Is WWE about to turn Ziggler heel?

[MartialHorror]

The whole 'Ziggler Vs Rusev' storyline is horrible and I've explained why far too many times, but it boils down to Ziggler coming across as a douche. Maybe Lana's in on him manipulating Summer Rae, but either way, those are some very heel-ish tactics. We were supposed to hate the Miz for trying to get in between Uso-Naomi's marriage. We were supposed to hate Stephanie for trying to get in between Daniel-Brie's marriage. Even if Summer cast the first stone, Ziggler is stooping to her level to fight back.

But maybe there is a purpose for this. Maybe this is the beginning of a heel turn.

My main reason for wondering this is because apparently on Total Diva's, Ziggler started flirting with Nikki- who's apparently his ex- and tried to get her to break up with Cena. Admittedly I don't want the show, but from what was described, it was kind of messed up and bothered a lot of his fans. Considering how Total Diva's often gets acknowledged in storylines or storylines get worked into Total Diva's, it made me wonder if it was a work.

Or maybe Ziggler is a complete idiot for flirting with the girlfriend of the top star of the company ON CAMERA without considering potential consequences.

It all comes down to how much of 'Total Diva's' is real. Obviously Ziggler and Lana aren't a real life couple. Maybe behind-the-scenes, Cena is a prick and Ziggler thinks Nikki can do better. Or maybe Ziggler's feelings are simply strong enough to where he's willing to potentially compromise his position in the company. Or maybe he's just a douche. I don't know.

But it's strange that this parallels his current storyline, making me wonder if WWE is planning on something. To be honest, I want Ziggler to turn heel as I just want to see him get his ass kicked, but I also don't think the WWE universe would allow it. They could probably do a storyline where he rapes someone and people would still cheer for him, which is a drama killer.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I'm not even sure if this is a serious thread or not. You get that Total Divas is 100% scripted, right? It's STORYLINES. Dolph Ziggler is hitting on Nikki Bella because it's IN THE SCRIPT.

 

[Rayne]

Or maybe Ziggler is a complete idiot for flirting with the girlfriend of the top star of the company ON CAMERA without considering potential consequences.

It all comes down to how much of 'Total Diva's' is real.

Professional Wrestling Protip: Anytime anyone says or infers that they are going to show you "the way things really work", "how things are backstage", or anything using that kind of phrasing, they are trying to sell you something. There are no exceptions.

Total Divas is just as real as RAW and Adventure Time. It is scripted television with no basis in reality. The actors aren't using their real names, they're using pseudonyms developed by the WWE in order to maintain marketing rights to the character.

As far as Ziggler goes, he's to professional wrestling what Mike Huckabee is to presidential races. He's always there, and there are a couple of people who pretend to give a shit, but no one ever cares enough for him to develop into anything substantiative.

 

[MERPER]

I'm not even sure if this is a serious thread or not. You get that Total Divas is 100% scripted, right? It's STORYLINES. Dolph Ziggler is hitting on Nikki Bella because it's IN THE SCRIPT.

You get that pro wrestling is 100% scripted, right?

You also get that pro wrestling has used Total Divas in the past as a jumping off point for storylines in the ring, right?

Therefore, one could reasonably conclude it's at least a possibility WWE could do this and the OP's take isn't too far-fetched at all.

Too completely discount it is short-sighted on your part.

 

[MartialHorror]

As I've said, I don't watch Total Diva's. I've always presumed that the content is a mix of staged and real stuff.

Maybe it's all 100% scripted, but if so, are they likable or not based on whether they're heel or face on RAW? Or does it follow its own set of rules? If it's scripted, it's odd that Ziggler would be playing 'the heel'. This won't translate very well on RAW if it becomes an angle, because Nikki is a a heel and fans will cheer Ziggler over Cena regardless of who is the 'villain'.

Now if on Total Diva's, Ziggler started hitting on Lana (although I don't think she's part of the cast), at least that would make some sense. I just don't know what WWE wants me to think on this issue, hence the thread.

 

[MERPER]

As I've said, I don't watch Total Diva's. I've always presumed that the content is a mix of staged and real stuff.

