John Cena's Reported Time off from WWE a Prime Chance to Elevate Dean Ambrose

John Cena, WWE's workhouse and most dependable star, is stepping away from the company for an extended period and will leave a massive void, but one that Dean Ambrose is fully capable of filling.

Ambrose's wild energy, motor-driven mic work and compelling brawls make him one of the most unique and entertaining acts the WWE circus has to offer. And despite some brief flirtations with being on the marquee, The Lunatic Fringe finds himself without a clear direction.

As the Hell in a Cell card takes shape, he is likely to just be Roman Reigns' ringside cheerleader. Despite a strong connection with the crowd and some of the best bouts of the last few years on his resume, he has had the least exposure of the three former members of The Shield.

He's a top-tier talent jogging on a treadmill, waiting for WWE to put him in a race.

With Cena apparently headed away from the ring after Hell in a Cell, that needs to change. WWE is set to have an open slot near the top, an ideal spot to insert Ambrose.

On F4WOnline, Dave Meltzer reported the following:

"

John Cena will be taking time off from wrestling shortly for what the WWE has described as personal reasons. While we don't know the exact time frame that he will be gone, the 38-year-old Cena isn't advertised on anything after the Hell in a Cell PPV special in late-October starting with the next night's RAW in San Diego, CA.

"

With Raw and SmackDown ratings tumbling, this has to have Vince McMahon on edge. He should see it as an opportunity, not a setback, though.

As Jim Ross wrote on his blog, Cena's absence "forces WWE's hand to develop other, main event level stars of which they are dangerously thin on."

It gives WWE an excuse to try out a new gladiator as one of its cornerstones. Much like when a starting quarterback goes down, the company can see what it has in its backup. 

As great as Cena is, novelty is one thing he surely can't bring at this stage. With him, Kane, Big Show and Randy Orton still so prominent after all these years, the current era feels like simply an extension of the last.

The WWE audience needs something fresh, something new to get excited about. The self-admitted scumbag will be exactly that if showcased.

A trio of recent moments serve as evidence of Ambrose's ability to thrive higher on the card.

Fingertips on the Gold

Never mind that Rollins and Ambrose had met 14 times prior, four of those on pay-per-view, according to CageMatch.net; Money in the Bank's main event enthralled.

The two enemies found ways to inject new life into their feud, produce a bout unlike their previous ones and make full use of their great chemistry once again. By way of bent ladders, chairs hitting flesh and Ambrose spending much of the battle on one leg, they told a great story of a cowardly villain's fangs finally emerging, as a gutsy hero fell just short.

That failure, where he had the championship in his grasp for just a moment, was a victory in terms of production and storytelling. Only a few wrestlers on the roster could have pulled off that kind of performance.

Delivering a stunner like this has been Ambrose's modus operandi in his limited opportunities atop the card.

At SummerSlam, he and Rollins pulled off what has easily been the best Lumberjack match to date. In a Fall Count Anywhere collision on Raw, those two had arguably the best match of the year. And even with an underwhelming plot to work with, he and Bray Wyatt made the TLC 2014 main event a violent thriller.

Let The Lunatic Fringe start taking up Cena's ring time and perhaps even take over for him in putting on U.S. title open challenges, and the classics will pile up. 

Excitement over the False King

WWE already had a sneak peak of how the audience would react to Ambrose as a made man. When the unruly brawler thought he had Rollins beat at Elimination Chamber, he took home the world title, despite the fact that it didn't belong to him. 

Fans lit up. 

Ambrose walked around the arena with the title on his shoulder. The response transcended the fact that he was not really champion. The crowd celebrated him as if he had triumphed, as if the unstable one was truly the new emperor.

That speaks to the connection Ambrose has made. He has been an energizing antihero, Brian Pillman folded into Steve Austin. 

With Cena gone, it's smart to take advantage of that, stoke the flames of his popularity and make a full-fledged effort to push him into top-star status. WWE should give him the kind of high-profile feuds Cena normally receives and watch him go to work.

Chances are he'll make the trip a fun ride. He's done that thus far as Rollins' persistent foil, whether he has flailed in the grip of security or has undergone a psychological evaluation.

The Lunatic Opens Up 

As much as WWE depends on Cena to fill time wrestling, it depends on him more as a talker. Many Raw episodes feature the golden boy addressing the crowd, laying down ultimatums or talking up his own fortitude. Ambrose is skilled enough to take his spot for the time being in that department.

Beginning with his days on the indy circuit, Ambrose has long been sending crackling energy through a microphone.

He's genuine, frenetic, a mesmerizing force on promos. And he proved after losing at Money in the Bank that he can reel in his insanity and play a more straight-and-narrow hero.

Channeling Dusty Rhodes that night, he spoke of how hard and unfair life can be. He said that he took Rollins' title because it was one of those things "that you know in your heart and your soul that you deserve."

That performance was a mix of Ambrose's individuality and basic wrestling hero tropes. He was righteous and gutsy, but with his trademark helter-skelter energy.

That's something with which fans can engage. That's something that can refresh a stagnant WWE product, temporarily trading out the known entity (Cena) for the one the audience has yet to fully discover.

Cena's time away will certainly hurt the depth of the roster but could end up being the catalyst for WWE's journey to somewhere exciting, somewhere unexplored. Let Ambrose led the way on that trek. He's just the provocative tour guide the company needs.