Scouting Report on Dean Ambrose Before He Joined WWE

With every day that passes, it feels like WWE is becoming more of a sporting event than the spandex theater that it once was. In fact, if you listen closely, a WWE broadcast announcer will not use the word "wrestling" to describe anything, instead, Michael Cole will use the phrase "sports entertainment."

Some people hate this, some love it, regardless, professional wrestling is changing. With competition an afterthought, WWE views institutions like the NFL and Disney as their rivals. That said, it's clear that Vince McMahon and Co. are devoted to making their product feel like a sports broadcast. WWE's media coverage (ahem) even resembles the news outlets that cover sports.

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There's drafts, trades, releases, call-ups, injuries, off camera scandals, broken records, big wins and heartbreaking losses.

And now, there are scouting reports.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is one of the wrestling industry's longest running journalist. He's had his own newsletter (subscribe here) since 1983, to put it shortly, the man knows the business.

He's released his early impressions of some of today's most popular WWE Superstars. Today, we'll be covering the Lunatic Fringe, Dean Ambrose. Well, he wasn't Dean Ambrose in 2012, he was Johnathan Good.

"26, Good talker, not great. His body isn't what they like, but he's not a fat out of shape guy either and isn't small. The one thing he has that almost nobody in FCW has, is that he carries himself like a star. He walks like a star, and is a star in the ring. He's already ready for the main roster, but is also a guy who without the right booking will get lost in the shuffle. But given his age and that he clearly gets it, he'll probably eventually rise to a decent to good position."

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"They are doing a feud with he and Regal which includes him using Regal's moves in the ring, including the Regal stretch as his finisher. Regal talks about how he knows that some day Ambrose will be the guy who finishes his career."

For those counting at home, Meltzer called Ambrose a star three times. While that hasn't exactly translated in his time in WWE, Ambrose still has had some bright moments. Meltzer qualified this explicitly by saying that Ambrose would struggle without the proper creative support. To Ambrose and Metlzer's credit, anytime WWE has given him room to operate, he typically delivers, minus Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32.

Ambrose still has youth on his side at 31. With one WWE Championship run already under his belt, he's a guy that WWE clearly trusts. His future may be bright as wrestlers don't seem to really hit their strides until their 30s.

Even though his Shield brothers have seemingly surpassed him in their WWE status, don't rule Ambrose out. While he may never catch Roman Reigns, he could be pulling ahead of Seth Rollins as we speak.