In 2016, WWE was gifted with some of the hottest rising new stars, namely the three men in The Shield – Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins. In the lead up to WrestleMania 32, it was set in stone that the main event would see Roman Reigns face Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, however, this was completely the wrong choice, and instead, Reigns and Ambrose should have battled for the title in that illustrious spot.
Ambrose Should Have Been A Main Event Babyface
After Seth Rollins had turned his back on The Shield, Dean Ambrose became one of the most popular faces in the company. Reactions for him were hot, and he came across as someone who could be the perfect anti-authority character. However, it was clear from day one that WWE had seen Reigns as the number one face and were grooming him for greatness. For whatever reason, WWE didn’t see what the fans did in Ambrose and seemed hesitant to push him to the top at the same time as Reigns when there was more than enough room for both in the main event scene.
Ambrose’s character underwent a lot of goofiness following The Shield breakup, yet still retained his support. Reigns, on the other hand, became a bland, by-the-book babyface, and not able to showcase his charisma – and fans were simply not buying it. Both had poor characters and poor booking, but Reigns was still able to win world title gold, whilst Ambrose floundered without direction.
At the Royal Rumble event, Reigns walked into the Rumble as WWE Champion, forced to defend his title from the number one position. This was to set up Triple H winning the belt, in an attempt to recapture the magic of Austin vs McMahon, and Bryan vs The Authority. Reigns didn’t have the coolness of Austin nor the underdog aura of Bryan to pull off being someone anti-authority, especially when his push felt forced, and he never felt held back. Ambrose, on the other hand, was a perfect fit for that role. At the Rumble, Ambrose found himself in the final two, and the crowd was electric for him, but he, unfortunately, came runner-up.
Ambrose Should Have Won The WWE Title On The Road To WrestleMania
There is an argument to be made that Ambrose should have won the Rumble, but even more of an argument could be made that he should’ve won the title over the next couple of months. He entered a feud with HHH, and the fans rooted for him hugely. He came incredibly close to winning the belt at Roadblock but fell short, and WWE went with their original plan for the main event of Mania.
Ambrose winning the belt here would have set up a face vs face match, with fans likely to be on the side of Ambrose. However, with their history, an intriguing story could have been set up. Ambrose has always helped to make Reigns more likable, which has been shown whenever they teamed up together following the Shield split, and that could have happened during a feud. As has been proven over the last couple of years, a heel Reigns would have worked wonders, and a match between the pair could have turned them both into megastars.
WWE Relied Too Much On Part-Time Names
Instead, Ambrose would go on to face Brock Lesnar. Whilst the build-up to their match was hot, the subsequent contest was underwhelming. HHH and Reigns wrestled a plodding main event that sucked the life from the crowd, with fans awaiting a Reigns heel turn or big swerve which never came. The outcome of the event saw two matches that were intended to be main event draws become two of the biggest letdowns in Mania history, with a poor main event to cap off a long, drawn-out evening.
On paper, Reigns vs HHH looks to be more impressive, but in hindsight, the bigger match was Reigns vs Ambrose. A clash between two present-day stars with a story that writes itself, facing each other in a huge clash to try and emerge as the next big thing had money written all over it – if only WWE had committed to pushing new names, instead of relying on part-timers, which has been a huge problem for WWE, especially during Mania season.
It was a big, missed opportunity too, looking back. Aside from Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank contract in the WrestleMania 31 main event, none of three Shield members have ever faced each other at a WrestleMania. This seems like a baffling occurrence, as pitting any man against the other seems to be such an easy story to tell. With Ambrose no longer in WWE, it seems like the company missed the boat on a big-time match. If WWE had pulled the trigger on Ambrose, he may still be in the company as a top name, however, the easy, predictable, and boring option was gone with instead.