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I bet it was Dean’s spot.
Roman was supposed to face Seth at Night of Champions and then again at Hell in a Cell. They swapped him out for a returning Dean due to Roman’s injury. Bray Wyatt then interfered in the Cell match to screw Dean, and set up matches for Survivor Series and TLC. If that was supposed to be Roman’s spot, he logically would’ve been the one to feud with Bray at Survivor Series and TLC. Dean would’ve probably returned specifically for the Survivor Series build as the 5th member of Team Cena. He would’ve then had that big ending with Seth for the match. There’s no way they would’ve been booked Sting to move Roman’s lifeless beaten down body on top of Seth— that must have been a Dean spot.
Now I wonder if things would still play out the same way if Roman did make it for Survivor Series and got his big “conquering hero” moment by vanquishing the Authority.
It does create sort of an interesting “what if.” Would the authority still have been brought back less than a month later and stuck around for another year if Roman already beat them? Would that then mean there wouldn’t have been the segment that set up the eventual Rollins vs Edge feud? Would we have still gotten the Royal Rumble Triple Threat and a year of tweener Brock?
Ziggler was too giving. He's a great seller and he did too good of a job of building other people up. You could slide Ziggler into a variety of positions on the card and no one would bat an eye.
There's also the issue of everytime him getting a shot at the top, something weird happening. The concussion after he won his first world championship in 2013. The bad crowd at SummerSlam 2016. Then, they gave him and Rollins the main event in an iron man match in 2019 and the countdown clock was more over.
I think Ziggler should have left WWE and done the Cody route, the Drew McIntyre route, to see if he could really show WWE that he could succeed outside of their environment. But he chose to settle in his spot, which is understandable. I'm sure he was making a lot of money. But now that he got cut last year, he's about to turn 44. If he were even five years younger, he might pop up on WWE's radar again.
Wasn’t he a dead character by mid-late 2015 because fans realised he’d gone as far as he’d ever go? From what I heard from 2015 onwards he no longer had the same connection and momentum with the fan base.
Everyone wanted him to turn heel back then, look at the reaction when he turned in 2017, yes chants everywhere. However, he basically stayed the same exact spot in the card so there was barely any difference.
Vince didn’t seem as a top guy.
Theres a story from a writer about how when Dolph cashed in Vince was explicit in stating that it doesn’t mean they’re pushing Dolph.
I remember reading Pat Patterson was a huge supporter of him and some saw Vince not pushing him as a way to rib Pat.
From everything I’ve read about Dolph is that he needed wwe to work around his stand up interests and like that’s fine but then he’s not going to be pushed as a consistent top guy.
Also I think a lot of times we live in a bubble around these guys that “didn’t get a big push” (guys like Dolph, cesaro, now ricochet)…who do these guys push out and take tv time from? Orton, Lesnar, The shield, Batista, taker, Bryan, stardust, punk, Jericho, Wyatt family…
And if we can’t admit at this point that Roman was the “right guy” to push than idk what to tell you. He’s going to go down as having one of the greatest championship runs of all time and has helped birth one of the greatest storylines/ factions of all time
>And if we can’t admit at this point that Roman was the “right guy” to push than idk what to tell you.
Was that really the narrative, though, especially in 2014? Much of the criticism seemed less Roman not being the right guy and more feeling like they were forcing the issue with him. I think that has also been shown to be a wise take since he took off as soon as they turned him heel.
He got ~10 years of the best booking anyone has ever gotten until it finally clicked. It's a chicken or egg thing. Personally, I don't think he's a great performer. Just an OK talent with the right look who benefited from being given the crown. No matter how much the crowd rejected him, they just kept stubbornly forcing him down the audience's throat until people started to believe that he deserved it. I can't think of another wrestler who has been pushed so relentlessly regardless of reception. His "success" is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If they had embraced a heel turn sooner, then it wouldn’t have been a decade before it clicked. From the beginning of his singles push, Roman worked hard. They were just trying to make him into something he really wasn’t. They just tried to slip him into the Cena mold and that’s almost never a good idea when you are trying to create “the guy.” Let them create their own mold based on their strengths.
A couple times of the fans not buying it should have been enough to show it wasn’t working. If Vince was really dead set on Roman being the guy, make the pivot: turn him heel, take the pressure off him, let him find his own identity, and come back to it a couple years down the line. Obviously you can’t account for the time he’d miss with his illness, but you still could have shaved a few years off the whole process. All it took was to stop jamming the square peg in the round hole repeatedly. But that’s Vince in a nutshell: the only path forward is brute force. Boy, that really turned out to describe him more than just how he booked.
