Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose WWE Feud Must Shift Tone

1. A Change in the Championship Chase 

It's time for the kooky carnival that has been Dean Ambrose's pursuit of AJ Styles and the WWE World Championship to morph into a darker drama.

WWE SmackDown has thrived thanks to an outside-the-box narrative featuring the lovable loser James Ellsworth. As a pawn and cheerleader, the jobber-turned-unexpected star has been at the center of Styles vs. Ambrose. And it's been a tremendous, entertaining ride.

But this story has to change directions now.

WWE has harvested all it can from Ellsworth. It has maximized the comedy elements of this rivalry. Rather than continue down that path, Styles vs. Ambrose must grow more intense, more violent.

Ellsworth popped up weeks ago as the unlikeliest of key figures in a world title feud. He has irritated Styles and inadvertently tripped up his buddy Ambrose.

His involvement has given SmackDown's top rivalry a comical tone. It was a showcase of the absurd. Ambrose suited him as a referee and goofed around. Security chased around the skinny Ellsworth and jokes about the outsider's lack of a chin have been commonplace.

Those moments have all worked, but it's hard to imagine that WWE will be able to keep this up. And after his nutty upset over Styles, a world title bout and now his mascot position on the SmackDown Survivor Series team, what's left to explore with Ellsworth?

That narrative has been told. And told well. The best bet is to now focus on Ambrose and Styles' animosity. The Lunatic Fringe's hunger to reclaim the world title and Styles' fervent defense of his prize should be at the heart of this main event rivalry.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin questioned WWE's use of so much comedy in marquee feuds of late. Appearing on PWTorch Livecast, Austin said in a discussion of Ambrose vs. Styles, "I'm all about the serious stuff. Wrestling is a very serious subject for me." 

Goofiness will always have its place with that medium, but the top stories are best served by zeroing in on "the serious stuff." 

The greatest wrestling rivalries boil down to one warrior wanting to take out another. 

Credit: WWE.com

This is where Styles and Ambrose need to head as they march toward their title bout at the Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view on Dec. 4. Their TLC match will be more dramatic and effective if it's built on a base of bad blood. 

Styles can elevate himself as a heel by injuring or torturing Ambrose. The Lunatic Fringe will get a chance to show off his mic skills if he plays the desperate man seeking one last crack at taking down his archenemy.

That means sliding Ellsworth out of the picture for now. It means trading out Silly String for swords.

2. Intercontinental Championship Survival

Survivor Series has not been home to much change surrounding the IC title. In fact, in its 29 previous editions, the belt has only been defended six times.

That total will soon be seven, as Sami Zayn from Raw is set to take on SmackDown's Dolph Ziggler at the Survivor Series pay-per-view on Nov. 20. Zayn earned the right to face The Showoff by knocking off Rusev on Monday's Raw.

His roll may end there, though. History suggests that the champ will hold on to his crown at the PPV.

Year	Matchup	New Champion?
1997	Steve Austin vs. Owen Hart	Yes
1999	Chyna vs. Chris Jericho	No
2001	Edge vs. Test	Yes
2004	Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian	No
2010	Dolph Ziggler vs. Kaval	No
2013	Big E vs. Curtis Axel	No

Four of the six wrestlers to defend the IC title at Survivor Series have retained. And the last three IC title matches went the way of the champion.

Zayn will have to channel his inner Edge when the PPV rolls around.

3. Throwback Video of the Week: Undertaker's Arrival

Ahead of Undertaker's return to SmackDown for Episode 900 next week, let's flash back to his debut.

Fans first saw him stroll into WWE as a surprise entrant for The Million Dollar Team at Survivor Series 1990:

His longevity has been stunning. When The Deadman arrived on the WWE scene, Survivor Series had only been in existence for three years. Universal champion Kevin Owens was just six years old. The Hell in a Cell, TLC and Money in the Bank matches didn't exist yet.

Now near retirement, Undertaker is still as big an attraction as WWE has on its roster some 26 years later.

4. The Other Candidate Who Has Appeared at WrestleMania

Donald Trump, a WWE Hall of Famer, won the presidential election on Tuesday night, but he wasn't the only nominee with wrestling ties.

SmackDown tag team champ Rhyno (real name: Terrance Gerin) was running for a Michigan House of Representatives bid. CBS Sports reported, however, that the powerhouse lost to Democrat Abdullah Hammoud.

