I'm Starting To Buy It

[RavensEdge]

Ziggler...

Maybe it has something to do with his membership in the Spirit Squad, which I view as one of the top 5 worst gimmicks in WWE history. but I couldn't stand him for a long long time. When they made him world champ for 30 minutes earlier this year I lost a lot of respect for the title. I changed my opinion of Ziggler after his match with CM Punk a few weeks ago. I'm a huge Punk fan yes, but aside from a few hiccups I could see these 2 headlining a major ppv within the next 12 months. I really hope Ziggler makes it to the "big show" as he should.

Thoughts?

 

[JWGunslinger]

I was in the exact same position not more than a few months ago my self, I couldnt get over how ridiculously stupid his past gimmick was and I saw no personality from him and a really stupid name. But over the past few months his in ring abilities have won be over and more recently his improved mic work and promos have made me a huge fan of Ziggler. He's done a tremendous job as the United States Champion and I really love his new #Heel role because the character is so much like who he actually is so he gets to be himself out there and that is why it's going to boost him to the main event. I was sold on him feuding with Punk over the WWE Championship by that match with Pink as well, they put on what in my opinion was the second best match of 2011 and left me craving more, I need to see Dolph Ziggler in there against Punk much more, and for the WWE Championship.

 

[Azane]

I just remember him walking around backstage saying "HI I'm Dolph Ziggler" then he got suspended for something, and came back like they skipped a part of his build.

He was one of the guys I was screaming at the TV hoping they'd future endeavor.

Now, I see him being one of the successes of the Youth movement that we've been expecting for the last decade or so. He plays the arrogant heel gimmick so well for someone who used to be NICKY!

Can't wait for him to dump Vickie, I think that'll be his breakout point.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

I know the Ziggler bandwagon keeps increasing with each Monday night but as of now I'm not a fan and don't see myself becoming a fan until he improves on the mic. We can all agree that Ziggler is great in the ring, I wouldn't put him in the top 5 but he might be 8 or 9 on my list of current WWE stars' ring ability. On the mic however (which is more important than ring ability when it comes to selling tickets - just ask Hogan), he sucks. Ziggler has never drawn a reaction alone, they paired him up with Vickie to get him heat and although she is probably the biggest heel in the WWE, pairing them up has done nothing for Ziggler's heat. Look at any RAW, she gets on the mic and they boo like crazy and by the time Ziggler gets his lines in the crowd doesn't care but then he has a great match. I'm sorry but that's not enough to become a star in this business. The only exception to the rule is Bret Hart, but I think that's because he was pushed as the noble face who could take on anyone, which fans really loved. As a heel, Ziggler has no place in the main event. As a face, push him to be that Bret Hart and maybe he can get over like the Hitman did.

 

[VinnieSunshine]

During his Spirit Squad days...well I dont think anyone bought him. But Vince saw something in those guys. If you have a feud or are connected with Vince somehow in a sotryline, you've made it...atleast at that point.

I bought into Ziggler after the Spirit Squad only because he wasn't a breakout star of the group. When I started seeing him backstage introducing himself every week *holds out hand* "Hi Im Dolph Ziggler"...PRICELESS! Putting him with Vickie was the right thing to do to get him over.

He took off and now he's one of those guys that I love to hate. I hate him because he is so good at being a heel that you just want to boo him...but I love him BECAUSE he is so good at doing it, and is great in the ring.

Future multi-time champion and HOF'er.

 

[Ellye]

I started liking Ziggler during his short feud with Bryan in 2010. They had excellent matches.

 

[Gr8 One]

I agree and now he's my favorite. His breakthrough moment or moments was when he feuded with Mysterio. First I thought man Rey making dude look like a million bucks and when I went back and watched the matches, Ziggler was doing his thing also.

 

[justinept]

On the mic however (which is more important than ring ability when it comes to selling tickets - just ask Hogan), he sucks. Ziggler has never drawn a reaction alone, they paired him up with Vickie to get him heat and although she is probably the biggest heel in the WWE, pairing them up has done nothing for Ziggler's heat.

Is it possible that he has never drawn his own reaction because he hasn't been given the opportunity to do so? It is impossible for Dolph to draw his own heat right now when he's standing next to Vickie, who arguably draws the most heat of any character in the company. The thought process of pairing them up is that Dolph will draw Vickie's heat by association. You need to see/hear the reaction Dolph draws when he isn't standing next to Vickie in order to judge if it has worked.

For the record, though... there have been a number of occasions when the WWE has paired emerging stars with mouth pieces as a means to introduce their character and help them draw instant heat ... usually the character dumps the mouth piece shortly before taking off.

Shawn Michaels had Sherri Martel ... Steve Austin had Ted DiBiase ... Kevin Nash had Shawn Michaels ...

You could have said the same things about those wrestlers at one point, that they draw no heat on themselves ... but you'd have been wrong. Those are some of the greatest talkers in the history of the business. It's WAY too early to tell with Dolph.

And for the record... You say that Bret Hart is the lone example of a guy without mic skills that has gone to become a star ... Well, he might be the biggest star to do so, but here are four names - off the top of my head - that you can add to that list.

