WWE Superstar Dean Ambrose is set to leave the pro-wrestling company when his contract expires in April, WWE tells TheWrap.
“Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) will not be renewing his contract with WWE when it expires in April,” a spokesman for WWE said in a statement. “We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE.”
WrestleMania 35 takes place April 7 at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. It is expected that Ambrose will leave after the event, which is the culmination of WWE’s “season,” though the Vince McMahon-led promotion did not immediately offer a clarification on Good’s specific end date.
Ambrose’s real-life wife is WWE commentator Renee Young. WWE did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment on her contractual status.
Good, who has been dubbed “The Lunatic Fringe,” came up through WWE’s minor-league program NXT with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in 2012. The trio was paired together on the main roster as popular faction The Shield. They’ve since broken up, feuded, reunited, and feuded again. Reigns is currently taking a break from wrestling while undergoing treatment for leukemia. He is also co-starring in an upcoming “Fast & Furious” spinoff movie alongside real-life cousin and former WWE Superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
With and without Rollins and Reigns, Ambrose has had a ton of success in WWE. He’s won the WWE Championship, “Raw” Tag Team Titles (twice, with Rollins), United States Championship, and the Intercontinental Title three times.
Ambrose lost the Intercontinental Championship to Bobby Lashley on Jan. 14’s “Raw.” He participated in Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view but was eliminated by newcomer Aleister Black. The Royal Rumble Match was won by Rollins, whom Ambrose subsequently lost to last night on “Monday Night Raw.”
Before NXT/WWE, Good found success on the independent wrestling circuit, notably with CZW, which is known for its ultra-violent Tournament of Death.
Ambrose was out of action — and the public eye — for the majority of 2018 after suffering a bad triceps injury in December 2017. He contracted a staph infection during recovery. TheWrap had exclusively reported his return to WWE programming in August.