Dolph Ziggler's heel turn: is it too late?

[Psykohurricane55]

Last night on smackdown, after his match with baron corben, ziggler turn heel by attacking kalisto after kalisto came to help him. Then later on, he attacked apollo crews in the locker room. So I'm guessing this is the start of ziggler's heel turn.

But the question is, it's it too late for fans to cares about ziggler or will it help him finally get to the next level and become a main event heel.

Personally, I think is new attitude could just help him to finally get the stigma of his old personna away from him and could do for his career the same thing that it did for neville

 

[#hamler]

You could pretty much feel this turn coming months in advance. The frustration of losing nearly all of his big matches proved it would happen sooner rather than later.

I don't think it's too late for Ziggler. As with Neville, a heel turn could very well freshen up Dolph Ziggler's character enough to where the WWE audience gives him a consistant reaction on a nightly basis. Ziggler needs to prove that this heel turn works for him - by cheating to win matches and using dirty tactics to remain over. I like what I saw last night with his character when he attacked Crews for stepping in on Kalisto's behalf. It's certainly nice to know he'll play the aggressive heel that isn't afraid of a fight instead of a douchebag/showoff heel we've seen a billion times before.

Whatever the case, the next few weeks will be crucial for determining his future in the WWE. This may be his last opportunity to prove he belongs the top of the card. I'm hoping it works out for him.

 

[Gallops77]

He needs to make it that he's essentially sick of being the boy scout and doing what's right to win. He should reference The Miz and other heels by saying they get the big matches and the glory by playing by their own rules.

If he keeps the aggressive attitude with a "I'll do whatever it takes to win" demeanor, including cheat, backstage assaults etc, he can get over as a top heel.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I doubt this is going to propel Dolph Ziggler to the main event of a PPV. Maybe the odd SD here and there. I think it was way overdue. His I.C loss to The Miz should've been the tipping point, or even further back. Ziggles can make a good mid card heel to fight the rookies trying to make waves on the main roster. (Like Apollo Crews).

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

No, I actually think it was the right moment. The better time would have been against Dean Ambrose, but here's the deal. Ziggler didn't have momentum then and he wasn't going to win the championship. So why turn him then?

Then, this whole deal with the IC Championship happened and then Ziggler found Corbin in his way once again. And Kalisto coming out to save him was the icing on the cake. I think it was beautifully excecuted.

Maybe we're going for a Ambrose vs Ziggler WM feud, in a big IC title match, a singles IC title match, for the first time in years. I think Ambrose and Ziggler have so much more to offer in a personal feud.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

No, well yes... wait no... definitely no.

In essence, yes it's overdue. From a time standpoint about a year overdue. But I'm glad they held off on it until now. If they did it at "the right time" it would've made little impact, and without the brand split Dolph would've remained in the same place he was prior to the heel turn. It would've accomplished nothing. Dolph is someone who needs a brand split, or at the very least needs there to be two World Championships for him to be relevant. They're not going to put effort into him otherwise and he'll just end up floundering like he did since he lost the World Heavyweight Championship (minus that very brief and random thing towards the end of 2014).

Smackdown did a, I won't say exceptional but a pretty good job of making him relevant again. He's been on the cusp of the main event since arriving on Smackdown, he's been in rivalries for both singles championships, beating Miz for the Intercontinental Championship in one of the better feuds of the year and fought for the WWE Championship a few times. The fans may not have taken to him and embraced him like they did 4-5 years ago, but he feels important again and they really did a good job with building up his frustration. None of that would've happened prior to the brandsplit on RAW. They wouldn't have taken the time to build him up, they wouldn't have taken the time to let the frustration set in, they would've just turned him heel... and it would've fell flat.

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

I dont think Ziggler turn is relevant, Ziggler has been over as a face even when he was a heel.

People likes him, because he is entertaining, the booking was the issue, not his alignement.

If they keep booking him like they did for the last years, it wont matter face, heel or tweener.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

This is interesting. I think most see it as a sign that he is going to be elevated, I'm not sure if that is the purpose. I look at the people he attacked and his history as enhancement talent and this tells me that his job may to start helping guys like Slater and Crews over as midcard faces.

