Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose was one of the most highly-anticipated matches at this year’s Wrestlemania. Lesnar and Ambrose are two of the most over guys in the company. Being a commodity that only appears at a few big events per year, Lesnar matches rarely under-deliver. Both men have rough-and-tumble brawling styles that were expected to gel in a way to not only produce the match of the night, but also a match of the year candidate. Just a month prior, the two tore the house down at Fastlane – it was in a triple threat that also involved Roman Reigns, but the match was a classic that showed the kind of clinic these two could pull off. The match itself… was a bit underwelming.
Realistically, the match was not bad. It was good, with some exciting spots. When Dean smacked Brock with the the chair during a German Suplex and when Ambrose paid tribute to Terry Funk by burying Lesnar in chairs. However, standards and expectations were high – sky high. When an A+ is expected, a mid-B feels a little disappointing. The match was decent but lacked innovation. Lesnar did Suplex City and there were a lot of weapon hits – all of this is good but nothing new. Plus the ending of fan favorite Dean Ambrose going down by one F5 was a tad anti-climatic.
Dave Meltzer called it one of Lesnar’s weakest matches since his comeback – however, he gave it a score of 3.5 stars, which is respectable (and fair for that match). Realistically, Lesnar has had much worse. However, there was usually something in the way – his streak-ending match against the Undertaker was mostly disappointing because ‘Taker suffered a mid-match concussion. Dean Ambrose was recently interviewed on the Stone Cold Podcast. When he was in the mood to talk, Dean Ambrose was critical of his match at Wrestlemania. In particular, he accused Lesnar of being lazy. This is noteworthy because Daniel Bryan recently made a similar accusation of Lesnar.
Is it fair to accuse Lesnar of growing lazy? He hasn’t had a full match since the Ambrose match and will not be seen again until this month’s Summerslam. Before Wrestlemania, Lesnar had some insanely good matches with the Undertaker in the Summer/Fall of 2015. Lesnar’s attitude may be changing for the worse. After he came back, he had superb matches against Cena and Punk early on. These matches were not only exciting and brutal but also featured some unique spots. Ambrose said in his interview with Austin that he pitched several ideas which were all shot down.
There may be reasons for Lesnar’s attitude. When Lesnar came back in 2012, he worked only a few shows a year. Since then, he his schedule has gone up – more big shows, Network specials and even house shows (albeit rarely). Wrestlers such as Ambrose and former wrestlers such as Bryan may not find Lesnar’s attitude acceptable as they not only work their tales off, but guys like Cena work year round – and even someone like Chris Jericho whose stance as a permanent member of the roster is questionable is full time when he’s there. Lesnar also recently made a one match return to UFC, which may have lead Lesnar’s mind to be elsewhere. Either way, these factors may have lead to Lesnar being less adventurous in the ring.
These accusations about Lesnar also reveal a lot about Dean Ambrose’s attitude about his matches. The Wrestlemania match could be described as good but not great, so it says a lot Ambrose that he is disappointed that his match was anything BUT great. It makes one wonder what he thought about that disappointing Asylum match from Extreme Rules, but in his and Jericho’s defense, the absurd gimmick hurt that match – Ambrose and Jericho were good for their parts.
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