Dean Ambrose

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[JRGoldman]

I think it comes down to how highly you value the Shield stuff and what you think his value was to that run. Personally I can't think of a Shield match in which I felt he was the best part in ring, and I think post Shield break up he has had much worse overall singles run than both Rollins and Reigns. I don't think he had matches on the Indies that stood out in any memorable way. To me, he seemed to get over because of how advanced he was as a promo. He had fine matches, but nothing stood out. It's like Punk's Indy career if you took away the Joe matches. Frankly, I don't think he compares favorably to his contemporaries. I would probably put Sami Callihan on a ballot before him, and it seems that most people here view Callihan as a fringe candidate at best.

[Wade Garrett]

Doesn't have enough under his belt yet to place in a GWE Top-100. I like the guy. Though the ropadope clothesline spot is wearin thin. I know it's become a spot of his but please make it in small doses.

[dawho5]

I feel like the Shield run was booked with Ambrose as the weakest of the three on purpose. And I haven't watched much of his run after the Shield but I imagine that he falls victim to the midcard curse that cuts the legs out from under anyone that doesn't have the backing of the front office. The clothesline spot is annoying after about four times seeing it despite how good of a clothesline it usually ends up being. But if you really think about it, there are probably dozens of guys who have spots that are incredibly awkward/require a lot of setup/can be seen from a mile away that they do every match. That's WWE style for you. As for Ambrose as a worker I like the energy he can bring to a match and I think he's capable of being a very good worker on any given night. I thought he did really well as the crazy guy in the Shield who had to be rescued by Reigns (and occasionally Rollins) when he bit off more than he could chew. He was always the Shield guy left at the mercy of the other team save a few occasions Rollins took that role. And he actually is a pretty good FIP. Could be that he needs a solid tag partner to really shine.

[DMJ]

To me, the problem isn't that he does the slingshot clothesline every match...it's that he does it 4-5 times every match. If he kept it to just once a match, it'd be way more effective.

[Bierschwale]

But if you really think about it, there are probably dozens of guys who have spots that are incredibly awkward/require a lot of setup/can be seen from a mile away that they do every match. That's WWE style for you.

 

I'm ready to completely lose my shit the next time I see Zayn's tope tornado DDT. The one that he hits on Breeze in the fatal four-way from September that turns into a delayed snap suplex is an abomination.

[WingedEagle]

Who has been nominated with fewer matches? Not talking guys with fewer on tape like Destroyer, but literally less matches. Volk Han for sure, but that's a different world.

[Bierschwale]

He's at over 1,000 career matches, which puts him over every indie guy without a long WWE main roster stay/10-15 Japanese tours.

[Jimmy Redman]

Of the three Shield guys he'd be the one I'd be most likely to rank, but I don't know if I can go there.

 

One thing that's easy to forget with the advent of NXT is that he was really great in FCW. The Rollins series, and the Regal feud, with of course all of the promo work as well was all great shit. He was just so great pre-call up and that run is a good bridge between indy Mox and WWE Ambrose.

 

I like the way that he works and I don't agree at all with the argument that he's become some terrible worker post-Shield. He wrestles exactly how the Dean Ambrose character should wrestle. But at the same time, not enough of his post-Shield matches have really grabbed me, and he's not a guy who can rely on a lot of awesome indy matches either. So I think that's what keeps him just outside my list.

[jiraffejustin]

How does his post-WWE run affect his case to y'all? Personally, I am not a fan of his AEW work, but he did just have a real banger with Barnett on Bloodsport. 

[Reel]

Seems like exactly the same wrestler, except now he exchanges elbows in the center of the ring like a rube. 

[strobogo]

11 minutes ago, Reel said:

Seems like exactly the same wrestler, except now he exchanges elbows in the center of the ring like a rube. 

Yeah mostly. He only comes alive when he can do some CZW trash or in a NJ ring. In AEW he's very much settled into the lazy, seemingly completely bored and unmotivated guy he was for much of the last 2-3 years of his WWE run outside of a handful of performances. Seemed to start with the terrible Jericho feud and just stuck with him.

