WWE Has to Be Mindful Not to Hand Dean Ambrose Too Many Losses

WWE has to have the audience associate Dean Ambrose with fury and frenetic energy—not failure.

The Lunatic Fringe has shown himself to be a dependable top-tier babyface, a fist-swinging antihero reminiscent of Roddy Piper. Piling on the losses hurts his image, though. 

At some point, fans will begin to think of Ambrose as someone who can't win the big one. Tell the crowd a guy is a loser enough, and that idea begins to feel like the truth.

Ambrose is certainly not in Zack Ryder territory, but he's losing too often.

Monday's Raw marked his latest defeat, one balanced out somewhat by a post-match beatdown. The Christmas-themed edition ended with Ambrose battling Bray Wyatt in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight. It was the usual blend of violence and goofiness expected from these type of gimmick matches.

Each man hurled the other into a Christmas tree; a Kendo stick made to look like a candy cane provided the final blow. Wyatt pinned Ambrose to end the bout.

Both men surely needed ice packs afterward. Ambrose's win-loss record needs mending, too.

It's clear that WWE is trying to rebuild The Eater of Worlds' image after a string of losses. WrestleMania will be here before we know it, and a so-called monster on a losing streak is not a viable opponent for Sting, Undertaker or whoever the company has in mind for him to face.

Ambrose isn't getting that kind of restorative treatment right now. He's been the star of many of his biggest matches but has ended a good number of them as the victim. The only match Ambrose has won in his rivalry with Wyatt is at the event where all the babyfaces win: the Tribute to the Troops. 

Ambrose is 6-5 in his last 11 matches. It's his pay-per-view record, however, that is startlingly flush with defeats.

In singles matches on pay-per-view events, Ambrose has gone 0-5.

Event	Opponent(s)	Stipulation	Result
Money in the Bank	Seth Rollins, Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston	Money in the Bank Ladder match	Rollins retrieves briefcase.
SummerSlam	Seth Rollins	Lumberjack match	Loss via pinfall.
Hell in a Cell	Seth Rollins	Hell in a Cell match	Loss via pinfall.
Survivor Series	Bray Wyatt	None	Loss via disqualification.
TLC	Bray Wyatt	TLC match	Loss via pinfall.

There are excuses for each of the losses, each one marked with the kind of injustices that drive wrestling narratives forward. 

Rollins clocked him with the Money in the Bank briefcase at SummerSlam. Wyatt's emergence out of a lantern-lit fog led to Ambrose's loss to Rollins at Hell in a Cell. At TLC, an exploding TV caused him to fall to Wyatt.

Still, while Ambrose is settling for moral victories, Roman Reigns and John Cena are getting actual ones.

Reigns steamrolled Fandango on last week's SmackDown. He followed that up by punching Big Show so hard on Monday's Raw that he rolled over the announce table and couldn't make it back into the ring before the referee's 10-count.

Cena is fresh off overpowering Rollins, Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury on Raw. That big win readies him for his showdown with Brock Lesnar.

Reigns is now 10-1 in his last 11 bouts, the lone defeat coming by way of disqualification. Cena's record during that same stretch is identical; both men have won Handicap matches where they were outnumbered.

Cena has beaten Randy Orton, Rollins and Lesnar (by disqualification) at pay-per-view events. Reigns owns a PPV victory over The Viper as well. Not surprisingly, Cena and Reigns feel like bigger threats to the world title. They clearly reside on WWE's top echelon.

Ambrose is close to that level, but not there yet.

A big part of that is the company not throwing enough wins his way.

It's not time to panic yet. Ambrose isn't getting pinned by a little person a la Goldust. WWE just has to make sure it doesn't start hurting The Lunatic Fringe's momentum with a plethora of losses.

Let the hero triumph, or else it's harder to believe in him.

All match statistics courtesy of CageMatch.net.