Then again, he has done terrific work lately and I've always wanted him to be an angry heel (as opposed to his old cocky heel character). This may be the story going forward pushing him in to feuds with guys like Ambrose, Cena, or a face AJ for titles.

Any way you look at it though, it is not too late. It is almost never too late if there is still talent, athletic ability, and a strong story to be told.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

It's never to late just ask Miz.

What Dolph needs to do is make the most of it. He needs make people boo him, get some kind of crowd reaction which as always been his problem. He gets a good crowd reaction and then the next show it's back to the same old Dolph.

A heel turn was needed no doubt and kicking perennial favorite Kalisto was a good start but I'm not going to hold my breath that this will be any different than the last 20 times they've tried to make Ziggler worth anything.

 

[Navi]

I'm sure it will do nothing but help him. His crying each week about being the downtrodden failure was really beginning to get annoying. Anything was better than that.

If he can get into a mid card feud with Ambrose, and they've had some great matches in the past, then he might just become interesting again. He as a mid card heel will do wonders for the guys coming up. So I'm willing to give this a chance to see where it goes.

 

[ShinChan]

As has been already said here, it's never too late.

Plus, after brand split, Ziggler's credibility has increased a lot. Near Wrestlemania 32, he was losing to Baron Corbin in that long feud and near Survivor Series, he was losing to Tyler Breeze. Not to forget the love triangle with Rusev and Lana. 2015 and 2016 before Brand split wasn't good.

But after brand split, he has had an awesome feud with The Miz making me relevant enough just like when he was the lone Survivor on Survivor Series 2014.

A heel turn was inevitable and I think that it was the right moment too. He could be used in main event for a while in 2017 while elevating guys like Crews and Kalisto who are quite talented too.

 

[ramblinroy682]

I think a heel turn is perfect. I'd even love to see him as the front man for a stable.

There was talk of a shooter stable a while back. I could see Jack Swagger being his right hand man for a while. I could even see down the road an American Alpha heel turn to form a new 4-Man group. They could call themselves The Varsity Club since they were all varsity college wrestlers. WWE could rip-off the bullet club and make some sort of similar logo.

Speaking of bullet club, if the WWE wanted to create a team of anti-authority type of figures on Smackdown, I could see Dolph as the leader of an anti-culture group. Almost, an anti-independent faction. Taking shots at Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Apollo Crews, Dean Ambrose etc. He could be the leader with two guys who could create their own spin on a Young Bucks like team. Two guys like Breeze and Tye Dillinger would make a good pairing.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Dolph Ziggler was one of the best and most over wrestlers in WWE in 2014. He had that star-making performance at Survivor Series 2014, being the sole survivor for his team. Everyone was a fan of Ziggler. So how did they follow up in 2015 and the first half of 2016? With some of the worst booking for a wrestler that I have ever seen.

Has that ridiculous feud with Sheamus, which ended in Ziggler kissing Sheamus' arse (seriously)

Has that horrible love triangle (square) feud with Rusev, Lana, and Summer Rae

Jobs out to Tyler Breeze / Jobs out to Baron Corbin 19 out of the 20 times they wrestled

After this, no one cared about Ziggler. Why should they? Booking absolutely killed his career, and honestly it's a shame. He was very talented and over in 2014, and he should be today. Since moving to Smackdown, his booking has been better, but no one really cared for the most part (except for that great match with Miz at No Mercy).

However as other posters have said, it is never too late. A heel turn can do wonders for one's career (The Miz, Mark Henry, most notably The Rock). I'm not saying Ziggler will enter the main event scene, but fans will certainly be more interested. Also the story, although simple, made a lot of sense. Ziggler couldn't win the big one and was so close so many times. Finally after losing time after time, he snapped. I could see him having a silent, lone wolf-type character.

Regardless, his booking should be better, and fan interest should definitely increase, so I am a big fan of this heel turn.