5 greatest rivals of Dean Ambrose in WWE

Since making his WWE main roster debut on November 18, 2012, ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ Dean Ambrose has achieved numerous major accomplishments and is also currently the youngest Grand Slam Champion in the WWE, having previously won the WWE Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and all the other major title belts in the company.

Despite being a major part of The Shield at one point of time, Ambrose has enjoyed an immense amount of success as a singles competitor and over these past six years on the main roster.

‘The Lunatic Fringe’ has been part of some of the most exciting rivalries of all time. Therefore, here are 5 of Dean Ambrose’s greatest rivals in the WWE:

#5 Chris Jericho

At one point of time Dean Ambrose’s rivalry with Chris Jericho was one of my personal favorite dream rivalries of all time.

Following Ambrose’s WrestleMania 32 loss against Brock Lesnar, the WWE finally decided to pair-up Ambrose and Jericho for a feud on the main roster.

The two men initially began a rivalry after Shane McMahon canceled Jericho’s Highlight Reel and replaced it with The Ambrose Asylum Talk Show, which eventually led to a match between the two men at Payback 2016, where Ambrose defeated Jericho for the very first time.

Shortly afterward, Y2J and Ambrose extended their feud, when Jericho smashed the latter with his potted plant ‘Mitch’ after Ambrose initially destroyed Y2J’s signature light-up jacket.

‘The Lunatic Fringe’ then once again laid down another challenge for ‘The Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla’ this time in the first ever Asylum Match.

Ambrose eventually concluded his feud with Jericho by defeating the former six-time WWE World Champion in the Asylum Match, after slamming him onto a bed of thumbtacks, followed by the Dirty Deeds to pick up the win.

#4. Kevin Owens

This was arguably one of the most charismatic rivalries of all time. Both Owens and Ambrose were and still are two of the very best on the mic and there is certainly no doubt regarding the fact how awesome both men are inside the squared circle as well.

Ambrose and Owens’ rivalry was well-built and had everything you would expect from a mid-card feud.

‘The Lunatic Fringe’ initially won a #1 Contender Match and challenged for the Intercontinental Title, which was being held by Owens at that point of time and it was definitely one of the hottest IC Title reigns of all time.

Owens as IC Champion was brilliant and entertaining and at one point of time it definitely felt like we could possibly witness Owens as the IC Champion forever.

However, that was apparently not the case as ‘The Prizefighter’ eventually ran into ‘The Lunatic’ at the 2015 TLC pay-per-view.

Ambrose, much to everyone’s surprise dethroned Owens as the Intercontinental Champion on their very first occasion and this also marked the first reign of Dean Ambrose as the IC Champion of the WWE.

After picking up another win over Owens on an episode of SmackDown, Ambrose was then slated to defend the IC Title in a Last Man Standing match at the 2016 Royal Rumble event, where both men absolutely destroyed each other and the Champion eventually retained the title in a gruesome manner.

However, Dean Ambrose would then go on to lose the WWE Intercontinental Title in a Fatal Five-Way match to non-other than Kevin Owens on an episode of Raw, thus ending their entertaining rivalry in perfect fashion.

#3. Bray Wyatt

Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt engage in a wild brawl

It is somewhat hard to argue with the fact that both Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose are two of the craziest Superstars the WWE has ever seen in recent times and seeing them compete in an intense and heated feud was definitely very astonishing, to say the least.

Wyatt and Ambrose’s rivalry began at Hell In A Cell, 2014, when the former interfered in the WWE Championship match between Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins and cost ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ the match and the WWE Title as well.

Throughout this feud the two men also delivered a brilliant performance on the microphone as well, cutting numerous amazing promos against each other, with Wyatt also mentioning the past of Ambrose’s alcoholic father and in response

‘The Lunatic’ went on to destroy Sister Abigail’s rocking chair prior to their showdown at TLC.

At TLC, Wyatt picked up the win over Dean Ambrose, when he accidentally let a monitor explode on his face, allowing ‘The Eater of Worlds’ to pick up the win.

The two men subsequently culminated the feud with an Ambulance Match on Raw, with Wyatt once again picking up the win.

However, this feud truly showed how amazing and underrated Ambrose and Wyatt are in terms of in-ring skills and mic skills as well.

#2. AJ Styles

Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles confronting each other

Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles’ feud was a classic case of babyface vs heel. Ambrose who entered this rivalry as the glooming babyface WWE Champion had the uphill task of defending his Championship belt against the recently turned heel AJ Styles, who was coming off a huge victory over John Cena at SummerSlam, 2016.

Ambrose and Styles’ rivalry was amazing and despite the former losing the WWE Title in his first defense against ‘The Phenomenal One’ at Backlash, ‘The Lunatic Fringe’ certainly did not fall down the pecking order on the blue brand of SmackDown Live.

Shortly afterward, Dean Ambrose would go on to give 16-time WWE World Champion John Cena his first clean loss on WWE TV for the first time in nearly seven years.

At No Mercy, Ambrose then competed in another amazing WWE Title match against AJ Styles, but this time with the inclusion of John Cena as well.

But, despite failing to win the WWE Title yet again, Ambrose would subsequently go on to defeat AJ Styles in a non-title match on SmackDown Live and the feud between the two men eventually culminated with an epic TLC match.

This feud certainly did mark the beginning of an amazing title reign for AJ Styles, but throughout this intense rivalry, WWE did manage to make sure that Dean Ambrose maintained his level of stardom and kept him as one of the biggest challenges and rivals to AJ Styles and his WWE Title.

#1. Seth Rollins

Prior to signing with the WWE, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins were considered two of the biggest up and coming stars on the Independent circuit with Ambrose rising through the ranks of CZW and Rollins working his magic under Ring of Honor.

Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins initially kick-started their feud during their FCW days where they put on some absolutely stellar matches as part of WWE’s then-developmental brand.

Upon their call-up to the main roster, the two men along with Roman Reigns, debuted as part of The Shield and earned an immense amount of success under the faction’s initial tenure.

However, it was in the year 2014-15, when Ambrose and Rollins eventually took their rivalry to the very next level that saw them initially compete in a high stakes match at SummerSlam, 2014 and shortly afterward, Ambrose also found himself on the receiving end of a brutal Curb-Stomp through a pile of cinderblocks.

With Rollins having the back-up of The Authority, which included the likes of The Big Show, Kane, Randy Orton, and J&J Security, Ambrose, on the other hand, was absolutely perfect to portray the role of the anti-authority babyface in this feud, a character which was previously portrayed by ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin during the attitude era.

Ambrose and Rollins’ rivalry spelled brilliance and was tremendous through and through in-terms of storytelling, in-ring match qualities, and promos as well.

This feud is certainly bound to go down as one of the most iconic feuds in WWE history and if we get the chance of witnessing Rollins and Ambrose throw it down once again in the near future, then we are surely in for yet another treat from the two very best of this generation.

Edited by Akhilesh Tirumala