A Growing Problem I Have With Dolph Ziggler

[Wildcat66]

Or rather, his PPV matches as of late...

Now listen; it's not because of his wrestling ability, far from it actually. Dolph Ziggler has always been a great hand in the ring, and that is something that hasn't changed since 2011.

The problem with Dolph Ziggler is this: Ziggler seems to be getting too much offense against the people who are supposed to beat him. It happened with Shinuske Nakamura, which while not horrible was not quite their best work and it now seems to be happening with Bobby Roode. Was the match bad? Not as bad as people here have made it, as the two had some good chemistry. But it was to me the weakest match in terms of booking.

One time is fine enough, doing it twice is a little...concerning. It makes you wonder, what are they trying to do with Ziggler? Are they trying to get him to resign his contract in some fashion? Is Ziggler jealous of the new NXT stars? Is this the fault of WWE creative? I'm not sure what seems to be happening with Dolph Ziggler, but it is something that has been worrisome to me and could harm the roster in the near future if something isn't done.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

You aren’t alone. How long was the match last night? Fifteen minutes? Let’s call it fifteen. Of that fifteen, Dolph was on offense about ten or eleven of them. Now I have no issue with the heel getting the majority of the offense to help build the face comeback, but Roode didn’t really have a comeback. He got a roll up with a handful of tights. Dolph was constantly getting near falls off the same type of pin. That leads me to my second issue, Dolph’s offense is weak. He has a solid dropkick and he throws an okay superkick, but his other big moves don’t look impactful. His fameasser is often hit too quickly and looks botched, his sleeper is overused considering it never puts anyone away, the Zig Zag May be the worst finish ever. That leaping DDT used to be cool until he used it too often. He can’t even cheat properly.

So why? Why is he being so protected against guys who should be superior to him? What are they building him for? Is it just so Vince can have a WWE built guy halt the momentum of indy darlings?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

My guess, and that's all it is, is that Vince doesn't want guys who're coming up from NXT to just look like they can just run over someone that's been a main roster mainstay for a decade now. Ziggler has done a lot in WWE and he's been a significant name for a lot of years, so I've got no problem with him giving wrestlers who've just come up from NXT competitive matches.

I haven't liked seeing Brock Lesnar tear through modern guys in the past as though they were no real challenge and I don't think NXT guys should do the same with main roster veterans. Ziggler's been a former World Heavyweight Champion, a United States Champion and a 5 time Intercontinental Champion that's always done whatever's asked of him so, from a fan perspective, I don't get much enjoyment out of watching accomplished guys who've worked hard get shafted for the latest flavor to come up from NXT.

In the case of Bobby Roode, Ziggler looks to be his first program rather than a one shot deal like we saw with Nakamura and that makes it all the more sensible that he gave Roode a hard match. In retrospect, having Nakamura go over Ziggler in 5 minutes or less while taking Roode a good 15+ to do it would've only made Roode look weak by comparison, which isn't logical considering that Nakamura is the guy who lost the title to Roode before heading to the main roster.

 

[Dolph Ziggler's Gimmick]

You aren’t alone. How long was the match last night? Fifteen minutes? Let’s call it fifteen. Of that fifteen, Dolph was on offense about ten or eleven of them. Now I have no issue with the heel getting the majority of the offense to help build the face comeback, but Roode didn’t really have a comeback. He got a roll up with a handful of tights. Dolph was constantly getting near falls off the same type of pin. That leads me to my second issue, Dolph’s offense is weak. He has a solid dropkick and he throws an okay superkick, but his other big moves don’t look impactful. His fameasser is often hit too quickly and looks botched, his sleeper is overused considering it never puts anyone away, the Zig Zag May be the worst finish ever. That leaping DDT used to be cool until he used it too often. He can’t even cheat properly.

So why? Why is he being so protected against guys who should be superior to him? What are they building him for? Is it just so Vince can have a WWE built guy halt the momentum of indy darlings?

I honestly think the Zig Zag is a cool finisher, when executed properly it can look brutal as all hell. And last night was probably the only time I can remember a botched famesser from him.

The whole heel dominating the babyface thing makes sense from a storytelling perspective, especially if their style is technical and they're putting over the face eventually. No, Roode didn't get a convincing win, but he won nonetheless and they're obviously setting up for a rematch. Next time around I expect a better match, just like Ziggler's match with Shinsuke on SmackDown was better than the PPV one.

As for that last point.. eh, it's possible. Vince might want to portray that. But one thing's for sure, he wouldn't want to completely bury them and risk hurting their growing star power. Though I'll admit I tend to question that nowadays, with this whole Jinder/Shinsuke mess.

 

[ComeOnVince]

You aren’t alone. How long was the match last night? Fifteen minutes? Let’s call it fifteen. Of that fifteen, Dolph was on offense about ten or eleven of them. Now I have no issue with the heel getting the majority of the offense to help build the face comeback, but Roode didn’t really have a comeback. He got a roll up with a handful of tights. Dolph was constantly getting near falls off the same type of pin. That leads me to my second issue, Dolph’s offense is weak. He has a solid dropkick and he throws an okay superkick, but his other big moves don’t look impactful. His fameasser is often hit too quickly and looks botched, his sleeper is overused considering it never puts anyone away, the Zig Zag May be the worst finish ever. That leaping DDT used to be cool until he used it too often. He can’t even cheat properly.

So why? Why is he being so protected against guys who should be superior to him? What are they building him for? Is it just so Vince can have a WWE built guy halt the momentum of indy darlings?

I like the Zig Zag. It's goofy, but it's different. And in Dolph's world, different is good. I think that WWE just knows that he IS a good hand, and he gets to display his skill set and his character always comes off as showing strongly, even if he doesn't get to win much. I think everyone knows he isn't going to the face of the company or get a title run, but he's not out there getting embarrassed week in and week out either.

 

[Navi]

To be quite honest I'm surprised that Ziggler is still on the roster. He's been looking and acting unhappy for a long time now. He will never hold another world title, there are just too many ahead of him and doesn't look like they have any plans for him to hold any title.

Ziggler seems to be used more of an enhancement talent these days, giving the new call ups from NXT their first taste of a main roster feud. While it isn't a bad job, have to agree that the Roode match went on far too long and wasn't that great.

He is a good mid card talent and if need be can move up and down the roster, but one has to wonder if what the WWE wants him to do and what he wants to do are the same thing. I think that's why we keep hearing he won't resign when his contract is up. Don't know when that is, but he has other pans in the fire with his stand up comedy and what not. So he won't just be sitting around doing nothing.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I don't see any problem with that match last night.

Like Ziggler or not, he is a former World Champion. No he's clearly not as popular as he once was, but that still means something.

You don't want some random wrestler from NXT practically squashing him in their debut match. Most fans know nothing about Roode, so you can't push him too hard too quickly.

That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

His act is that he is better in the ring than others.

If the WWE are going with that angle, I would expect him to have a lot of offense.