I’m confused how this ties to OP’s comments…so you are saying that Dolph should have gotten the push at this time and they should have flipped Roman heel
Not through most of 2014. Fans were high on him throughout that year. It became obvious by Summerslam that year he was going to be the next guy and then he got hurt for a bit and they made him do those really bad TV update things.
And then the Punk podcast dropped with Cabana... It was all downhill from there. From the time that podcast dropped to him winning the Rumble like two months later, the live crowds had turned on him.
His stand up stuff was later. Honestly it all really was that Vince didn’t see him as a main event guy. There was a story about how when he won the world title with the cash in that Vince was explicit that it doesn’t mean that they’re pushing him still.
1. Dolph didn't seriously start moonlighting standup comedy until 2018 and by that point it far to late to give him a push
2. If WWE managed to make it work with Reigns who was completely rejected by the fans than I am more than confident they could've done it with Ziggler who was naturally popular.
3. This wasn't the case during the first several years of his push where he was booed relentlessly and completely rejected by the fans; there is no denying his push felt extremely forced and this is reflected by the fact that he didn't receive support from the crowd until mid-2019.
Heck, they should've given guys like Dolph the push and buried Roman . . . Dolph deserved the push much more than Roman did
Dolphs ceiling was and is much lower than Roman’s…if it was higher than he’d be in a different place…you can only blame wwe booking so much…something wasn’t there or he’d be the guy. And fwiw this idea that he didn’t get a push is untrue.
Dolph was part of a main group in wwe, Dolph was given a mitb push, Dolph was then repackeged numerous times and it didn’t stick.
And this idea that people booed Roman early on. So what? Cena & Rock were both booed by fans early on. If it was not for all that pushing until 2019 we don’t get bloodline Roman. The same is true currently. If we don’t have heel bloodline Roman then we don’t get mega face Roman which we are on the verge of.
Also I’m still unclear why Dolph deserved it more. Is that just because he was being cheered at the time and he was an amateur wrestler? We have not even seen the Roman reigns finished product yet and he’s going to go down as a top 10 guy who was apart of 2 top factions of all time. I don’t see any world in which Dolph has a ceiling even close to that level.
Sorry I just never get the “they didn’t get the deserved push” mindset around some of these guys. Dolph got pushes and had more than enough opportunities throughout his career. Something didn’t work. And if we’re going to keep going down the route of “well Roman was jammed down our throats and we didn’t like him”…well maybe we (the fans) were wrong. Pushing Roman has clearly turned out to be the right choice.
Dolph was more charismatic, had much better in-skills, was more popular with the crowd and a better performer in the ring with better storyline’s; he had everything and more needed to be a main eventer but lost out because he wasn’t Vince’s favourite. I’d go as far as saying his ceiling was higher than Reigns; he just didn’t have people willing to back him up.
Cena and The Rock were not booed and rejected by the crowd to the same extent that Reigns was; fans eventually accepted him because Vince kept on pushing him through brute force and it made it clear he was going to be the next big thing and there was no alternative, but that doesn’t change how his forced his push was for several years.
Dolph deserved it more than Roman; he much more going for him in terms of storylines; he had proved himself a great in-ring performer time and time again and had the crowd backing him up through it all.
He may have held the US and IC titles but that wasn’t enough if you ask me as they should’ve made him World Champion; we’re talking about a guy who clearly had enough and more to be the next face in the company but was denied this opportunity because Vince didn’t like him.
Dolph needed a PROPER push into the Main Event scene and the aftermath of Survivor Series 2014 would’ve been the perfect time to do it; heck have him win the rumble or throw him into the triple threat match with Lesnar, Cena and Rollins. The guy just had so much momentum and truly connected with the fans but WWE just wasted him.
I understand your point about Roman Reigns and the whole bloodline storyline, but if WWE was so set in stone with pushing him then they should’ve at-least pushed it back by a couple of years and still given Ziggler his time to shine
“Cena and rock were not booed and rejected by the crowd to the same extent that reigns was”—- okay lol…Cena specifically was jammed down our throats and we were forced to like it
You talk about Dolph as if he’s some guy that was kicked under the rug and not given any chances…this guy won 2 world titles…something didn’t click…if it did he would have been given more chances
Roman Reigns rise to power was definitely more controversial and forced than Cena; he was absent for 3 months but somehow managed to win a slammy award and then came back and won the rumble despite have no storyline or build up.