The good news for him is that he won't have to drop the tag belts. He and Heath Slater can keep on ruling over the blue brand's tag team division.

5. A Separate Circus for the High-Flyers

Even with three hours to work with every week, Raw has struggled to showcase the cruiserweights. It hasn't been able to properly introduce or utilize the likes of Rich Swann and Lince Dorado. 

Six-man tag team matches with no story and minimal stakes have been the norm. So have halfhearted reactions from the crowd.

That's about to change, albeit with fewer eyes on the division.

As Triple H noted on Twitter, the cruiserweights will get their own stage:

The 205 Live show has to look a lot more like the Cruiserweight Classic and a lot less like the skeletal version of the division Raw has been featuring. Longer matches, fully explored rivalries and more backstories will make that show a hit.

There is no shortage of talent among the cruiserweights. Presentation has been the issue, a problem set to be solved with a new home for WWE's smaller warriors.

6. Kid Irony

Kid Kash may be eating some humble pie at Thanksgiving.

The former WWE cruiserweight champ mocked CM Punk's attempt to become an MMA fighter. He is bound to be the subject of jokes himself now.

Punk's UFC debut in September went poorly, as he lost to Mickey Gall in the first round.

Kash said he would beat Punk and made it clear how different he was than The Straight-Edge Superstar. "I lived it," he told Marc Raimondi (warning: NSFW language) of MMA Fighting. "I'm not like Punk, who before he was a wrestler he was a video game enthusiast, trading cards and stuff like that." 

Over the weekend, Kash met an embarrassing defeat in 39 seconds at Lindsey Jones' hands. FloCombat shared a clip of the action:

Punk at least lasted over a minute and delivered a rousing promo after his loss.

7. Team New Era

At Survivor Series, Team Raw will be anchored by youth, filled with emerging stars and comprised of those destined to lead WWE's future. 

Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman make up Raw's squad.

Jericho is the outlier in that group at age 46. The rest of the squad is in their early 30s. The average age of Raw's team is 34.4.

And this unit isn't exactly overexposed at this point.

Both Reigns and Rollins have only been in WWE proper since 2012. Owens debuted on the main roster in 2015. Strowman followed KO's lead, debuting a few months after him.

Team SmackDown is bolstered by the New Era, too. The blue brand's Survivor Series team is only slightly older as a group with an average age of 35, even with commissioner Shane McMahon (46) now a part of it. 

8. SmackDown at Its Best 

As SmackDown is set to celebrate its latest milestone, it's only natural to reflect on the show's past. Despite being considered the "B" show, it has produced a robust share of in-ring excellence, especially when the SmackDown Six reigned.

If you missed out on a ton of the episodes leading up to No. 900, check out these top-notch bouts from the blue brand's archives:

• Four-Way TLC Match: May 24, 2001
• Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero: Sept. 26, 2002 (No Disqualification)
• Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio: Nov. 14, 2002 
• Rey Mysterio vs. Kurt Angle: Feb. 10, 2005
• Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton: Nov. 4, 2011 (Street Fight)

Any number of Guerrero, Mysterio, Angle and Benoit matches could have made this list. SmackDown hit its peak when those men were regularly on center stage.

There's no going back to that, but hopefully the brand's new cornerstones will emerge and start to produce as consistently as that foursome. The bar is set high. Will Ambrose, Styles and others be able to meet it?

9. High-Stakes Cruiserweights Showdown

Survivor Series' brand warfare just got mighty interesting.

SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan announced on Tuesday night that Raw's Brian Kendrick will defend the Cruiserweight Championship against Kalisto at the upcoming PPV. But in addition to the gold, the entire cruiserweight division is up for grabs.

If Kalisto knocks off Kendrick, SmackDown will become the home of the cruiserweights rather than the red brand.

It's not likely that WWE will shake things up that much, but the possibility will add major suspense to this match. Fighting for brand pride can only engage the audience so much. The result of this title tilt goes well beyond that.

These are the kind of creative stakes WWE would do well to incorporate more often. A match that would normally be a fun showcase of two athletes is now a powerful, dramatic tug of war.

10. David Arquette on the Election

While many will be celebrating Trump's upset win in the presidential race, some Americans aren't happy with the result. Count David Arquette among that latter group.

Arquette posted on Facebook, "This is worse then me winning the WCW Championship," referring to the controversial decision to crown him the company's top titleholder in 2000.

The actor was only champ for 12 days, though. Trump is set for a four-year reign.