Heel Dean Ambrose may take 2018 by storm
Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns made their main roster debut as The Shield on 18 November 2012 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, serving as interference in the triple threat match for the WWE title between then champion CM Punk, John Cena, and Ryback.
The Shield proclaimed themselves as the "Hounds of Justice", where they consistently performed heel actions such as three-on-one assaults and then hitting triple powerbombs on most babyfaces (2012- early 2014). Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose went on a six-man tag team match winning streak before being handed their first clean loss by the team of Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Randy Orton on the 14 June 2013 edition of Smackdown.
They would move on to turn babyfaces on the 17 March 2014 edition of Raw where they rebelled against heel authority figure, Kane, who was in the role of the Director of Operations.
Heels or babyfaces, The Shield had an astounding run as a stable, having memorable feuds with other top factions such as The Wyatt Family and even Evolution.
Since their babyface turn, the only Shield member that turned heel again was Seth Rollins, when he stabbed his brothers in the back to sell out to the Authority. Ambrose had a decent solo run but inevitably turned stale over the years. Crowd reactions grew reticent and Ambrose found himself sort of directionless.
Recently in 2017, The Shield was reunited but faced obstacles in performing as a solid group once again. Roman Reigns was unable to perform at the TLC 2017 pay-per-view due to a viral infection, while soon after Dean Ambrose suffered a torn tricep in December.
This forced Jason Jordan to replace Ambrose as Seth Rollins' partner in order to prolong their feud with The Bar.
WWE Creative and Ambrose himself may take this opportunity to repackage the Superstar on his way to returning to the squared circle.
While the unstable persona has done a good job to showcase an anti-hero with a sense of humour, fans crave for a more ruthless Lunatic Fringe. Undeniably a natural-born heel, an aggressive Dean Ambrose who lacks sympathy for everyone, including his "brothers" might pave a way for reborn relevance.
The best ignition to this turn is by having an ego-driven personality where he finds Jason Jordan as an unworthy "replacement", and Seth Rollins as a betrayer.
According to Dave Meltzer, the word is that Brock Lesnar's soon-to-be expired contract after Wrestlemania might be renewed for a program with the possibly returning Bobby Lashley.
Assuming Lesnar is to drop the Universal title to Reigns at Wrestlemania 34, a heel Dean Ambrose can bulldoze his way to the main event scene once again after lingering in the mid-card for quite some time.
Permitting the former WWE Champion to have more freedom in his character is a terrific set-up for him to exhibit his Jon Moxley persona from his previous runs in other wrestling promotions such as Combat Zone Wrestling and Ring of Honor.
