[2015-01-05-WWE-Raw] Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt (Ambulance Match)

[Bierschwale]

The esteemed Mr. Sleeze originally wrote (because I can't actually quote the original post because I'm an idiot):

 

 

 

I lost interest in Ambrose after the botched Rollins feud and I never had interest in Wyatt. This match was hooked me right back on board with both characters (Ambrose moreso). Since this was on a shitty episode of RAW I think it has been totally overlooked. This was their best match together by far and showed how well both can be in their respective roles as upper midcard faces and heels. They finally gave a match a proper babyface shine where Ambrose kicked his ass all the way to the ambulance before the first Wyatt cutoff being when he was almost hoisted into ambulance. That is how you build crowd support behind a babyface and make a heel seem desperate. If you go right to the heat segment, there is no desperation on the part of the heel to cheat or use underhanded tactics. Then the match goes from good to great when, Ambrose was the man selling that knee. From great to excellent, the way he was struggling from underneath to just keep that damn Wyatt from his leg was awesome. When Ambrose is able to pull together a flurry of offense, Wyatt always has an explosive cutoff. I love how Ambrose has one last big shot in him when he just dives off the ambulance onto Wyatt through the table. The finish was bit too forced but given who they wanted to win was necessary. I thought crowd heat was hurt a lot because they wrestled the majority of the match around the ambulance so most of the audience had a hard time seeing, but logically if you are going to have an ambulance match the match should surround the ambulance. It is not their fault, but an inherent flaw of the gimmick. Since, I watched it on TV, I had no problem with it, but wanted to point out the crowd dynamics issue. Overall, an awesome brawl that told a great Die Hard story for Ambrose and Wyatt looks the best he has looked since the Shield/Wyatt feud. Easy RAW MOTYC and a projected, fringe MOTYC ****1/2

[Bierschwale]

I do agree that this is a really excellent match, one trapped on possibly the worst RAW in a few-month span that had some of its worst overall episodes ever. Very minimal drama about getting the opponent into the ambulance, just two dudes beating the shit out of each other and making what is historically a terrible gimmick match into an awesome brawl that had a genuine flow and strong storytelling from beginning to end with a genuine sense of finality in the finish. Ambrose has had an INCONSISTENT 2015 to say the least (And for as much of the "Reigns political hit" perpetuation that has come, which I really agree with, it is actually shocking to see the post-Rollins cooldown that Ambrose has received where he's only actually wrestled on about half of the live programming for the main roster since then, with only one singles win in the last four months, without having any kind of notable injury because he's wrestled on SmackDown or Main Event for nearly every one of those weeks), but he's genuinely great in this match.

 

I'm not sure of a WWE match this year that deserves a re-watch more than this one because of it just having such a dreary setting, coming at the end of a feud where two guys were told to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, and being surrounded with all-time joke match gimmick that meant that it was really hard to get a read of it live.

[supersonic]

Easily my favorite of their series dating back to June 2014. They mixed in the usual storytelling and chaotic brawling with some psychology this time, as Wyatt slammed one of the ambulance doors on Ambrose's left knee, then targeted it. Ambrose did a great job of selling this joint throughout the entire match, putting forth an incredible effort to slay the monster that only the face of the WWE had been able to put down to date. But a headlock DDT was evaded at the end, as Wyatt hit the Sister Abigail on the ambulance door, going over to groom him for his next opponent. I sure hope there's a payoff in mind for all the times Ambrose is losing and/or getting fucked though. ***3/4

[Chess Knight]

A GOOD AMBULANCE MATCH. Late to the party on Ambrose in 2014 but he was as awesome as everyone said he was, and I would have never watched this (especially with the gimmick that's.....not usually as good as a lot of other gimmicks....attached to it) unless that was the case. And THAT would have been a shame because I can't remember a match with this gimmick that came close to this. Seeing babyface shine start the match was great for multiple reasons; (a) it's not always promised in WWE hate feuds, sadly, (b) Ambrose has a wild man approach to his offense that can easily get a crowd going, and (c) Wyatt has an especially dangerous rep so watching him caught early is a nice rarity. Seeing Wyatt resort to focusing on the leg was appropriately desperate from him at the time, and Ambrose was selling that leg the entire match even long after Wyatt had stopped targeting it. That did a great job of putting over the damage Wyatt had already done to it, and made Ambrose's own already risky offense even more risky. You never realise how much an AMULANCE MATCH can be helped by a guy who's willing to hurl himself into things. They had me a few times in the final moments; I was pretty sure it was over a good three times when it wasn't, and that involved some actually really good use of the ambulance-y weapons they had (including the ambulance table...a WWE table painting white with a red cross on the top). This makes three really good matches these two had around 2014 (this is close to 2014 so w/e), I might need to look for more just in case.