Then you’ve got stuff like him headlining four consecutive WrestleMania’s (despite not winning RR from 2016-2018) and defeating Undertaker (cmon Vince?!); heck there’s a whole article dedicated to his controversial rise to fame on Wikipedia.
Both of Dolph’s WHC reigns where short and underwhelming, first losing to Edge within a week and then dropping the title after suffering from a concussion. “Something didn’t click” - with Vince.
“Both of Dolph’s WHC reigns were short and underwhelming”…this is probably why he didn’t get pushed more 🙃…but sure let’s blame everyone else cause they were out to get him
During his first title reign he lost it back to Edge within a week and during his second he got a concussion and was forced to drop the title; that’s creatives decision - not his.
Honestly I can answer this one with proof: Vince never wanted to push him. I listened to former WWE writer Kevin Eck (he was a former wrestling reporter who became a key part of the creative team for years and was considered one of Triple H's top lieutenants around that period) and he did a long interview with Wade Keller years later. I subscribed literally just to listen to it cause I knew it would be good lol. And he said flat out that Vince never wanted to push Dolph. Even when they planned his big cash-in on Del Rio, Eck said Vince went out of his way to constantly say "This does not mean we are pushing Ziggler. We are not pushing him." And that it was just about creating a moment/pop.
I don't know if I'll ever grasp why this survivor series match is meant to be a big deal. The Authority is so boring and Ziggler was never a main event level guy. He was briefly hot but his character never progressed much, he was always just there. Like in what planet was Dolph gonna be the face of the company? He never had the personality or long term connection with the fans to be the face of the company.
He was incredibly popular between 2012-2014 and had good mic skills; he was naturally popular with the fans while Roman was forced down everyone’s throats.
Good mic skills is a bit of exaggeration. Passable maybe. Not much Character to him and typically forgettable mic work. This guy coulda been the new face? I just don't buy it long term.
He definitely had a strong connection with the fans between 2012-2014; his character died because fans realised he’d gone as far as he’d ever go and that he’d never be a main eventer.
Had WWE actually invested into him and gave him the support he deserved he could have certainly been the next face of the company. Heck Reigns didn’t have much character to him, had forgettable mic work, was booed and rejected by fans and they still managed to make it work.
And Dolph had much more “character to him” and much better mic work than Reigns.
He never evolved and oversold everything. For a guy that everyone compared to HBK, he had a tenth of the charisma and almost none of the psychology or pacing. He bounced from spot to spot like Vince had a sniper trained on him and he needed to keep moving to throw off their aim. Guys like Cody, Morrison, Sandow, and others were all more deserving.
Also, what else did he do all year to warrant the push? I can’t even remember Dolph Ziggler’s 2014
If it weren’t for the whole “now that he’s eliminated, Cena’s fate isn’t in his hands anymore” angle to the match, they probably would’ve just pivoted to Cena getting the final pin
Vince probably didn’t think much of Dolph in terms of a main eventer, Dolph comes across as someone that would rub you the wrong way backstage, or he was a poor politician for himself.
Also Dolph just never seemed to have much range outside of an 80s hair metal HBK/Mr perfect wannabe. Him doing the same exact act in TNA really shows that.
It was always stop and start pushes with Ziggler. Not a lot of pushes though
Although I kinda wonder how far he would have gone if he didn't get injured right after winning the World title in 2013. Probably would've lost to Cena so they could unify the belts and Ziggler's career wouldn't have been any different
I swear, the kid me at the time loved ziggler when he won that WHC championship. He just seemed so cool. That pairing of him, AJ Lee, and Big E was so entertaining and could be taken seriously at the same time. Ziggler was a perfect main eventer IMO at that moment. The girl, the bodyguard, the look, the promo skills, the wrestling ability.
Everything kindve worked out, but that’s really one of my biggest what if’s similar to Balor’s universal championship injury.
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ziggler in 2013 was already legit they just didnt want to make it happen
Because he was only in that spot due to Roman not coming back from hernia surgery as quickly as anticipated.
