{"id":135226,"date":"2025-05-14T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=135226"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:23:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:23:06","slug":"dean-ambrose-to-jon-moxley-lunatic-fringes-and-paradigm-shifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/05\/14\/dean-ambrose-to-jon-moxley-lunatic-fringes-and-paradigm-shifts\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean Ambrose to Jon Moxley: Lunatic Fringes and Paradigm Shifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Goode has been two men in his life: Dean Ambrose and Jon Moxley. One of the brilliant mouthpieces and wildcards of The Shield, he\u2019s since gone on to do things once unimaginable in professional wrestling. Throughout his career, Goode has made developments that have changed careers and the industry on several occasions.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s maintained a connection with fans, be it as a folkloric hero of madness or a heel that just wouldn\u2019t stick. Arguably, he could be seen as the polar opposite of Roman Reigns as a babyface<\/a>. Both heel runs as Ambrose and Moxley later in Goode\u2019s tenures in both places don\u2019t hit as hard as the man fans would rather cheer for.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the final installment in my series on The Shield<\/a>. Previously, I covered the group\u2019s impact, Seth Rollins\u2019s influence<\/a>, and Roman Reigns\u2019s shaky road. For Goode, however, I\u2019ll have to split his career during his time as Dean Ambrose and his time as Jon Moxley, and the legacy of each.<\/span><\/p>\n

Introducing Dean Ambrose<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Debuting with Reigns and Rollins at the 2012 Survivor Series, Ambrose stood out. Whereas his brothers in arms sported long hair and beards, he had messy, shorter hair.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Rollins and Reigns spoke swiftly, he carried the gravitas with excellent wordsmithery. He carried the same quiet, eerie cadence that begat a soft voice, yet the threat loomed imminent.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the breakup, courtesy of Seth Rollins, his look completely changed. He didn\u2019t sport the Shield uniform or a corporately designed outfit by The Authority stable. Instead, he wore leather jackets, white T-shirts, and jeans. This look suited him in the WWE environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ambrose gained a lot of accolades, title reigns (even a WWE Championship!), and high-profile matches. Yet, that wasn\u2019t enough for fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019d chosen their guy in The Shield, and still proclaim that he deserved better. I don\u2019t bring this up as a knock on fans, but to highlight the sheer talent on display with Ambrose.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Goode, he no longer liked the creative ideas WWE used for Ambrose\u2019s heel run, including the gas mask he\u2019d wear in 2019. He also didn\u2019t like how oversaturated the product was. He had to go back to something simple.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Return of Jon Moxley<\/strong><\/h2>\n

That \u201csimple\u201d turned out to be his moniker before he ever signed with WWE. Before Dean Ambrose, Moxley wrestled for CZW, Heartland Wrestling Association, ROH, and Dragon Gate USA.<\/span><\/p>\n

Producing video packages declaring his return, Moxley soon debuted for NJPW, taking out Juice Robinson and having a wild run in the G1 Climax tournament. Later in 2019, he\u2019d make that memorable debut for All Elite Wrestling when he took out Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega at that year\u2019s Double or Nothing. <\/span>Fans erupted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once AEW Dynamite debuted on the TNT channel, they were glued as he became an agent of chaos. They followed him with such reverence that it carried him to dethroning Jericho for the AEW World Championship. He carried that belt with such importance through the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that ended some wrestling promotions, but instead strengthened AEW.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time and time again, he\u2019s stepped up to be the face when the company needed him. CM Punk\u2019s injury<\/a> and subsequent crash-out at 2022\u2019s All Out are huge examples. Perhaps his heel turn at the expense of Bryan Danielson\u2019s final match would be viewed the same way.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s proven wildly unpopular, with fan sentiment around Moxley reflecting that of Roman Reigns in the 2010s. While his previous stable, Blackpool Combat Club, was beloved, the Death Riders leave a sour taste in fans’ mouths. Fans still love Moxley, but this act suited ill to their tastes.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Lunatic with a Paradigm<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With a silver tongue and a propensity for chaotic violence, he caught the eyes of many in the industry. There was something raw, brimming with a primal itch that satisfies humanity\u2019s thirst.<\/span><\/p>\n

A longing for violence and an aesthetic about his cadence and verbiage. Something that held hints of greatness that he still doesn\u2019t fully know the depths of.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s his magic.<\/span><\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Header photo \u2013 AEW \u2013 Stay tun<\/em>ed to the\u00a0Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on Jon Moxley and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0 You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8 pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content is available on their YouTube<\/a>\u00a0channel.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Goode has been two men in his life: Dean Ambrose and Jon Moxley. One of the brilliant mouthpieces and wildcards of The Shield, he\u2019s since gone on to do things once unimaginable in professional wrestling. Throughout his career, Goode has made developments that have changed careers and the industry on several occasions. He\u2019s maintained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5361,"featured_media":135317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4677,6,2192,4],"tags":[147,4395,725],"class_list":["post-135226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew","category-north-america","category-wrestling","category-wwe","tag-dean-ambrose","tag-jon-moxley","tag-the-shield"],"modified_by":"Marilee Gallagher, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135226"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135316,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135226\/revisions\/135316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}