[Reel]

I think he's fine, but his leaving WWE caused a lot of people to act like he became one of the best wrestlers in the world since he left, and nothing has really changed other than he pretends to be a MMA fighter a couple of times a year, except he's an MMA fighter who uses a double arm ddt for some reason. 

[strobogo]

And also has hilariously weak looking strikes. The clips from the match with Bulldog Jr. were so, so bad I don't know how people weren't laughing in the audience.

[Boss Rock]

His AEW stuff is mostly better than when he was in WWE and his NJPW matches have been largely good to great, but still not someone I'd consider for this list. His strengths are still as a promo and character.

[Jmare007]

Too inconsistent for my liking. For every performance and match I'm impressed with, there's a fuck ton I'm bored or disappointed with. He did get a really good match (maybe two?) out of Seth Rollins, sadly they had a myriad of really bad ones too.

It would take a really crazy run for him to be a candidate for me.

[Ed.]

I’ll guess I’ll be the contrary view.

I think his post WWE run is going to get him onto my list.  He was a breath of fresh air in NJPW, with the Ishii, Shingo and Suzuki matches being standouts.  In AEW he feels like the biggest star in the company and his title run produced plenty of good matches - in particular the Darby and Kingston matches.  He probably has MJF’s career match too now I think about it.  At worst he was the 2nd best wrestler in the world last year for me.

The bloodsport Smith match wasn’t too good, but the Barnett one delivered maybe the only great match from the indies on mania weekend.

His WWE career was a mixed bag but then the highs are pretty damn great.  Brilliant program and couple of matches with Regal, a tremendous original 18 months with the Shield, the original feud with Seth, the feud with Owens in late 2015/early 2016, the title match with Triple H at Roadblock which was better than it had any right to be, the AJ Styles feud in late 2016 over the wwe title, the 2017 tag title program with Seth which was great.  After that it dries up a bit when he returns in 2018 and clearly he’s not happy.

I’m not saying he’s a lock, but with more years in AEW to come I feel pretty confident he’ll be on my list. 

[MoS]

13 hours ago, Ed. said:

I’ll guess I’ll be the contrary view.

I think his post WWE run is going to get him onto my list.  He was a breath of fresh air in NJPW, with the Ishii, Shingo and Suzuki matches being standouts.  In AEW he feels like the biggest star in the company and his title run produced plenty of good matches - in particular the Darby and Kingston matches.  He probably has MJF’s career match too now I think about it.  At worst he was the 2nd best wrestler in the world last year for me.

The bloodsport Smith match wasn’t too good, but the Barnett one delivered maybe the only great match from the indies on mania weekend.

His WWE career was a mixed bag but then the highs are pretty damn great.  Brilliant program and couple of matches with Regal, a tremendous original 18 months with the Shield, the original feud with Seth, the feud with Owens in late 2015/early 2016, the title match with Triple H at Roadblock which was better than it had any right to be, the AJ Styles feud in late 2016 over the wwe title, the 2017 tag title program with Seth which was great.  After that it dries up a bit when he returns in 2018 and clearly he’s not happy.

I’m not saying he’s a lock, but with more years in AEW to come I feel pretty confident he’ll be on my list. 

Same here. I honestly thought he was the best wrestler in the world last year. His promo work and character work are stronger than his in-ring work, but his in-ring work is really good too, I like how his matches escalate naturally, and I love how he sets up multiple finishes, something which is a huge weakness in modern wrestling. He was not even an afterthought for me last time and this time, depending on how the next five years turn out, his ceiling is quite high

[Tetsujin]

Yeah his post WWE stuff has been amazing guys. The 2019 NJPW run was fantastic, he killed it against Juice, Ishii, Naito, Takagi, Yano, and had very solid matches with Shota Umino (great three minutes squash), a dull babyface Jeff Cobb, a burned out Goto, MiSu, post prime KENTA, etc. His AEW stuff has some great matches, specially the two Omega hardcore matches, but you can also watch him being a dominant ace against Darby Allin, Janela -which I hate-, Brodie, Cage, MJF... I love his title reign, all those matches were worked different yet still very close to what Mox as a character is. And then you can watch him in the indies giving great matches with Killer Kross, Dickinson and recently the long awaited Barnett match, that one was HUGE.

