Dolph/Crews.....they are doing neither of these guys any favors

[LBGetBack]

Crews, I think they got excited about and brought him up way too early. He has no character. He's strong, he smiles, he'll defend his friends, and he can do a backflip. That's it. That's all we know about him. That's not a character, it's simply a list of basic qualities that you would want any babyface to have.

Given that, he's probably the worst possible opponent for Dolph right now. Dolph has some fans who were bored of what he'd been doing the previous few years. Putting him up against Crews completely screws Dolph out of any heat. Having him beat down a guy who doesn't say or do anything to make people care about him is a recipe for disaster for both guys.

Thing is, NXT needs a face right now. Most of its top men are heels. Crews could be down there improving and developing more of a character in front of a much more supportive audience. Hopefully that was an injury angle to get him off TV, and they bring him back in NXT.

 

[#tamale]

This is nothing new with Dolph Ziggler. Baron Corbin, Tyler Breeze, and now it's Apollo Crews and Kalisto. Put Ziggler with a John Cena, Miz, AJ Styles, etc. and he will have a great feud. Put him with guys looking to make a name for themselves, he fails to deliver. That is not to make any excuses for Apollo Crews who is struggling, but if he was feuding with Dean Ambrose then maybe we'd get somewhere.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

This is nothing new with Dolph Ziggler. Baron Corbin, Tyler Breeze, and now it's Apollo Crews and Kalisto. Put Ziggler with a John Cena, Miz, AJ Styles, etc. and he will have a great feud. Put him with guys looking to make a name for themselves, he fails to deliver. That is not to make any excuses for Apollo Crews who is struggling, but if he was feuding with Dean Ambrose then maybe we'd get somewhere.

In the last six months they already had a Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler match for the WWE Championship, at Summerslam no less. After that, we saw Ziggler going after the Intercontinental Championship for three months so, I understand keeping him away and slowly build his heel persona.

I get the criticism the OP is talking about, but I disagree. Crews is now in a meaningful feud with a more established wrestler than him and it's a way to give him the ball. However, the focus is as it should, on Dolph. He feels fresh and we do have a lot to see about him, maybe the feud with Ambrose comes down the line. He has a lot of more options now, but they'll probably pull the trigger after WrestleMania and it's fine.

He's a consistent wrestler who can work undercard and main event and he'll do it this year alone. I say, sit back and enjoy. He has John Cena (hope not, seen it), Randy Orton, Luke Harper and probably someone from NXT like Tye Dillinger to contend with. That can fill up his year and it would feel right.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Ya, when the heel is breaking the faces ankle with a chair and the crowd thanks the heel, you've got some problems with that face. Apollo Crews needs a change of scenery, a gimmick change or something. The guy is as generic as you can get for a face. Ziggler turning heel and toiling around with low carders sucks for him.

 

[#tamale]

In the last six months they already had a Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler match for the WWE Championship, at Summerslam no less.

I meant Apollo Crews going against Dean Ambrose.

He's a consistent wrestler who can work undercard and main event and he'll do it this year alone. I say, sit back and enjoy. He has John Cena (hope not, seen it), Randy Orton, Luke Harper and probably someone from NXT like Tye Dillinger to contend with. That can fill up his year and it would feel right.

I don't deny Dolph Ziggler's entertainment value with established wrestlers, but I would keep him far way from new stars who you want to build.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Crews, I think they got excited about and brought him up way too early. He has no character. He's strong, he smiles, he'll defend his friends, and he can do a backflip. That's it. That's all we know about him. That's not a character, it's simply a list of basic qualities that you would want any babyface to have.

Given that, he's probably the worst possible opponent for Dolph right now. Dolph has some fans who were bored of what he'd been doing the previous few years. Putting him up against Crews completely screws Dolph out of any heat. Having him beat down a guy who doesn't say or do anything to make people care about him is a recipe for disaster for both guys.

Thing is, NXT needs a face right now. Most of its top men are heels. Crews could be down there improving and developing more of a character in front of a much more supportive audience. Hopefully that was an injury angle to get him off TV, and they bring him back in NXT.

I say that they should trade Crews back to NXT, and bring up Shinsae Nakamura.

Crews could win the NXT title, and defend it against the heels. This might get him some build, and give him more time to develop his character on a smaller stage.

Meantime, Nakamura, having just come up from NXT, would be hugely over, like any NXT is when they first come up, until the fans tire of them. Nakamura and Ziggler would have great matches, and the fans would be more split, as Nakamura hasn't been pushed enough yet for fans to turn on him.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

This was the big question after Ziggler's turn. Was the point to elevate Ziggler or for Ziggler to elevate others? Well it is certainly the latter. Has it worked? Not really. But with a face IC champ I would guess that they are not in too big of a rush to elevate too strong and hard. This just seems to be filler, maybe to help Kallisto and Crews with the kids but not please the internet smark.