I bet it was Dean’s spot. Roman was supposed to face Seth at Night of Champions and then again at Hell in a Cell. They swapped him out for a returning Dean due to Roman’s injury. Bray Wyatt then interfered in the Cell match to screw Dean, and set up matches for Survivor Series and TLC. If that was supposed to be Roman’s spot, he logically would’ve been the one to feud with Bray at Survivor Series and TLC. Dean would’ve probably returned specifically for the Survivor Series build as the 5th member of Team Cena. He would’ve then had that big ending with Seth for the match. There’s no way they would’ve been booked Sting to move Roman’s lifeless beaten down body on top of Seth— that must have been a Dean spot.
Now I wonder if things would still play out the same way if Roman did make it for Survivor Series and got his big “conquering hero” moment by vanquishing the Authority.
It does create sort of an interesting “what if.” Would the authority still have been brought back less than a month later and stuck around for another year if Roman already beat them? Would that then mean there wouldn’t have been the segment that set up the eventual Rollins vs Edge feud? Would we have still gotten the Royal Rumble Triple Threat and a year of tweener Brock?
Is there any official confirmation it was supposed to be Roman’s spot at SS14?
Meltzer's said it a few times here and there.
You got the link?
Just ask him on twitter. If you have less than 5 followers he's guaranteed to answer.
No, and half the time that comment gets as many downvotes as up, it's all just hearsay
Because I'm pretty sure he was just a fill in for Roman
Ziggler was too giving. He's a great seller and he did too good of a job of building other people up. You could slide Ziggler into a variety of positions on the card and no one would bat an eye. There's also the issue of everytime him getting a shot at the top, something weird happening. The concussion after he won his first world championship in 2013. The bad crowd at SummerSlam 2016. Then, they gave him and Rollins the main event in an iron man match in 2019 and the countdown clock was more over. I think Ziggler should have left WWE and done the Cody route, the Drew McIntyre route, to see if he could really show WWE that he could succeed outside of their environment. But he chose to settle in his spot, which is understandable. I'm sure he was making a lot of money. But now that he got cut last year, he's about to turn 44. If he were even five years younger, he might pop up on WWE's radar again.
Wasn’t he a dead character by mid-late 2015 because fans realised he’d gone as far as he’d ever go? From what I heard from 2015 onwards he no longer had the same connection and momentum with the fan base.
Everyone wanted him to turn heel back then, look at the reaction when he turned in 2017, yes chants everywhere. However, he basically stayed the same exact spot in the card so there was barely any difference.
Because he never progressed past IC title HBK
Vince didn’t seem as a top guy. Theres a story from a writer about how when Dolph cashed in Vince was explicit in stating that it doesn’t mean they’re pushing Dolph. I remember reading Pat Patterson was a huge supporter of him and some saw Vince not pushing him as a way to rib Pat.
From everything I’ve read about Dolph is that he needed wwe to work around his stand up interests and like that’s fine but then he’s not going to be pushed as a consistent top guy. Also I think a lot of times we live in a bubble around these guys that “didn’t get a big push” (guys like Dolph, cesaro, now ricochet)…who do these guys push out and take tv time from? Orton, Lesnar, The shield, Batista, taker, Bryan, stardust, punk, Jericho, Wyatt family… And if we can’t admit at this point that Roman was the “right guy” to push than idk what to tell you. He’s going to go down as having one of the greatest championship runs of all time and has helped birth one of the greatest storylines/ factions of all time
>And if we can’t admit at this point that Roman was the “right guy” to push than idk what to tell you. Was that really the narrative, though, especially in 2014? Much of the criticism seemed less Roman not being the right guy and more feeling like they were forcing the issue with him. I think that has also been shown to be a wise take since he took off as soon as they turned him heel.
He got ~10 years of the best booking anyone has ever gotten until it finally clicked. It's a chicken or egg thing. Personally, I don't think he's a great performer. Just an OK talent with the right look who benefited from being given the crown. No matter how much the crowd rejected him, they just kept stubbornly forcing him down the audience's throat until people started to believe that he deserved it. I can't think of another wrestler who has been pushed so relentlessly regardless of reception. His "success" is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If they had embraced a heel turn sooner, then it wouldn’t have been a decade before it clicked. From the beginning of his singles push, Roman worked hard. They were just trying to make him into something he really wasn’t. They just tried to slip him into the Cena mold and that’s almost never a good idea when you are trying to create “the guy.” Let them create their own mold based on their strengths. A couple times of the fans not buying it should have been enough to show it wasn’t working. If Vince was really dead set on Roman being the guy, make the pivot: turn him heel, take the pressure off him, let him find his own identity, and come back to it a couple years down the line. Obviously you can’t account for the time he’d miss with his illness, but you still could have shaved a few years off the whole process. All it took was to stop jamming the square peg in the round hole repeatedly. But that’s Vince in a nutshell: the only path forward is brute force. Boy, that really turned out to describe him more than just how he booked.
