4 Phases of Dean Ambrose's WWE career

#3 The fighting champion (2016-2017)

Ambrose made the WWE Championship exclusive to SmackDown in 2016

Whether it was the Intercontinental or WWE Championship, Ambrose was always portrayed as a fighting champion. He defeated Rollins on a couple of occasions for WWE Championship on Raw and then retained it in a triple threat match at Battleground that year to make the championship exclusive to SmackDown as part of the Superstar Shake-up.

Even in SmackDown, he did everything he could to keep the renamed "WWE World Championship" more prestigious than Raw's Universal championship. He had feuds against wrestlers such as Dolph Ziggler and AJ Styles for the title which established its legacy as the blue brand's top prize.

As an Intercontinental Champion in 2017, he gave the title many decent storylines which were needed to keep it relevant. He defeated Miz in the first SmackDown episode of the year to win the IC title for the secon time and carried it for 152 days. During the period he defended the title at WrestleMania 33 against Baron Corbin, which did not get much reception due to it being on the pre-show but was a great fight anyway.

He then won the Raw Tag Team Championships with Seth Rollins against The Bar at SummerSlam 2017 to make him both Grand Slam and Triple Crown champion in the process. He was the first Shield member to achieve it.