Why You Should Be Excited About Dean Ambrose and Mick Foley's Feud

[JGlass]

For those of you that are not aware, FCW star Dean Ambrose had some choice words for WWE legend Mick Foley over WrestleMania weekend. The best part is that is was all caught on a cell phone camera.


Now it's fairly obvious to the seasoned wrestling viewer that this was a total work. Any young wrestler would know that threatening one of the company's most beloved alums would be career suicide. On top of this, Ambrose's claim that Foley is the sole reason wrestling is as dangerous as it is and that there are 15 year old boys that are killing themselves imitating Foley is purely ludicrous.

But don't tell that to the guy in the video. He took his kid for a special opportunity to meet Mick Foley, and some shmuck comes up and ruins this special treat. I imagine the other fans in the area felt similarly perturbed by Ambrose's threats, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them got the hell out of there before things got ugly.

What's great about this is that the average fan can almost certainly not decipher the difference between kayfabe and reality. The plan was perfectly executed: the video was shot on a camera phone and uploaded from a YouTube account that was unaffiliated with the WWE, and WWE programming hasn't touched this feud, kind of like they're trying to hide it as they would do so for any disagreement between wrestlers.

So why should you be excited by this? Because the WWE is fully committing to the "reality era". We got a taste of it with CM Punk's shoot last summer, and bringing back Tough Enough certainly added another aspect to the reality approach, but since then it's settled down. The Rock/Cena feud certainly had aspects of realism to it in terms of the twitter comments and YouTube videos, but since most of the feud took place on TV it took away the aspects of realism.

The WWE's commitment to the reality era means more moments that fans will be buzzing about. Punk's worked shoot, this public confrontation, John Cena getting busted open by Lesnar... all of these are your typical watercooler moments. Expect the WWE to put more effort into creating these moments that will have every type of fan talking.

The WWE has also found a way to get people talking about wrestlers before they even appear on the weekly shows. This is a HUGE benefit, as it usually takes a few shows for the WWE crowds to decide how to react to a wrestler. When Dean Ambrose shows up on Raw or Smackdown, people won't be confused: they're going to boo the shit out of the guy that fucked with Mick Foley.

And what does this show us about feuds? If this is the sort of effort the WWE is willing to put in for a rookie and a retired wrestler, imagine what they'll do for the stars of the WWE. Instead of the same old feuds being rehashed over and over, we'll get things based on alleged real life animosity, or events that are much more believable than Kane wanting Cena to "embrace the hate" or the anything Alberto Del Rio does.

Wrestling is finally moving into the 21st century with the rest of us, and I for one am excited. This feud between Dean Ambrose and Mick Foley is just a taste of things to come. Be prepared, because the reality era is about to arrive in full force.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I'm not one of the WWE following that fully believes they're fabricating this "reality era" as some keenly refer to it. Have WWE finally brought some real life aspects and terms to light? Yes, from the outset of CM Punk's worked shoot to the promos he had while interacting with Triple H, to Kevin Nash and Triple H's work back to the entire Jericho/Punk debacle. It all appears to be very real, but in certain other places they're not enforcing this reality characteristic and it leaves me rejecting the insinuation that we're in the midst of the "reality era".

In relation to Jon Moxley, or Dean Ambrose to those who pay little attention to the independent circuit, I will be one person who won't be booing him once he debuts. Guy is a genius and since he arrived in Florida I've heard very few poor criticisms of his work. Coming from a place such as Combat Zone Wrestling the dude has been through the wars, I believe he was once taken to the hospital due to blood loss after a match. He is as hardcore as they come and the angle they've began with Foley is very interesting. And WWE must have faith in him, because if you look through the last decade, the few young talent that have worked with Mick Foley have all rocketed to stardom. Triple H (while he was still active!), Randy Orton, Edge and next on the list appears to be Dean Ambrose.

Interested to see where they take the feud. Foley was quoted as saying he has one big bump left in him, he knows where and when he wants to take it and he knows who he wants to take it against. I realize hardcore matches including excessive violence are a rarity these days, but if WWE will allow anybody to go extreme It'll be Mick Foley and if they were to scour the company for one man who would go to the extreme and take risks, it would be Dean Ambrose. Google Jon Moxley, dude is warrior and genuinely insane.

 

[Diet Soda]

[YOUTUBE]Ubjr1rzahzE[/YOUTUBE]

I'm looking forward to where this goes to.

Dean Ambrose has an interesting look. We've seen the unhinged psychopath characters come and go, but he seems to have nailed it with his body language and facial gestures, whereas wrestlers portraying nutters in the past have generally overacted and come off as sort of campy. Ambrose seriously looks like he would punt a baby or set a homeless person on fire.

Which gels great with Mick Foley, who is best known for portraying deranged characters with believability and intensity. I guess the angle would be something along the lines of Ambrose continuing to accuse Foley of "ruining a generation" of wrestlers, but it emerging that the reason Ambrose is so loony is because he was the one imitating Foley as a child, and blames him. Or something.



I bet Cody Rhodes wishes he could cut promos as well as this...