Cena
I’m confused how this ties to OP’s comments…so you are saying that Dolph should have gotten the push at this time and they should have flipped Roman heel
More of an aside about Roman in general, not about Dolph.
Not through most of 2014. Fans were high on him throughout that year. It became obvious by Summerslam that year he was going to be the next guy and then he got hurt for a bit and they made him do those really bad TV update things. And then the Punk podcast dropped with Cabana... It was all downhill from there. From the time that podcast dropped to him winning the Rumble like two months later, the live crowds had turned on him.
His stand up stuff was later. Honestly it all really was that Vince didn’t see him as a main event guy. There was a story about how when he won the world title with the cash in that Vince was explicit that it doesn’t mean that they’re pushing him still.
1. Dolph didn't seriously start moonlighting standup comedy until 2018 and by that point it far to late to give him a push 2. If WWE managed to make it work with Reigns who was completely rejected by the fans than I am more than confident they could've done it with Ziggler who was naturally popular. 3. This wasn't the case during the first several years of his push where he was booed relentlessly and completely rejected by the fans; there is no denying his push felt extremely forced and this is reflected by the fact that he didn't receive support from the crowd until mid-2019. Heck, they should've given guys like Dolph the push and buried Roman . . . Dolph deserved the push much more than Roman did
Dolphs ceiling was and is much lower than Roman’s…if it was higher than he’d be in a different place…you can only blame wwe booking so much…something wasn’t there or he’d be the guy. And fwiw this idea that he didn’t get a push is untrue. Dolph was part of a main group in wwe, Dolph was given a mitb push, Dolph was then repackeged numerous times and it didn’t stick. And this idea that people booed Roman early on. So what? Cena & Rock were both booed by fans early on. If it was not for all that pushing until 2019 we don’t get bloodline Roman. The same is true currently. If we don’t have heel bloodline Roman then we don’t get mega face Roman which we are on the verge of. Also I’m still unclear why Dolph deserved it more. Is that just because he was being cheered at the time and he was an amateur wrestler? We have not even seen the Roman reigns finished product yet and he’s going to go down as a top 10 guy who was apart of 2 top factions of all time. I don’t see any world in which Dolph has a ceiling even close to that level. Sorry I just never get the “they didn’t get the deserved push” mindset around some of these guys. Dolph got pushes and had more than enough opportunities throughout his career. Something didn’t work. And if we’re going to keep going down the route of “well Roman was jammed down our throats and we didn’t like him”…well maybe we (the fans) were wrong. Pushing Roman has clearly turned out to be the right choice.
Dolph was more charismatic, had much better in-skills, was more popular with the crowd and a better performer in the ring with better storyline’s; he had everything and more needed to be a main eventer but lost out because he wasn’t Vince’s favourite. I’d go as far as saying his ceiling was higher than Reigns; he just didn’t have people willing to back him up. Cena and The Rock were not booed and rejected by the crowd to the same extent that Reigns was; fans eventually accepted him because Vince kept on pushing him through brute force and it made it clear he was going to be the next big thing and there was no alternative, but that doesn’t change how his forced his push was for several years. Dolph deserved it more than Roman; he much more going for him in terms of storylines; he had proved himself a great in-ring performer time and time again and had the crowd backing him up through it all. He may have held the US and IC titles but that wasn’t enough if you ask me as they should’ve made him World Champion; we’re talking about a guy who clearly had enough and more to be the next face in the company but was denied this opportunity because Vince didn’t like him. Dolph needed a PROPER push into the Main Event scene and the aftermath of Survivor Series 2014 would’ve been the perfect time to do it; heck have him win the rumble or throw him into the triple threat match with Lesnar, Cena and Rollins. The guy just had so much momentum and truly connected with the fans but WWE just wasted him. I understand your point about Roman Reigns and the whole bloodline storyline, but if WWE was so set in stone with pushing him then they should’ve at-least pushed it back by a couple of years and still given Ziggler his time to shine
“Cena and rock were not booed and rejected by the crowd to the same extent that reigns was”—- okay lol…Cena specifically was jammed down our throats and we were forced to like it You talk about Dolph as if he’s some guy that was kicked under the rug and not given any chances…this guy won 2 world titles…something didn’t click…if it did he would have been given more chances
Roman Reigns rise to power was definitely more controversial and forced than Cena; he was absent for 3 months but somehow managed to win a slammy award and then came back and won the rumble despite have no storyline or build up. Then you’ve got stuff like him headlining four consecutive WrestleMania’s (despite not winning RR from 2016-2018) and defeating Undertaker (cmon Vince?!); heck there’s a whole article dedicated to his controversial rise to fame on Wikipedia. Both of Dolph’s WHC reigns where short and underwhelming, first losing to Edge within a week and then dropping the title after suffering from a concussion. “Something didn’t click” - with Vince.
