Ranking every WWE Champion in the SmackDown Live era from worst to best

#4 Dean Ambrose

The first world champ of the SmackDown Live era

When RAW and SmackDown split the rosters, Dean Ambrose was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He was drafted to the Blue Brand and was the top face for a few months. His reign started off red hot, with a Money in the Bank cash-in on eternal enemy, Seth Rollins. It was one hell of a moment.

The current Jon Moxley defended his title against Rollins and Roman Reigns, in a Shield triple threat match at Battleground. This would ultimately decide where the WWE Championship would go. Of course, Ambrose retained and set off on his own.

He would face Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam, in a slightly disappointing bout which could not match the intensity of its build-up.

Also, Ambrose's strange appearance on the Stone Cold Podcast severely hurt his status as the main man on SmackDown. This was unfortunate, as Ambrose had clawed his way to the top of the mountain.

The Lunatic Fringe did have one final hurrah, putting on a great match against AJ Styles at the first brand-exclusive pay-per-view in close to a decade, Backlash.

Dean Ambrose was a good choice to kick off the era of SmackDown Live as WWE Champion, but his reign was never going to last much longer than a few months.