Dean Ambrose: US Championship Reign

[Ruthless-RKO]

What I would like to know is, what you all thought of his title run?

Dean Ambrose, a member of The Shield, won the WWE United States Championship at Extreme Rules 2013 defeating Kofi Kingston. He has now held the title for 7 months, 3 weeks, 3 days and counting.. That's 238+ days.. After tomorrow he will overtake Antonio Cesaro and his reign will become the 3rd longest reign in the titles WWE history going back to 2003.

Since winning the title, IMO he hasn't done much for it, I think his reign is similar to the one The Miz had few years ago, where the title was around his waist just to make himself good. The Miz hardly defended the much and well neither has Dean Ambrose.

So let's have a look at his reign so far. After he won the title, Kofi got his rematch but lost after couple of weeks. In the month of June, he started a short feud with Kane, where Kane defeated him via disqualification. At the Payback ppv, he retained the title against Kane via countout victory. The next night again Kane defeated him via disqualification.

Over the next couple of months, he never defended the title on TV, until SummerSlam 2013, where RVD defeated Ambrose via disqualification. He then feuded with Daniel Bryan in some non title matches, before succesfully defending the title against Dolph Ziggler at Night of Champions ppv. The very next night he lost in a non-title match to Ziggler. At the Hell in a Cell ppv, he lost to Big E. Langston via countout thus retaining the title. Again started fighting in tag team matches with The Shield.

From December The Shield started feuding with CM Punk, he had a few singles matches with Punk, non for the title. So far in 2014, he hasn't fought nor giving us any indication to who he may face next for his US title.

So, his only real singles feuds for the US title was against Kofi Kingston, Kane, RVD, Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston.. I think the amount of disqualification and count out wins has kind of made it a poor reign.. But like I said at the start of the thread, I think the reign is more similar to how The Miz was booked a few years ago.

So what do you think off his first reign as US Champion so far? Is he a good champion? Could he have been booked better? Discuss!!

 

[Pedigree1]

Yah i have to agree that Dean hasnt done much with the US Title at all. Granted hes better than the miz when he was US champion,but the focus is on the shield not so much as Ambrose as a singles competitor.. Hes a good champion,but IMO they just need to unify the US title,and IC Title. The us title is not one of the most prestigious titles there is out there,but it is bringing legitimacy to Ambrose once the Shield disband..

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Until recently he's been given more of a chance to shine as a singles competitor than Reigns & Rollins. Title or not (it's worthless) he hasn't had any matches that have caught my imagination or showed me that he has the potential to be the breakout start of The Sheild.

He's a good worker whith strong mic skills. But he's spectacular at absolutely nothing and he has no star aura. Holding the belt for so long has only highlighted that.

 

[shafe_41]

It's because those mid-card titles are overshadowed by the amount upper mid-card/headlining talent currently on the roster that all feud with each other. When you have Punk feuding with The Shield, there's arguably your best star on the roster in a program with an entire stable and a member of that stable is your US Champion. He's not doing anything to make that title relevant. He doesn't defend it. You never saw during the epic title reigns of HBK or Bret Hart in the early 90s with the IC Title involving feuds with Hogan, Randy Savage or any of your top talent. A good meaningful program means more to a superstar's career than a mid-card title.

Ambrose needs to make the title. The title will never make Ambrose.

 

[Cody Trail]

Poor.

Worst US title reign of the 2010s decade so far, and that's saying something. As bad as Santino Marella was as US Champion, at least we knew he was champion. The US title with The Shield is like this little red/white/blue...thing...that we MIGHT notice half the time they appear. If Ambrose were to stop carrying it to the ring, we wouldn't even notice it was gone for a week or so. That's how useless he's made the title right now.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Of the options offered, I'd rank Ambrose's run with the title as "Good" overall. It certainly could have been better, but it also could have certainly been worse.

Probably the biggest downer of Ambrose's run is the lack of title defenses for him as champion. That's all on the booking end, however, rather than any criticism of Ambrose himself. After all, he can only do what creative puts out & that the powers that be approve of. Still, there's no denying that it's had a negative impact on his run.

Probably the biggest positive, at least in my opinion, of Ambrose's run is the sense of stability that he's brought to the title. Throughout the roughly 13 months or so The Shield has been on the main roster, they've all received some of the most consistently strong booking of anybody on the roster in a very long time. So even though Ambrose's run as champ hasn't resulted in many stellar singles feuds, at least he's been kept looking good, which helps the title look good. If Ambrose remains champion for 3 more days, he'll have had the 6th longest United States Championship reign in the title's 39 year history. Given that management is high on Ambrose, there's a good chance that he won't be buried as US champ during WrestleMania season this year like we saw with poor Antonio Cesaro last year. If Ambrose remains champion for 3 more days, he'll officially be the 6th longest reigning United States Champion in the title's 39 year history.

 

[Galvatron]

I voted good. All the negatives about Ambrose's title reign have nothing to do with him. It is booking's fault he hasn't defended the title on tv since October 28. It is booking's fault that they can't find or trust anybody to put in a long feud with Dean over the title. You may wonder why I voted good after making those points and its because Ambrose has always been an important part of the shows during his title reign even though none of it has to do with his title.

 

[Blade]

To paraphrase Mr. Kenobi, Ambrose was supposed to be the chosen one. Many people thought that he'd be the guy to make the US Title matter again. And it started off pretty decently. A clean win and decent rematch over Kofi Kingston, title defences against Kane and RVD. None of the match were spectacular, but Ambrose was defending.

And then, once the Authority absorbed the Shield, nothing. Ambrose carried it around, didn't do anything with it. It's a shame, because Ambrose is talented, and he can cut some wonderful promos about being champion, as evidenced by his indy promos, and that promo he cut on Christian several months ago.

While I haven't particularly liked Ambrose's reign, I don't want it to end. Ambrose doesn't make it matter, but the title looks somewhat better for being part of the Shield. After this, it'll go back to being over the shoulder of nobodies who are going nowhere.

 

[DJG]

I can't think of one US title defense he's had where I said to myself "this was a great match that proves he deserves to be elevated". Five years from now no one will remember this title run. I can think of many matches from many other IC or US champs (mostly WCW) where I thought they were awesome but nothing from him. It feels that him being US champ has hurt him more than helped.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Ambrose has been completely worthless as a champion. He rarely defends the title, and when he does its in a mediocre match that he never wins clean. Ambrose should have dropped the belt months ago, it's his reign's fault the title has sunk so far back into obscurity. After so many guys worked hard to make the US title more relevant again, Ambrose and WWE ensured it never will be again.

 

[MCMG]

I'd say good. Ambrose had some decent matches for the belt when he initially won it and it is difficult to rate the last few months. They clearly want us to know he is the champ but he hasn't defended. What annoys me a little is that out of a massive fucking roster, not one person wants to win the U.S title. That makes little sense to me.

He will probably drop the belt soon enough and while it wasn't memorable it has served a purpose: to make The Shield (and Ambrose) look dominant. Indeed, the United States Championship might be used as a method of ending The Shield.