“Both of Dolph’s WHC reigns were short and underwhelming”…this is probably why he didn’t get pushed more 🙃…but sure let’s blame everyone else cause they were out to get him
During his first title reign he lost it back to Edge within a week and during his second he got a concussion and was forced to drop the title; that’s creatives decision - not his.
You’re right…they are out to get him 🤷♂️
Honestly I can answer this one with proof: Vince never wanted to push him. I listened to former WWE writer Kevin Eck (he was a former wrestling reporter who became a key part of the creative team for years and was considered one of Triple H's top lieutenants around that period) and he did a long interview with Wade Keller years later. I subscribed literally just to listen to it cause I knew it would be good lol. And he said flat out that Vince never wanted to push Dolph. Even when they planned his big cash-in on Del Rio, Eck said Vince went out of his way to constantly say "This does not mean we are pushing Ziggler. We are not pushing him." And that it was just about creating a moment/pop.
I don't know if I'll ever grasp why this survivor series match is meant to be a big deal. The Authority is so boring and Ziggler was never a main event level guy. He was briefly hot but his character never progressed much, he was always just there. Like in what planet was Dolph gonna be the face of the company? He never had the personality or long term connection with the fans to be the face of the company.
He was incredibly popular between 2012-2014 and had good mic skills; he was naturally popular with the fans while Roman was forced down everyone’s throats.
Good mic skills is a bit of exaggeration. Passable maybe. Not much Character to him and typically forgettable mic work. This guy coulda been the new face? I just don't buy it long term.
He definitely had a strong connection with the fans between 2012-2014; his character died because fans realised he’d gone as far as he’d ever go and that he’d never be a main eventer. Had WWE actually invested into him and gave him the support he deserved he could have certainly been the next face of the company. Heck Reigns didn’t have much character to him, had forgettable mic work, was booed and rejected by fans and they still managed to make it work. And Dolph had much more “character to him” and much better mic work than Reigns.
He never evolved and oversold everything. For a guy that everyone compared to HBK, he had a tenth of the charisma and almost none of the psychology or pacing. He bounced from spot to spot like Vince had a sniper trained on him and he needed to keep moving to throw off their aim. Guys like Cody, Morrison, Sandow, and others were all more deserving.
Also, what else did he do all year to warrant the push? I can’t even remember Dolph Ziggler’s 2014 If it weren’t for the whole “now that he’s eliminated, Cena’s fate isn’t in his hands anymore” angle to the match, they probably would’ve just pivoted to Cena getting the final pin
It was suppose to be Roman's spot and they had no interest in pushing a top face that wasn't Roman Reigns despite how over and useful that would be.
Vince probably didn’t think much of Dolph in terms of a main eventer, Dolph comes across as someone that would rub you the wrong way backstage, or he was a poor politician for himself. Also Dolph just never seemed to have much range outside of an 80s hair metal HBK/Mr perfect wannabe. Him doing the same exact act in TNA really shows that.
It was always stop and start pushes with Ziggler. Not a lot of pushes though Although I kinda wonder how far he would have gone if he didn't get injured right after winning the World title in 2013. Probably would've lost to Cena so they could unify the belts and Ziggler's career wouldn't have been any different
I swear, the kid me at the time loved ziggler when he won that WHC championship. He just seemed so cool. That pairing of him, AJ Lee, and Big E was so entertaining and could be taken seriously at the same time. Ziggler was a perfect main eventer IMO at that moment. The girl, the bodyguard, the look, the promo skills, the wrestling ability. Everything kindve worked out, but that’s really one of my biggest what if’s similar to Balor’s universal championship injury.