Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch has reported that Dean Ambrose will be leaving WWE when his contract expires at the end of April, according to three different sources.
Ambrose reportedly gave WWE this notice over the weekend. Dean directly met with Vince McMahon to break the news and this was after a new contract and raise was proposed to Dean weeks ago.
Ambrose has been frustrated with the creative direction his character has been going and his impending exit from the company reflects that rather than a money issue. A colleague of Dean’s stated to the Torch that “he’s pretty much impossible to read,” when trying to gauge his demeanor on the matter, but that Ambrose “hates hokey sh–” and his on-air character has been suffering from much of that over the course of his singles run. Ambrose isn’t interested in negotiating further with the company, according to the report.
Dean’s announcement shines a light on the recent portrayal of his character over the course of the last two days as he was dismissively eliminated from the WWE Royal Rumble on Sunday by Aleister Black and then took the clean pinfall from his former Shield brother Seth Rollins last night on RAW. Top management and some of Ambrose’s close friends in the company were aware of his soon-t0-be exit during the weekend, but a good of the roster wasn’t aware of it during the Rumble or last night’s RAW.
The Torch expects him to finish up shortly after WrestleMania, but it could be sooner depending on how they want to handle writing Ambrose off their product.
Update: PWInsider.com is reporting they have independently confirmed Ambrose turned down a five-year contract worth “a little over seven figures per year.” It was also noted that Ambrose’s status was kept very quiet during RAW, but word spread among the talent after the show. According to one source, Ambrose can “do what he wants” since he made very good money during his WWE career, and doesn’t live an expensive lifestyle.
To read Wade Keller’s full report on the Torch website, you can do so by going here.
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