1) Randy Orton
2) Jeff Hardy
3) Goldberg
4) Chris Benoit

 

[Obscurity]

I started to like Ziggler when I saw his match with RKO on the first Raw Supershow. This guy has a mean superkick!

 

[JETER123]

Dolph is currently one of my favorites. He's got the in ring skills, the look, the personality...he's got it all.

However, I HATE his name. Dolph Ziggler is such an awful name, it almost ruins him for me. Nick Nemeth, his real name, would have been perfect. Hell, anything but "Dolph Ziggler" would be better.

 

[TheMainMan32]

I respect where everyone is coming from, but I don't see it. To me, there's really nothing that separates him from anyone else that has an arrogant heel gimmick. He does have good in-ring ability, but he is not a guy that would cause me to buy a PPV. IMO, he is in the perfect spot when fueding for the midcard titles. Good part of the roster, sure, but not a guy I can see being much more over than he already is.

 

[[cL]]

Yeah, I have to admit I pretty much thought nothing of him until this past monday night. Him in the ring with Cena, Miz and Del Rio, and his mic work outshines them all. I was thoroughly impressed. His match with Punk was outstanding. I'm starting to think he could become a ME player...in the FUTURE.
Right now a few things need to change.
1. His name. The name Dolph Ziggler sounds like the name of someone destined to be future endeavored. It sucks the major donkey and I'd love to see him use either his real name or a moniker of some sort that works better. (Hunter Hearst Helmsley < Triple H}
2. I realize that a lot of heat he gets is coming from being attached to Vicky. And that was great when people didn't really get him. I think she has a knack for creating great heels due to her being so over with the crowd (heel wise). However, I'd like to see what he could do without her. I'd ilke to see him get over on his own. I think if he could split from Vicky and pull off that kind of heel heat, he'd be more than proven.

Outside of those two things, i'm really starting to enjoy #Heel.

 

[Foshinzo]

I think it's just because the guy has already hit his ceiling is why I can't fully see him deserving to hold the WWE Championship over someone like Punk.

Ziggler is as good now as he's ever going to get, in my eyes. Not that that's a bad thing...the guy isn't bad at all. He goes out, he does his job well, and he goes home. He doesn't leave a tremendous impact on you, but that's because he's still got Vickie to give him enough cheap heat to survive.

Ziggler is another star of the WWE who has no personality. He just doesn't. The kid is working his ass off to get a personality and it shows, and I appreciate him for it, but it's not good when you're trying as hard as he is to get over and you end up using your Twitter #tag to remind everyone to go to your Twitter. Ziggler, I believe, has hit his cap and I'll feel angry if he wins the WWE title. Not a good type of anger, either. The 4th-wall anger we all feel when we know that his name doesn't belong in the record books as being as good as HBK or the Rock.

I like Dolph where he is: he needs to always be a guy who never got the title, because it's those fairly talented guys who aren't really stars that make the championship so prestigious. They never got to hold the strap, so the guys who did must have been pretty good.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I really started to become a fan of Ziggler during his run as Intecontinental Champion. It was during this time that Ziggler truly started to shine inside the ring. His matches against Daniel Bryan & John Cena that he had in late 2010 were some of the best matches of the year, but I wasn't ready to call him a star. All we knew was he could go inside the ring and that's just not enough in this day and age.

Ziggler had a great run as Intercontinental Champion. To me, his run was about as close to ideal as it gets. His matches were great, he defended the title often, he benefitted from having a significant reign with the title & the title itself benefitted from Ziggler having such a strong run with it. When it was over, both the title & Ziggler were in better places than they were before. His program with Edge further highlighted a potentially bright future ahead of him. Aside from the 11 minute WHC reign, which pissed me off to no end, it was a good program. Unfortunately for Ziggler, he kind of got lost in the shuffle during the build to WrestleMania. His contribution was a 3.5 minute mixed tag match.

After winning the United States Championship, the WWE finally got things back on track. While they haven't had Ziggler defend the title as much as would be ideal, they've used his reign to develop him as a personality on screen and on the mic. Ziggler has shown steady improvement on the mic, he carries himself like a star, he can deliver with intensity & confidence. He still has some work to do, but he's come a really long way in roughly 6 months.

As far as Ziggler's past goes, I've long since gotten past the lousy characters, such as him being part of the Spirit Squad. What he's been doing the past year and a half overall, in my view, puts all that stuff to rest. Ziggler has clawed & scratched for every inch of ground he's gained in WWE since he showed up as Dolph Ziggler. The guy's been working his ass off and, quite frankly, I think he's been delivering.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Ziggler is as good now as he's ever going to get, in my eyes. Not that that's a bad thing...the guy isn't bad at all. He goes out, he does his job well, and he goes home.

Very well said. It's not a question of disliking Ziggler, it's just that it seems the company is readying him for main event status and I don't feel he measures up to that level.

I like his look, his work ethic, and the way he sells for others......but I find his personality bland; often, there isn't anything a performer can do about that. They recite their lines and hope for the best.....but not everyone has the charisma of a John Cena.