 

[OYDK]

Crews is the type of low-card character you'd have in the 80s at this point. The small, happy guy who can go in the ring but doesn't have any discernible personality to speak of. It's not like this booking is helping him either. Sure he's gotten some big wins but every. single. damn. one has come from a surprising roll-up. That doesn't help him, especially when they never follow up on these wins. And what the hell is booking a heel Ziggler in a handicap match with two presumable faces going to do for anybody?

Crews has been handled atrociously since being called up, which would make me more upset if he actually deserved better, but he hasn't shown that he does. Character re-haul and maybe a manager (if WWE still had managers...) is in order for him. As for Ziggler, I don't really care. The guy has been doing the same thing for 7 years, a heel turn hasn't changed that.

 

[stingray11214]

The eventuality is that both these guys will probably be Future Endeavored after WrestleMania. WWE is signing a truckload of people, and these two, along with a few others, will be expendable. Let us be real about Crews: WWE was trying to create their own Moose. They destroyed Uhaa Nation, and got themselves a poor man's Moose. Crews really needs to go back to the Indies, and maybe have a run in RoH. Maybe then, WWE will wait out Moose's contract with TNA, and get themselves the REAL Moose.

As for Ziggles: I can see him teaming up with Cody Rhodes in Bullet Club. It will give Ziggler the shot in the arm that his career needs. All he is doing right now is spinning his wheels in the Stamford mud. He will NEVER get a real run at a strap. He moves less merch than I do, and I am not on the roster! So, I doubt sincerely Ziggles will have any further opportunity.

As for their current feud? This reminds me of two condemned gladiators in the Colosseum, fighting each other hoping for Caius' favor. In the end, both will be fed to the lions.

 

[Navi]

Crews needs a character, period. He's great in the ring but there is absolutely no connection with the crowd at all. Sending him back to NXT might do wonders for him.

Ziggler I'm afraid has gone past his sell by date. He bugged the crap out of me with all his whining and complaining about being treated badly, and now he's bugging the crap out of me again with his sore loser tactics.

All his matches are becoming the same. He loses, go's and get's a char and starts whacking people with it. He's a much better wrestler than that but the character that he is playing is annoying as hell. When his matches come on, I go and have a smoke or clean something.

 

[Wildcat66]

Personally; I think after his feud with Miz, Ziggler stopped caring about his match quality and starting going through the motions. In all honesty though, he stopped being relevant in 2015. I think Ziggler's WWE career is pretty much over at this point, he's done everything he can do there and it's becoming obvious that there's nothing left for him.

Apollo Crews I think can easily be redeemed, there's the idea of taking him back down to NXT; but personally i'd like to see him be turned heel and become SmackDown's equivalent to Neville. Destroying everything in his path and showing no mercy for it.

 

[Navi]

Personally; I think after his feud with Miz, Ziggler stopped caring about his match quality and starting going through the motions. In all honesty though, he stopped being relevant in 2015. I think Ziggler's WWE career is pretty much over at this point, he's done everything he can do there and it's becoming obvious that there's nothing left for him.

Apollo Crews I think can easily be redeemed, there's the idea of taking him back down to NXT; but personally i'd like to see him be turned heel and become SmackDown's equivalent to Neville. Destroying everything in his path and showing no mercy for it.

Yea I don't see much more for Ziggler. Like I said before his best days are behind him especially in the WWE. Crews, Kalisto, Bo Dallas and other's can be tweaked, don't really know what you can do with Ziggler anymore. He's been a face, a heel and now I just wish he would get off my TV.

Mind you he gets a great reaction at house shows, the women there love him. So maybe that's why he is kept on, otherwise, let the guy go for crying out loud.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

The thing is, and I feel like this is going completely against something I said when they first decided to go in this new direction with Dolph (but it's early in the morning and my brain isn't working that well yet so I can't remember) they decided to "turn him heel" at a very awkward time. The biggest problem with Dolph's turn, as pointed out by countless people countless times is that he's going up against two people who the crowd couldn't give less than a fuck about. Yet, it was really the only place they could put him. Smackdown lacks top babyfaces as it is, and WrestleMania season doesn't exactly allow for much freedom when it comes to booking. You have your top faces and heels booked in a certain direction that will lead them to their match at WrestleMania... and then you have Dolph in limbo, you're trying to get him over as a heel, but really can't because there's no viable strong babyface to put him up against so you decide to put him with two directionless faces, not because you want to, but almost by default.

Ideally this should've been done post-Mania leading into the Summer. It's WWE's lull period and it would've allowed for much greater freedom.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

The Dolph heel turn has been executed well, but he's going up against two of the most poorly booked babyfaces in recent history.

Kalisto and Apollo Crews are for the children. It's no wonder the vocal adult portion is happy Ziggler is beating them up.

Apollo Crews has been a masterclass in how to not get someone over from the jump to main roster. The cheesy vignettes made people not care. The shit eating grin, the total lack of personality beyond that grin, and losing every feud makes people really not care.