[YOUTUBE]ZMjYU87aI5o[/YOUTUBE]

 

[PowerHouse]

This fued is gonna be good for a couple reasons.First Ambrose like Foley is an accomplished Harcore wrestler and He may actually be sicker than Foley is. Secondly Ambrose is a fantastic ring worker and will really make the match fun to watch even with Foley's age and body probably not able to do alot of the things he used to do. Ambrose plays a very good crazed character and is capable of literally anything. All you have to do is go to his days in CZW to get an idea of what he will put his body thru. I saw him get his head sliced open by an electric knife it was sick!!!!! The things him and foley could bring to a match in the WWE could really ROCK the WWE and gain it more fans.

 

[jerry20xx]

If Ambrose is so good, why haven't I heard of him before his signing with WWE? If he was so good, why has he been in development? Why has it taken him this long to finally come to light in the WWE?

Just saying...you talk like the dude has been around for a while when he just debuted in 2004..

 

[futurefrog]

I don't see anything special in Ambrose at all. This 'feud' is pathetic. As a fan of wrestling, I don't want to have to follow storylines through social media and shit like that. I want to see them play out on that wrestling show that I watch. Ambrose is nothing special, his ring work is weak and his mic work is average at best.

 

[OneTooManyPunts]

If I'm Ambrose right now, I'm excited and nervous as hell. I can't recall the last time WWE decided to introduce a new talent in quite this fashion.

By deciding to lay the ground work for this feud on Twitter, the WWE is taking a big chance. A lot of fans, especially those that aren't actively apart of the IWC, will have no idea who this is, and probably aren't watching FCW.

That puts a lot of pressure on Ambrose to deliver in the ring, and on the mic when he debuts. It's not uncommon for talent to be introduced in an angle against an established star, Brock Lesnar destroyed Matt and Jeff Hardy, Cena stepped up to Kurt Angle.....but with Mick Foley considered a 'Legend' in the eyes of many fans, it puts this feud on some what of another level.

I don't really see Foley stepping back in to the ring in the near future, and that makes me wonder what the payoff, other than Ambrose introduction, will be with all of this.

There's no denying he can go in the ring, and he has a bright future ahead of him, but I'm hoping WWE keeps this thing on a clear and well mapped out path, because there's risk of this being a tad too under the radar.

With all that said, if I'm wrong, and Foley does put Ambrose over in the ring, then he has a pretty good indicator that WWE has high aspirations for him.

No matter what, glad to see new talent being introduced in new ways.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I love Dean Ambrose. The guy has it all. The look, the charisma, the in-ring skills and the ability to completely drown himself in his character. I love his psychotic twitches and random tantrums. I saw that one 30-minute match between him and Seth Rollins and I've never seen a better match in a long time. The way he laughs when he's in a submission hold is very reminiscent of Raven. God, I wish this guy would debut ASAP on WWE television 'cause I've followed him quite a bit when he was Jon Moxley. The guy is impressive. I'd love to see some wide scale ring battles between Dean Ambrose and CM Punk, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Kassius Ohno and Dean Ambrose vs Daniel Bryan all while on the main WWE roster. Those are dream matches waiting to happen. Thing is, he's already had three of those matches while in FCW and that's something. I look forward to this man's run.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

this fued should be good looking forward to when dean debuts obviously foley will end up putting him over now that dean is getting his call up i really hope to see seth rollins/tyler black coming up shortly afterwards

 

[Peoples_Champ]

I'm very happy for Ambrose. He's a wonderful talent and will definitely be one to watch in the near future.

My concern isn't so much with the feud, but WWE's over reliance on twitter and youtube. Social media has it's benefits, but I get the feeling WWE is trying to make something go viral, which is irrelevant. Like the CM Punk / Chris Brown thing from a few months ago, it was gone as quickly as it came. All the time WWE spent on promoting the beef was pointless in the end. It might have attracted a few more viewers to their product, but it could also have detracted just as many Chris Brown fans from the WWE product.

Having a feud start over twitter or youtube is an interesting idea, I just don't think it will work. It's like those youshoot videos, there are ton out there with interesting content, but the generic fan will never see it. The only possibility I can see coming from this is WWE trying to work the IWC into accepting and taking notice of Ambrose. Otherwise, I don't see the point.

 

[Diet Soda]

If I'm Ambrose right now, I'm excited and nervous as hell. I can't recall the last time WWE decided to introduce a new talent in quite this fashion.

As the right honourable JGlass said, this is an entirely novel way of building hype to debut a superstar, and it's an exciting way to do it because it of the implications it has for kayfabe.

By deciding to lay the ground work for this feud on Twitter, the WWE is taking a big chance. A lot of fans, especially those that aren't actively apart of the IWC, will have no idea who this is, and probably aren't watching FCW.

It's a gamble, in a way, but one without a huge risk. I guess WWE were hoping this would get picked up by other news and sports media to fuel it. Nevertheless, @WWE has over a million followers who will make up a fairly good representation of the audience.

I'll be honest and admit, because I'm not cynical, that the first time I watched it I fell for it. And of course immediately thought, 'thanks for coming Dean, see you later'.
But upon repeat viewings, signs that it's a work creep through, foremostly the fact that he uses his WWE name. Moreover, Ambrose is still using his WWE Twitter account to slate Foley with #thanksmick, and the links to backyard wrestling botches.

Anyroad, I'm certainly more excited for this than I am for Albert or that Damian Sandow bloke.