I think highly of Dolph as a mid-carder, and there's nothing wrong with being one. But as a main eventer, possibly headed for a world title run?

Sorry, just can't see it and I'm a little disappointed management does. Makes it seem as if they don't have anyone better available, so they're pushing what they've got, worthy or not. That's not a knock on Dolph as much as on the dearth of young talent.

 

[Matty_Mayhem]

Why has no one brought up the fact that Dolph has what might very well be the WORST finisher in recent memory? What the hell even IS that move? He should use the former backstabber instead and just keep the name.

 

[TM Punk]

I think dolph ziggler has a very bright future ahead of him, and I feel that the WWE is doing a VERY good job at molding him, and taking their time with him. As far as I can see Vicky has been like a coach for him. In football, when you draft a quarterback, unless he is 100% ready right away, you don't send him out to the wolves in week 1. You coach them up, you identify their strengths, and you work hard to make their weaknesses better. In this case, dolph's strength has been his ring work, and his weakness was on the mic. So what putting him with vicky did, was let him sit back, and see how to work a crowd with words first, over actions, and in the past month or so something has really clicked with him. Maybe its WWE letting their workers improvise instead of scripting everything. I don't know what it is, but he's really coming into his own. Should he headline WM28? No! Should he have a 15-20 minute match for the US title? Absolutly.

As for his finisher, I really like the sleeper hold as his finisher moreso than the zig zag. I love the psycology of having a finishing move that everyone who wrestles, or watches wrestling is able to do/apply. It says that yes, I realize you can do a sleeper hold too, but I'm just that much better at it than you are that itts my finisher.

One more thing about his mic work, and you can take this for what its worth. I'm fortunate enough to work with 3 or 4 grown men who like wrestling almost as much as I do. The whole week after survivor series, we weren't saying boots to asses. We were saying "I'm GONNA FOLLOW MEEEE!!". That's what dolph said during his entrance for the elimination match right after making a speech about no one being able to follow him in the ring. And now this whole week we've all been saying "I come to this ring every night and put on the best show... ON PURPOSE!"

I don't know what it is, but there's something about HIS arrogant heel persona that is different to me than others. And I'm really liking it right now. He in my fave five dawg!

 

[Aquaman6686]

Ziggler is THE top guy in the company right now as far as I'm concerned. He's got the ring work, the mic skills, and the charisma to carry the company as the #1 heel in the company. I can definitely see him main eventing WrestleMania 29.

 

[poppycock]

His name is obviously just a parody of Dirk Ziggler from Boogie Nights. I don't really have a problem with it. I like Dolph a lot and have for quite some time. I am pleased he went back to the bleached blonde look because it makes him stand out that much more. I also took a while to get over the Spirit Squad thing but now do not even connect the two. He is one of my favourite young WWE wrestlers today.

 

[TheMainMan32]

Lol that's Dirk Diggler. I knew that from day one. It's still a stupid name, and a name that I think hinders him. The name doesn't lend itself to be taken seriously. That's one of the reasons that I think that it has taken so long for Dolph to get over.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Ziggler is believable. People believe he is who he acts like. If I saw Ziggler on the street, I'd expect him to be acting lke he's the shit. The way he's acting isn't that much different than any other cocky heel, but the conviction he shows is believable. He is in character on the mic, when he walks, and when he wrestles. That (and Vickie) are why he's getting more notice and getting over.

It's not the name that hinders him. There have been a lot of stupid ass names that have gotten over. Even "The Rock" is kind of a dumb name when you think about it. Like what? Is he going to cause you to roll your ankle if you land on him wrong? However, because he created a brand and a character out of it, now you think of the jabroni-beating, pussy licking, etc etc etc

 

[TheMainMan32]

Well, that's part of the problem I have with Ziggler. His character is about as exciting (to me) as watching paint dry. What is the difference between him and any other cocky heel?

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Well, that's part of the problem I have with Ziggler. His character is about as exciting (to me) as watching paint dry. What is the difference between him and any other cocky heel?

Dolph is always in character, he never looks like a guy playing a character (kinda). Like a few weeks ago, he got cut off because I'm guessing his promo time was up, his music hits and he looks around and then goes "who does that?" still in character. A guy like ted dibiase would have shit his pants and had an awkward look.

Dolph is very good at creating a whole. You can talk loud and fast and have a lot of moves and shit, but if you don't put it all together and do it all "in character" in a way that makes sense, it doesn't matter. Dolph puts it all together. Not to the same degree as someone like Cena, Orton, Rhodes, or Punk, put still pretty good.

 

[conrad405]

he came for a cheerleader gimmick to the upper mid card and hes the US champ im a big fan of DZ cos of that and a fan of his mic work and gimmick and ring work so with all that i became a huge fan of DZ i just hope they dont blow it.

 

[thrashtastic]

Dolph Ziggler is going to be a top guy. His personality has progressed. I started off not really caring about him at all, and now I'm finding myself rooting for him. He acts like a star, and it's believable. His mic skills are improving each week, he gets in some great lines, and he is phenomenal in the ring. Nothing will hold him back.