He jobbed to Randy Orton on television for no real reason. In his Hell in a Cell main event bout against nemesis Seth Rollins, he lost after a truly odd distraction from Bray Wyatt and his scary Latin-speaking ghost hologram. At Survivor Series a month later, he flew into a rage—maybe against all this horrible booking?—and got himself DQ’d against Wyatt.  

Credit: WWE.com

Then, just when you couldn’t imagine things getting any crazier, he found himself the victim of an exploding television monitor that nearly blinded him and ultimately cost him the match at TLC.  

(Man, the production and pyrotechnics crew must be working overtime lately when it comes to Ambrose’s bouts. What next? Will a robot attack him? Will he create his own hologram to feud with Wyatt’s?)

Credit: WWE.com

Honestly, this was so strange. Wyatt wasn't even really helped by getting the win either. Arguably the only thing that got overly strong was the evil heel television. 

The end of the TLC bout was also unfortunate, as—prior to that—Ambrose and Wyatt had actually been delivering a fantastic main event filled with big bumps, drama and very good in-ring exchanges. But the bizarre and unintentionally funny ending tainted the whole thing and undermined the super efforts of both men. How deeply disappointing this must have been for them.

The fans weren’t too happy about the booking either—and they were not shy to voice their opinions about it after the show was over.

"

Oh and going back to the TLC PPV in the Ambrose vs. Wyatt match erm im curious did Russo book that ending? #WWETLC

— Robbie Ford (@RobbieFord96) December 16, 2014"

As noted, Ambrose has a great deal of talent, but there’s only so much bad booking he, or anyone, can withstand. 

Steve Austin wouldn’t have been able to go over so hugely in 1998 as a babyface if he’d lost matches because of randomly exploding TV monitors or ghost holograms. John Cena and every other top name you can think of wouldn't have been able to thrive when faced with this illogical writing, either.

Some things just can’t be overcome. Horrendous booking is one of them. 

Credit: WWE.com

The wacky stunts are dismal enough, but it’s also worrying that WWE seems to have lost its grip on who Ambrose’s character is supposed to be.

When he was feuding with Rollins in the summer and autumn, he was the cool, rebellious babyface who refused to take orders or acquiesce to strict and unreasonable corporate demands. Now, with The Authority out of power, he comes off as erratic and aimless—there’s nothing to truly admire about him anymore. He’s just crazy and angry.

Ideally, WWE will recognize the colossal mistakes it has made with the former Shield member and, heading into 2015, resolve to change its approach to the star and book him far better.

That means more promo time, more clean wins and—yes!—no more exploding televisions.