Dean Ambrose's Credibility Has Been Crushed by Lackluster WWE Championship Runs

To say current WWE intercontinental champion Dean Ambrose is in a rut would be putting it lightly. Quite frankly, Dean Ambrose is where championships go to die. 

The reigning IC champ is scheduled to take on The Miz in a championship match this Monday on Raw, and in a weird way, it would be somewhat liberating if Ambrose were to drop the title and start from scratch. 

Despite holding either the WWE Championship or the Intercontinental Championship for the better part of a year, Ambrose has struggled to truly establish himself as the top star that his abundant opportunities have afforded him to be. 

Last year, Ambrose defended the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. On paper, this is usually one of the WWE's biggest matches of the year. Instead, it was slotted in the popcorn spot and failed to get an otherwise red-hot New York crowd invested.

Jason Powell of Prowrestling.net was especially critical of the pairing, saying Dolph Ziggler and the match itself "devalued Ambrose and the WWE Championship," and that Ambrose was "not the long-term answer as champion." 

After dropping the WWE Championship to AJ Styles, who was a far more effective babyface despite technically being a heel, Ambrose's ice-cold season was cemented at WrestleMania 33 when he defended the Intercontinental Championship against otherwise rising heel Baron Corbin during the pre-show.

That same title was defended in a ladder match on the main card just one year prior at WrestleMania 32. The match was one of only a few on the entire card that did not receive the benefit of a Road to WrestleMania promotional video on YouTube. Even the Cruiserweight Championship match between Neville and Austin Aries, which was also banished to the pre-show, was given an accompanying video package. 

Ambrose has been hurt by carrying WWE's two most historically relevant championships. Perhaps his laid-back, lunatic gimmick, which often infuses comedy to mixed results, is not conducive to being crowned with any of the establishment's brass rings. The same can be said about the manic Bray Wyatt who, despite competing on the main roster since 2013, has only enjoyed two championship reigns that lasted for a combined 72 days. 

But Ambrose's struggles seem to go deeper than just his inability to elevate a championship.

The very fact that he is slowly developing a reputation as a poor champion could be indicative of foundational holes in his character. Ambrose's style and mannerisms—as an irreverent loose cannon—is begging for a revamp as a heel. Not only would being a heel help Ambrose rise out of this funk, perhaps it should have been the answer all along. 

Ambrose is the only former Shield member who has yet to headline WrestleMania, although Seth Rollins did go on last as a technicality from cashing in Money in the Bank at WrestleMania 31. As the only member of the famed faction to ever compete on a WrestleMania pre-show, it's clear that he is settling into the Marty Jannetty role if there is one for the wildly successful trio. 

For all the talk about Roman Reigns, whose reactions are second to none on a weekly basis and are forced down people's throats, Ambrose's on-paper success—from winning almost every singles championship in addition to Money in the Bank—has not come anywhere near his real-life triumphs. Ambrose needs something—anything—to revive his current career funk before fans simply give up and accept him as a midcarder for life. 

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