Dean Ambrose Inching Closer to Becoming This Generation's Stone Cold for WWE

Nobody will ever directly replace "Stone Cold" Steve Austin as the swashbuckling antihero of WWE's Attitude Era—that much is a given.

But if Dean Ambrose is to be a long-term success in WWE's main event scene, he has to resemble something close to the chaotic character through which Austin entertained millions of fans. And although it looked like The Lunatic Fringe had gone off course in recent months, this past week offered a refreshing glimpse into the future.

Ambrose's WWE World Championship reign looked set to be a great one when he was drafted to SmackDown with the company's biggest prize.

He quickly became the de facto leader of the blue brand while Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns remained on Raw, but things didn't quite go to plan.

Ambrose looked lost at the top on occasions, as summed up by his bizarre feud with Dolph Ziggler. It may have been an exaggeration to say he got lost in the shuffle somewhat, but he was fading into relative obscurity.

So what's changed recently?

For starters, his whole attitude on SmackDown after dropping the strap to AJ Styles at Backlash.

Ambrose had resembled a squeaky-clean babyface during his title run, as evidenced when he mocked a heel Styles after the latter got hung up in the ropes. And the WWE Universe, as demanding as ever, didn't like it.

There were smatterings of boos during his match with Styles when Ambrose got on top during several stages of the contest, but it almost felt like it wasn't Ambrose the fans were booing. Rather, they were booing the direction of his character.

The Ambrose who held the WWE World Championship wasn't the one fans fell in love with following the destruction of The Shield. That Ambrose used to terrorize Seth Rollins throughout their incredible rivalry two years ago in a not-too-dissimilar fashion to Austin's antics of the late 1990s. 

Ambrose gradually moved away from that, though, and faded into the kind of champion WWE audiences do not yearn for any longer. He was too clean and too much of a babyface, and it just didn't fit his character definition.

Ambrose has attitude, and holding that in does not do him or WWE any favors. So when he appeared on SmackDown this past Tuesday with a refreshed mindset, it was a major step toward making him the rebellious tweener he should have been all along.

He trashed John Cena, who was ironically getting a great babyface pop from the Philadelphia crowd in attendance. He badmouthed Styles and anyone who came within range of him.

And if that segment with the mic wasn't interesting enough, Ambrose single-handedly confirmed his transformation into a tweener when he laid Cena out following their match against Styles and The Miz.

So what next?

Simply put, more of the same. WWE should let Ambrose attack whoever he wants whenever he feels like it. Let him interrupt matches, cause mayhem in backstage segments and be the rebel without a cause WWE fans fell in love with.

Ambrose's in-ring style doesn't lend itself to a clean, do-no-harm babyface, either. It fits the persona of a tweener, someone who just wants to hurt people and do whatever is necessary to get what he wants.

If it's authority figures who get in his way, then all the better. It will inch him closer to being his generation's version of Stone Cold.