Dean Ambrose a Better Fit for the Midcard Following WWE No Mercy 2016 Loss

Dean Ambrose's ill-fated run in the main event needs to end—at least for now.

AJ Styles retained the WWE World Championship at No Mercy on Sunday, holding off both John Cena and Dean Ambrose in a controversial Triple Threat main event.

This marks the third consecutive time Ambrose has come up short in a WWE World Championship opportunity.

Sure, there were bright spots, like his career-defining clean victory over John Cena on SmackDown Live a few week ago. But it was clear from the beginning of the match, when fans exchanged chants for only Cena and Styles, that Ambrose did not belong on this stage.

Ambrose's current stint as a top star on SmackDown Live has been a poor fit, even on a secondary brand with a thinner talent pool.

Ambrose simply hasn't been able to justify his surprise victory at Money in the Bank after months of questionable booking, which included a rather one-sided loss to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32.

Had he won that match, or even lost a hotly contested contest, he would have had the momentum necessary to carry him to a world championship. Instead, both his Money in the Bank win and ensuing cash-in on Seth Rollins came off as forced.

With Cena intent on winning a 16th championship, the buildup and the Triple Threat match itself were focused on Cena's efforts to make history with Ambrose as a supporting character. Following Cena's aforementioned loss to Ambrose on SmackDown Live, Jake Barnett of ProWrestling.net noted: "I’ll be surprised if he wins at No Mercy, because they’ll want to pay [his 16th world title win] off at a much larger show with a bigger potential audience." 

With Ambrose failing in his last three world championship matches in just over one month, it'll be surprising to see him earn another opportunity anytime soon.

In fact, a Cena-Ambrose midcard feud could be just what Ambrose needs as he continues to retool his character as less of a lunatic and more of a serious contender. Not only can Ambrose be yet another roadblock in Cena's journey, WWE can elevate Ambrose with another victory over Cena.

Ambrose has begun to turn a corner since the recent return of Cena. After he attacked Cena on the Sept. 14 episode of SmackDown, Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net praised Ambrose for "ditching the quirky comedy and developing more of an edge."

Similarly to The Miz, Ambrose can rebuild himself in the midcard against strong competition.

If WWE takes its time in establishing him as a formidable babyface who is deserving of another world title run, he'll come storming back better than ever.

Alfred Konuwa is a Featured Columnist and on-air host for Bleacher Report and Forbes. Like him on Facebook.