Dean Ambrose, the Hall of Fame, The Ascension and More from the Trolling Mailbag

The Royal Rumble not only offers the most entertaining hour in pro wrestling but the most wide-open fantasy booking.

There are infinite scenarios as to how all of this is going to go down. Who's going to come out looking better than before? Who's going to get lost in the shuffle?

It's quite simple to tell who is on the right side of the creative process by how certain WWE Superstars are booked in the prestigious Battle Royal.

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@ThisIsNasty who's your pick to spend the longest time in the rumble?

— Dylan Messerschmidt (@DylanMesh) January 21, 2015"

Dean Ambrose. It feels like WWE is slowly paying him back for losing to Bray Wyatt time after time. Ambrose's win over Bad News Barrett on Raw was an encouraging sign. Ric Flair picking Ambrose during the Legends Panel seemed like WWE telling fans it's taking him seriously again.

With no WrestleMania feud in sight, Ambrose will be one of the select few entrants highlighted in the Royal Rumble. This almost feels like his match.

The longer he stays, the more passionately hardcore fans of Philadelphia will rally around him. Like Rocky Balboa, he's a legitimate underdog yet wildly popular. 

If Flair's prediction came true, that would be shocking. But he has a good chance to last longer than anybody in an otherwise weak Royal Rumble field.

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@ThisIsNasty Your predictions on @WWEHallOfFame1 2015?

— Akshai Kumar (@kumar_akshai) January 22, 2015"

"The Macho Man" Randy Savage will be a tough act to follow. But as was the case throughout much of his career, Miss Elizabeth shouldn't be too far behind.

Michael "P.S." Hayes remains one of the more glaring omissions. But with WrestleMania 32 officially announced for Texas, the WCCW mainstay may have to wait one more year.

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@ThisIsNasty how long can the Ascension ride the "We're better than your favorite legends" gimmick?

— Jordan Smith (@JSmith_FOX6) January 20, 2015"

Hopefully forever. Seriously. Some people don't know it yet, but this Ascension thing is brilliant.

It's self-aware. It's intentionally quirky. It's like an '80s tag team transported to present day, and the duo stands out because of it. It reminds me of that scene from 2011's Thor where he's in the diner. Thor's outbursts of middle-earth mumbo jumbo created a stark, comedic contrast to an otherwise unassuming setting.

The Ascension is a blatant ripoff of the Road Warriors, and it knows it. Its claims of being the greatest tag team of all time are silly, and it knows it. Its opponents aren't even good enough to be tag team champions in the local promotion that leased them.

And it knows it.

Calling out legends, beating up jobbers and using cheesy one-liners. It's all designed to get heat, and it's working.

It legitimately upset Road Warrior Animal (per Facebook; h/t WrestlingInc.com) and Lance Storm (per Twitter; h/t WrestlingInc.com). Heck, Storm blocked me on Twitter just for bringing it up.

The Ascension should never compete against a legitimate main roster tag team. It should just keep trolling legends who take themselves too seriously.

An incensed John Bradshaw Layfield removed his suit and revealed an APA T-shirt underneath as he prepared to challenge them.

Is that any less ridiculous than wearing shoulder pads in 2015?

At face value, The Ascension is a walking Rocky Horror Picture Show—a parody of an obsolete concept. Yet its very existence causes WWE legends to become even bigger caricatures of themselves in response, both on and off camera.

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