Roman Reigns And Dean Ambrose Should Go Their Separate Ways At WWE Fastlane

Republished from Forbes

NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 23: Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns celebrate their victory at the WWE SummerSlam 2015 at Barclays Center of Brooklyn on August 23, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images)

This isn’t an issue of Ambrose and Reigns not working well together on-screen. Anyone who has watched The Shield can tell you that isn’t the case. In fact, even the recent dialogue between the two has actually been pretty entertaining, showing that the chemistry they had during their Shield days is certainly still there.

Rather, this is a case of the WWE approaching a point where keeping Reigns and Ambrose as a loosely associated duo is doing more harm than good for both parties.

Let’s start with Reigns, a man whom the WWE has been desperately trying to ensure rises to the top of the company as its newest babyface star. Despite plenty of hiccups in the road, it’s worked to an extent, too. According to F4WOnline.com (subscribers only), Reigns is the No. 2 merchandise mover in all of WWE, an obvious result of having the WWE “machine” firmly behind him by pushing him, his merchandise and his storylines as far down our throats as it possibly could.

It’s painfully clear that the WWE views Reigns, not Ambrose, as its “next big thing” and its long-term star, a fact that is evidenced by his storyline domination of the Royal Rumble (for three years straight now), his recent WWE World title wins, his spot in the main event of WrestleMania 31 and his likely spot in the WrestleMania 32 main event against Triple H this year.

But here’s where things start to get tricky because even though WWE wants Reigns to be “the guy,” as long as Ambrose is always there right next to him, that just isn’t going to happen.

Still waiting for the Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose split. #WWE #RAW pic.twitter.com/zUmKiwl6Ur

— NoDQ.com - WWE News (@nodqdotcom) February 2, 2016

 After all, as much as Reigns is a product of the WWE machine, Ambrose is the polar opposite. Reigns was born with a clear path into the business. Ambrose worked the independent scene for seven years before being signed by the WWE. Reigns looks exactly like you would expect a top star to look. Ambrose looks like the crazy guy who loiters on the street corner. Reigns wins his matches with brute force, power and strength. Ambrose wins his matches by putting his body on the line without any concern for his own safety.

That’s why Ambrose, despite obviously playing second fiddle to Reigns, has grown to be more accepted by the masses. Just like many fans wanted to see Daniel Bryan, not Batista, win the WWE title at WrestleMania 30, they’d rather see Ambrose, not Reigns, rise to the pinnacle of the WWE because they can relate to Ambrose in a way that they can’t relate to Reigns.