Crews needs an overhaul. He needs a new gimmick (he needs a gimmick) and new music. A good outcome here might even be Crews snapping and joining Ziggler.

Apollo's moveset better suits a face. He lacks an edge. Look at the considerably less talented Ryback. He ran over a constant stream of jobbers for half a year and the crowd loved him. Ryback was over because he went out and kicked ass. Ryback is awful.

Crews has more natural wrestling ability than Ryback, but somehow gray market Goldberg got over. Why not Apollo Crews?

Put him in a tag team, stick him in a faction, repackage him as a heel. Something has to change. We're not likely to see any changes until after WrestleMania.

Dolph needs opponents the crowd cares about and Smackdown has a serious deficit of mid card babyfaces (that are over). I'd turn Apollo heel now then suddenly Dolph and him can team up and start doing some damage. Maybe they can feud with Rhyno and Slater if the crowd hasn't given up on them.

 

[OYDK]

Crews needs an overhaul. He needs a new gimmick (he needs a gimmick) and new music. A good outcome here might even be Crews snapping and joining Ziggler.

I've never thought of this, but it's not a bad idea. Crews doesn't even need to snap, he can just talk about how, like Ziggler, he knows what it feels like to have the crowds turn on you, trying to make the people happy has gotten him nowhere, it's time to focus on Apollo Crews, etc. Seeing as how Dolph's window at becoming a main event guy is pretty much closed at this point, and interest at seeing another Dolph mid-card title run is low (in my opinion), Ziggler can work as a sort of mentor for Crews. At least it would give both guys something to do and Ziggler would be able to more than make up for Crews' deficiencies.

I mean, worst case scenario the crowds don't care and both guys wind up in the same position they're in now. But I think it could be an interesting dynamic.

 

[enviousdominous]

Certain things seem backward at WWE. Dean took the IC belt, so naturally he should be the one who takes on young heels vying for that spot. Baron Corbin is his main foil at the moment, which seems odd to me since Baron has been taking steps here and there to interfere with the world title scene.

Apollo Crews and Dolph Ziggler are a little toxic at the moment, through no fault of their own in my opinion, because their backward momentum might possibly destroy the few lingering ideas that keep guys like Dean and Baron endearing unto us.

Strong debuts are very important. The biggest part of Apollo's debut was that the commentators were gushing over all the cool moves he could do. He didn't have a strong heel pushing his buttons and he's trying to get over as the only nice guy on the roster long after the potential for gimmicks like that have been run into the ground.

Dolph Ziggler is like a riddle with no answer. He's decent when he has a role to play in a major storyline, but he apparently can't get over as just Dolph Ziggler being Dolph Ziggler. I'm not sure if anyone in the audience, outside of Tennessee, really gives a fuck if Dolph super-kicked Jerry Lawler. That was apparently supposed to be his big heel turn, and I for one can barely remember it.

The only hope I see for either man is to build their characters off of people who can actually get over on their own, but yet aren't in the danger zone in terms of their own character becoming irrelevant by association. Thus, I think that Apollo should get into a feud with Baron Corbin over contention for the IC title and lose, and I think that Dolph should shoe-horn his way into the world title picture by attacking AJ Styles and also lose.

 

[ShinChan]

I have said it multiple times that WWE missed big time opportunity when Ziggler won via Sting's help at Survivor Series to dethrone Authority. He could've been made a legit main eventer if he was pushed strongly.

Apollo Crews is quite impressive in the ring. The brand split forced WWE to bring him up too early on the main roster. He was nowhere near being ready.

This feud has it's own pros and cons. It's Crews' first personal feud on main roster and that's a positive. He's against Ziggler and that's something neither good nor bad. I hope that Apollo Crews shows some more personality in this feud.

 

[Radical]

Look, SOME talents need to be mid-card. They can't ALL be top of the card all the time.

Ziggler has had numerous runs at the top of the card and just had one run recently. It's OKAY to go down the card a bit. What is important is if the storyline is interesting.

This is where I agree with the OP. It's going to be a pretty hard sell to make fans cheer Crews and boo Ziggler. Fans have much more familiarity and, ironically, respect for Ziggler than Crews. And why not? Crews has done next to nothing on SmackDown to win fans over other than some athletic moves in the ring, which is nothing special these days.

This is the type of feud that Crews needs but it needs Crews to show much more personality and have more dynamic elements if they want it to succeed. Because Ziggler is the most interesting part of it right now. He's vicious and relentless. I should be mad that Ziggler is viciously attacking Crews but I have been given no real reason to other than Crews is a smiling guy who sticks up for friends like Kalisto. If this were real life, of course you wouldn't want to see a guy like Ziggler succeed, but it's pro wrestling, so you simply NEED MORE than just a good guy doing good guy things.

Crews probably needs to cut a passionate promo, possibly do a revealing interview where we get to learn more about the type of person he is so we could care more about him. Even a video package of Crews showing impressive training and feats of strength would help. ANYTHING more than just generic qualities.