Ambrose's Next Opponent

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE.com featured promo given by The Shield, though almost entirely by Dean Ambrose, which was conducted following the six man tag team match between The Shield vs. The Usos & Christian on SmackDown!.

http://www.wwe.com/videos/dean-ambr...r-christian-wwecom-exclusive-june-28-26127872

Ambrose gives a great promo here, probably his best since coming to the main roster, and essentially challenges Christian. Fitting as it was Christian who scored the pin over Ambrose in the six man tag match. In the promo, I especially liked how Ambrose brings up the fact that Christian is much older and has been dealing with injuries for a while now. It kinda gave me the feeling of WWE possibly going with a younger male in a pride or pack rising up to challenge and ultimately take out the much older, weaker alpha male. While Christian isn't exactly a true alpha male, you get my meaning.

I've suspected that Ambrose & Christian would feud over the US title and I think it's a perfect feud for Ambrose at this point in his career. Christian has accomplished quite a bit as a mid-card singles and tag team wrestler and, thus far, it doesn't look as though he's missed a single step since being out with injuries for almost a year. He's consistently over with the fans and delivers top quality matches. I think it's beyond obvious that Christian won't be winning the WWE Championship MITB ladder match at the ppv, though I don't think very many expected him to in the first place. This budding feud with Ambrose, however, only seems to have cemented it.

It's possible that Ambrose could win the WHC MITB ladder match and ultimately drop the US title to Christian, possibly at SummerSlam, but I truly hope WWE doesn't go in that direction. It's just my opinion, but I see much more of an upside to Ambrose still being, at least, US champ and having a strong run whether he wins at MITB or not.

 

[sanefan_har]

Essentially, your opinion is that if Ambrose wins at MITB, he should be holding the US Belt when cashing his MitB contract.

Coming to the question at hand, Ambrose looks like he'll be in a feud with Christian for now, but I believe the answer to Ambrose's next opponent following this feud depends on whether he holds the championship.

Also, it would be better for Ambrose's heel turn if he took a psychotic turn with his character, given that he's already having an eccentric edge to his character. A guy like Dutch Mantell, Dusty Rhodes or even Paul Heyman could come up with some good storylines for him.
(I say Dusty Rhodes because he came up with the Wyatt Family gimmick)

 

[LSN80]

Essentially, your opinion is that if Ambrose wins at MITB, he should be holding the US Belt when cashing his MitB contract.

I didn't read it that way, but whatever. Either way, here's the rub: Ambrose has up to one year to cash-in the MITB briefcase. So he could hold the U.S. title for some time before he drops it, the MITB contract as well. That's how I see things playing out, anyways.

As for an Ambrose/Christian feud, I think it would be fantastic. As good as I think Randy Orton has come within the ring, it was he and Christian that had some of, if not the, best matches of Orton's career, ones that were a turning point for Orton between the ropes at that. Given time, I think Ambrose, who's not as polished as Orton but very entertaining, could have some great matches with Ambrose as well. Ambrose overcoming Christian, further, would be another notch in the proverbial belt by defending the title against another former two-time champion in the same way he did so against Kane.

I'm a huge Christian guy, and while I think his main event time has passed, he's still a steady mid-card guy who can certainly lead younger talent to very good matches. I was thinking they were going to drop the Christian/Shield issue, or write it off as attacking the guy on his night back when Christian returned, but instead, they've put him front and center in the feud with the Shield, even making him only the second person ever to score a pin over the Shield in a 6-man tag match. So I'm glad to see they're seemingly picking up the Christian/Ambrose feud and running with it.

Ambrose is my favorite to win the WHC MITB briefcase, and they could even play out a scenario like they did with RVD and Shelton Benjamin in 2006. While I'm not a fan of Ambrose dropping the U.S. title so soon, he could drop it briefly to Christian, with the rematch coming in an "all-or-nothing" match. Winner gets the U.S. Title and the MITB briefcase, while the loser gets, well, nothing. Further, a Christian/Ambrose could open the door to more former World Champions chasing the U.S. title, putting prestige back on it, as was the intention all along. Having Christian challenge could lead to other World Champions, beaten down by the Shield, looking to take from them. What better way to take then the titles?

A Christian/Ambrose feud could do wonders for the title, which I have no doubt will happen following the excellent Ambrose promo. The Kane/Ambrose pairing simply didn't work, mostly due to style, but matches between Christian and Ambrose have real promise. Further, I'd have no problem with Ambrose dropping the title to Christian as long as he got it back and it gave him even more momentum.

 

[JustAnotherJames]

It was kinda obvious that this was what was going to happen and as Jack Hammer says this cements the up coming feud. As for Ambrose winning the WHC MITB briefcase I hope that he doesn't win it, purely because I don't think he's ready yet and I don't want the trigger pulled on Ambrose now. He still has so much to do, a long with the rest of The Shield.

 

[Blade]

Winning the Money in the Bank isn't like winning the Royal Rumble. Winning the Royal Rumble means you have to be ready to be part of the title scene at that moment. The MitB means you have a year to get ready for the title scene. So while Ambrose may not be 'there' yet, he'd have plenty of time once he won the briefcase to have a few good US title feuds before a cash-in.

