Last week, we discussed some of the rising stars on the WWE’s roster and whether they had what it took to be one of the WWE’s next big stars. You can read that here. And since the readers seemed to enjoy it so much, we’ll do it one more time. I’ve listed three more names brought up by you, the readers. Do these gentlemen have what it takes to become one of Vince McMahon’s top money draws?
DEAN AMBROSE
While he may have been taking a backseat to the meteoric rise of Roman Reigns lately, Ambrose’s star has shone brightly over the past year. Can he parlay that success into a run at the top?
OVERNESS – 3/5 Punks 
When The Shield first burst on the scene, Ambrose was an immediate lightning rod for the fans. As their mouthpiece and unofficial leader, he was the one that fans took to hating first (I mean that in a good way, of course). While that heat has kind of taken a backseat to the evolution of Roman Reigns, it’s still right there, ready to be turned back on at any moment.
IN-RING ABILITY – 4/5 Punks
Some guys get an undeserved reputation from the IWC, simply because they came from the indies. Some have argued that Ambrose is a prime beneficiary of that very reputation, and they certainly have a point, but I’d definitely counter that with his body of work in the WWE.
While he may not necessarily be an in-ring natural along the lines of Daniel Bryan or Cesaro, Ambrose can more than hold his own in the ring, not to mention that I don’t think he’s even fully unleashed in the ring yet. Daniel Bryan did the same thing in his first couple of years in the WWE. His move set and ring work was a lot tamer than in his ROH days, but it evolved over time and I see Ambrose evolving in a similar fashion.
CHARISMA & MIC SKILL – 5/5 Punks
I think I can speak without hyperbole and say that Dean Ambrose may well be the most charismatic competitor in the WWE today. And to steal a line from rock musician Steve Earle, I’ll stand on John Cena’s coffee table and say it. Not only is he a natural on the microphone, he exudes a natural body language that most guys would kill to be able to do. He can tell a story and cut a promo without ever saying a word. That’s rare. You can’t teach that.
“IT” Factor – 3/5 Punks
Ambrose’s downfall, much like guys like Daniel Bryan or Dolph Ziggler, is in his size. Everyone in town and the paperboy knows that Vince likes his top draws to be big, beefy muscleheads. It’s why we’ve been “treated” to the return of the completely worthless Batista and had to see The Great Khali on a regular basis. Guys who have overcome this stigma over the years have had to overcompensate in other areas of their repertoire. If Ambrose wants to break through the glass ceiling, he’s going to have to really work for it. He needs to keep improving his game, and he needs to keep looking for ways to get heat from the crowd.
OVERALL – 4 out of 5
I think once Roman Reigns exits The Shield, we’ll know a little more about where he stands in the grand scheme of things. It’s kind of hard to say where he’ll end up when they do his WWE Encyclopedia entry, but I do know one thing – his destiny is in his own hands. If he’s willing to put in the work, he could certainly reach the promised land one day.
BIG E
He’s been given an Intercontinental Title run as of late, but does the former bodybuilder have what it takes to break out of the midcard and possibly headline a WrestleMania someday?
OVERNESS – 2/5 Punks
I remember how excited some fans were when Big E turned face. They harkened back to his charismatic work from NXT and expected a similar style on the main roster, but we haven’t really seen that so far. Giving him the Intercontinental Championship was supposed to get him over more with the fans, but the powers-that-be don’t realize that they’ve devalued that belt so much over the years that it’s essentially worthless at this stage. They’ve booked him decently enough so far, but he’s yet to have that one key feud or important storyline that captures the fans’ imagination.
IN-RING ABILITY – 2/5 Punks
It may seem like I’m picking on poor Big E here, but I can assure you it’s far from the truth. Big E does have some crowd-pleasing spots. He moves fairly quickly for a larger wrestler, and his moves look like they legitimately hurt. But outside of a few key spots, he doesn’t do much more than the typical big-man move set. He really needs to add a few weapons to his arsenal to round out the total package.