I also like his WWE run. FCW and Shield Ambrose was fun as hell and gave us some great singles and tag/tríos matches (fuck, the TLC against Ryback and HellNo and the EC Wyatts matches are two of the greatest matches in WWE history, and Ambrose played a big role in both). 2014 Ambrose was over as fuck and worked great with Rollins and Bray Wyatt. He's inconsistent in 2015-19, yeah, but his good stuff is very enjoyable (title match with Triple H, Ladder with Seth, the Styles series, Miz matches, tags with Rollins against The Bar and Ziggler & McIntyre).

His pre WWE stuff also have some fun performances against Bryan or Brodie, but I'm not a deathmatch guy so most of that early career stuff remains unexplored for me.

I wouldn't vote for him right now because I'm not really into voting for current wrestlers (I mean, wrestlers that haven't make their careers already, not guys like Bryan, AJ or Tanahashi who already built their legacy). But if he continues at this level by 2026, I would really think about putting him at the bottom of my list.

[Ma Stump Puller]

Never really got Ambrose/Moxley at all, he just seems like a overly obnoxious "tough guy" stereotype with some loose brawling behind him and surprisingly sloppy wrestling at times. He's good when he has to rely less on his rep and focuses on having fun matches that don't drag a lot. NJPW was the only place where I actively tolerated his antics because he didn't always turn his matches into trash brawls with crazy spots, which he always seems to devolve into when given too much leeway: it works in big blood feuds (Ishii match excluding) but I hated his KENTA match and whatnot. As noted above, he's also very noticeable when he's not really engaged and struggles to have B-show performances without looking like he'd rather be elsewhere, of which he has YEARS of WWE material where that's the case. He's got great energy when he's on, the opposite is sadly true as well. 

The guy needs a hot crowd, a fairly solid opponent, and the right conditions suiting him to have a properly great match. Not saying he hasn't had matches that I've enjoyed a ton, but way out of the top 100 zone by far. Maybe there's a X-Factor I'm not seeing. 

 

 

[Phil Schneider]

He has been on a hellacious run since returning from rehab, the Danielson match was a career match for sure, and he has been having great matches both in AEW and seemingly every week on the indies. He has added some Regalish touches to his ring work since the Blackpool Combat Club, and leading a blood renaissance. I thought the Deppen match last weekend was an under the radar banger, and the Busick and Tom Lawlor matches were killer bloodbaths.

[Tetsujin]

Any link to the Lawlor?match ? Needless to say I'm interested.

[Ma Stump Puller]

2 hours ago, Tetsujin said:

Any link to the Lawlor?match ? Needless to say I'm interested.

Here 

Surprisingly not half bad despite it falling into the usual lulls that his matches tend to do

 

 

[KawadaSmile]

Very good garbage wrestler, specially now that AEW is willing to do crazy shit, but honestly has been responsible for some of the worst matches of the past decade, and much of their faults fall squarely on him just being bored. That Wrestlemania match against Baron Corbin is probably one of the most glaring examples of a wrestler simply not giving a single fuck about what was happening, yet following everything according to plan.

Don't really get him being part of this shooty-like stable when he's not that kind of guy, tho.

[Ma Stump Puller]

2 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

Very good garbage wrestler, specially now that AEW is willing to do crazy shit, but honestly has been responsible for some of the worst matches of the past decade, and much of their faults fall squarely on him just being bored. That Wrestlemania match against Baron Corbin is probably one of the most glaring examples of a wrestler simply not giving a single fuck about what was happening, yet following everything according to plan.

Don't really get him being part of this shooty-like stable when he's not that kind of guy, tho.

Yeah I made that point as well: when Mox is engaged and all systems go he's amazing at building up crowd energy and getting everyone hype, but at the same time he kinda wears his emotions on his sleeve and if he doesn't care then you REALLY know it just by how he acts and wrestles. Him being apart of BCC is a bit of a weird choice but if it means we get more of his NJPW self where he's more grounded and focused on physicality without trash brawls then I'm all up for it tbh.