I do want Ambrose to win the MitB, because I'm a sucker for a talker. But I'm unsure as to whether WWE would send the Shield's push that much into overdrive. Either way, a programme with Christian would only be good for Ambrose. Christian has that talent that so many Canadian guys seem to have of making any opponent look great. With the irrelevance that has plagued the midcard titles in the last few years, this feud good be great for the US title. One of the hottest young talents in the company against one of the most reliable veterans would add some much needed prestige.

So yeah, I'm really, really looking forward to this. The positions and talents of Christian and Ambrose crossed with the possible X factor of the Money in the Bank, it'll be a really compelling feud with a lot to fight over.

 

[JustAnotherJames]

Winning the Money in the Bank isn't like winning the Royal Rumble. Winning the Royal Rumble means you have to be ready to be part of the title scene at that moment. The MitB means you have a year to get ready for the title scene. So while Ambrose may not be 'there' yet, he'd have plenty of time once he won the briefcase to have a few good US title feuds before a cash-in.

I do want Ambrose to win the MitB, because I'm a sucker for a talker. But I'm unsure as to whether WWE would send the Shield's push that much into overdrive. Either way, a programme with Christian would only be good for Ambrose. Christian has that talent that so many Canadian guys seem to have of making any opponent look great. With the irrelevance that has plagued the midcard titles in the last few years, this feud good be great for the US title. One of the hottest young talents in the company against one of the most reliable veterans would add some much needed prestige.

So yeah, I'm really, really looking forward to this. The positions and talents of Christian and Ambrose crossed with the possible X factor of the Money in the Bank, it'll be a really compelling feud with a lot to fight over.

I see and completely agree where you're coming from. I never really looked at it that way and you're correct it would be a compelling feud and now I'm quite excited at the possibility of it. But I don't see that happening just yet for The Shield. Personally I'm hoping for Cody of Barret to win the WHC MITB Briefcase.

 

[byrnside]

Great post, Hammer. I've been waiting for the announcement of this match since people have been waiting for Christian to return. A lot of skeptics questioned who he could feud with and I immediately thought of The Shield, specifically Ambrose. Then a few weeks ago on Smackdown, The Shield attacked Christian seemingly out of nowhere and my speculation was all but confirmed. What confused me was Ambrose's announcement in the WHC Money in the Bank match. I assumed he would have a much better chance of winning a case next year after The Shield has started to run its course and would eventually lead to their split. It could still happen that way as I expect Wade Barrett to win the case this year, but I digress. I wouldn't mind to see Ambrose win the case this year and carry both the US title and the WHC case for a while. I'm still of the mindset that the WWE is trying to re-establish their mid-card titles, and having one of the champions also carry a case could do just that.

[EDIT] Just noticed some of the previous posts from Blade and Just Another James. I don't see why Ambrose couldn't be the US champ when cashing in. It would make the US title seem that much more important.

Back to the topic at hand, Christian is a perfect, next opponent for Ambrose. His in-ring skill can provide for some great chemistry between the two that could carry them a few months if they wanted it to while also, hopefully, giving Ambrose a giant rub. I wouldn't be surprised to see The Shield cost Christian his chance at the WWE title briefcase at Money in the Bank stemming into a match and feud between Ambrose and Christian at Summerslam.

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

Christian's return is just what the WWE needed as the Shield have beaten pretty much everyone else in the mid-card/upper mid-card. I'd like to see Ambrose cut some more promos and making the US title his. The UNITED STATES OF SHIELD!!! Christian and Ambrose could be a really awesome feud if done right. The good thing is that Axel and Ambrose have brought credibility to a once dead mid-card. Now they need good feuds to make the titles mean something because a champion is only as good as his challenger.

 

[torres]

Christian has been World Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight, Intercontinental, European, ECW, Hardcore, and Tag Team Champion. Besides the WWE Championship, the only other title missing in his resume is the United States Championship.

 

[The Eighties]

Christian is the perfect foil right now for Ambrose, he is still very over, he can work a good match with anyone and he can talk. The latter I think could be very important as the more promos Ambrose gets to cut the better for him and he's yet to have someone he can do a promo back and forth with in the ring, this feud should be used to showcase him in that way IMO.

 

[chicagokmc]

The problem is Ambrose (along with Reins and Rollins) has a lower tier belt. The US championship is a title but it will never have the prestige in the WWE that it had back in the WCW days. On top of this, to get Ambrose and the Shield over, they already spent time (probably too much) squashing Kane, Bryant, Orton, Ryback, Sheamus and Cena guys it would be nice to see him feud with but most of whom will never be in a storyline for the US belt. I think Christian is probably ok for now. With RVD returning, it could set up nicely for an Ambrose/RVD program. If I were writing, I'd seriously think about Ambrose feuding with Wade Barrett or Antonio Cesaro or even Jack Swagger (the latter two could even leverage the Zeb Coulter angle of his "real americans" being the ones who should have the US championship), but I just don't think WWE will go this route. Hell, I would go an extra step, add Barrett to Coulter's stable and have them feud outright with the Shield for the US and Tag Team belts. Something different that would appear to give the Shield credible competition.