CHARISMA & MIC SKILLS – 3/5 Punks
As I said before, Big E hasn’t really shown his full charismatic potential on the big stage yet. Fans of NXT know what he’s capable of, but at the same time, your casual WWE fan probably doesn’t even know what NXT is. He really needs to try to steal the show in what little mic or backstage time he gets.
“IT” FACTOR – 5/5 Punks
Oh, did I mention that Big E is RIPPED? I’m sure when Vince saw Big E for the first time, he passed out onto a pile of unused ICO-PRO cans. He’s not particularly tall (he’s only an inch or two taller than Daniel Bryan), but he’s built like a brick outhouse. That alone seems to get you a push towards the Intercontinental Championship these days. He casts an imposing figure in the ring, and seems to be a little more talented than other generic muscleheads like Ezekiel Jackson or Mason Ryan.
OVERALL – 3 out of 5
Big E is most certainly a work in progress. He needs to be able to show his natural charisma a bit more, and become a little more polished in the ring. If he gets put in the right angle, and keeps working on the other aspects of his game, then I think he could very well be a future World Champion.
RYBACK
Yeah, I know. But believe it or not, more than one person mentioned Ryback on their list (I’m thinking about making their names, addresses and phone numbers public). I don’t know if they were being facetious or not, but here he is, in all his nutty meathead glory. Let’s try to get through this thing the best we can, shall we?
OVERNESS – 1/5 Punks
I know we all give a lot of grief to Ryback, but I’ll be fair for a moment. When he returned to the WWE as Ryback, the idea behind his push wasn’t that bad. Here you have a silent, mean-looking so-and-so who was beating guys in the ring two or three at a time.
Nothing flashy, nothing fancy. He came in to a mean, heavy guitar riff, beat the crap out of two local guys, put them both on his back at the same time and delivered his finisher. He was being built as a butt-kicking babyface along the lines of The Road Warriors or Bill Goldberg (hence the constant Goldberg chants). I’m not saying Ryback deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Hawk or Animal, but at least they had something.
Now? Nothing. The moment the WWE Braintrust decided to turn him heel, he became just another generic musclehead. He’s stuck in a go-nowhere tag team with Curtis Axel (another failed WWE experiment) and just going through the motions until he gets future endeavored and takes to washing cars for a living.
IN-RING ABILITY – 1/5 Punks
Sigh. It goes back to his babyface work again. The biggest misconception in wrestling today is that you have to know 1,000 moves and/or do all kinds of high spots to be a “good worker”. That’s actually far from the case.
I always counter that argument with Hogan/Andre from WrestleMania 3. I consider that match to be one of the top three matches of all-time, yet Andre was mostly immobile by that stage of his career, and Hogan only ever knew four moves to begin with. So what made that match so incredible? Storytelling. With their actions and their body language, they painted a masterpiece that stood the test of time.
Before the match really started, when Hogan was slowly approaching Andre, his body literally trembling with rage? Or when he tried to slam Andre, but couldn’t lift him and nearly lost the match? Or when he finally was able to pick the big man up for a slam, then hit his finisher for the win? A perfectly told tale that made the match at hand perfectly done.
I say all of that to convey the point that they were on a similar wavelength with the former Skip Sheffield’s babyface work. But for whatever God-forsaken reason, they decided that they needed to turn him heel and feed him to the Cena machine. That ultimately exposed him as a limited talent with little ring psychology.
CHARISMA & MIC SKILLS – 0/5 Punks
I’m not even going to bother. NEXT!
“IT” FACTOR – 3/5 Punks
One thing Ryback DOES have going for him is a good look. He’s big, he’s ripped, and he legitimately looks like he could kill you with his bare hands. It’s probably why Vince has kept the guy around for as long as he has, because it’s certainly not on ring merit or backstage popularity. But bulging biceps and an intimidating shadow only get you so far, even with Vince McMahon.
OVERALL – 1.25 out of 5
No, just… no. I mean sure, they could rehab the guy by turning him back face and trying to regain some of his past momentum, but really…what’s the point?
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