Maybe it's all 100% scripted, but if so, are they likable or not based on whether they're heel or face on RAW? Or does it follow its own set of rules? If it's scripted, it's odd that Ziggler would be playing 'the heel'. This won't translate very well on RAW if it becomes an angle, because Nikki is a a heel and fans will cheer Ziggler over Cena regardless of who is the 'villain'.

Now if on Total Diva's, Ziggler started hitting on Lana (although I don't think she's part of the cast), at least that would make some sense. I just don't know what WWE wants me to think on this issue, hence the thread.

No, there characters don't really factor into the show itself since it's based more in "reality." Or at least supposed to be. I mean Naomi is on the show and she is clearly heel now, but she's likable. The rest of the cast is pretty much always face anyways.

With that said, it really doesn't matter with Ziggler here. If they're going to use it to create a story in the ring with him vs. Cena, they could simply have it be Cena going at him for trying to get in between them and break them up.

On the face side for Cena, he goes on about how Ziggler doesn't respect women... he didn't respect Nikki 5 years ago, doesn't respect Lana or Summer... basically he's a bad guy when it comes to women.

On the flip side you could have Ziggler stay face and borderline cena on heel by having ziggler criticize him for not wanting to marry Nikki or giver her kids... i.e. "what kind of real man won't do that for the woman he claims to love?"

bottom line and the reason this isn't so far-fetched is that we know they want to move ziggler away from rusev now with Lana out. We also know Cena could use a decent rivalry since his entire gimmick currently is the U.S. Championship Open Challenge, which is running out of "contestants."

I am not saying it's 100% a lock to happen, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility.

 

[timothy26]

Most reality TV series are scripted. Hogan and his Wife were appearing on Hogan knows best as a couple AFTER they had actually separated for real. MTV cribs for example featured many houses that people actually rented for the purpose of appearing on the show, whilst others were the legitimate homes of the celebrities.

So Total Divas is a work to an extent

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As has been said, all reality shows are scripted to some degree and that's all this is. Nikki Bella isn't leaving Cena for Ziggler, she isn't remotely thinking of leaving Ziggler for Cena. Nikki Bella is a climber and always has been, she's Cena's girlfriend and that affords her a ton of influence with the powers that be. Of the two, Nikki is far more shallow, materialistic, self centered and generally ambitious; if she actually did leave Cena or screw around on him with Ziggler, she'd be jobbing out to Summer Rae within a couple of weeks; she'd no longer be Queen Bee and she's not gonna give that up for a life long mid-carder like Dolph Ziggler.

There are already reports suggesting that this whole thing could be used as part of a United States Championship storyline between Cena and Ziggler; the season finale going down last night the way it did was done with a specific purpose in mind and said purpose was to have people do exactly what we're doing right now: talking about it and speculating as to how it can be used as part of WWE television.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I don't get it. Do people still not understand that reality TV is 100% scripted and there's nothing real about it? They even re-take scenes if they don't like them. It's ridiculous. And they're certainly not going to take DZ, who's in a low card program right now, and instantly shove him up to Cena.

And this thread is just a cheap rip off of the Cena heel turn thread, minus the idiocy of someone saying that John Cena is going to turn heel because of DZ, or anyone right now.

 

[Navi]

I've only watched two Total Diva's shows and then gave up on it. If Ziggler is flirting with Nikki Bella then I can't see it being anything but scripted. As JH said she is dating Cena and why give that up. Mine you from what I've seen of Cena on there, dating a brick wall would be more exciting.

Anyway Ziggler just comes across as looking extremely uncomfortable around women. Maybe it's just on screen that it happens, but in both his supposed relationships with Vicki G and Lana he looked like he didn't want to be there. With Lana it must have been harder since her real life boyfriend was right there, but for someone who's supposed to be acting, he wasn't very convincing. Neither was Rusev for that matter.

 

[MartialHorror]

I don't get it. Do people still not understand that reality TV is 100% scripted and there's nothing real about it? They even re-take scenes if they don't like them. It's ridiculous. And they're certainly not going to take DZ, who's in a low card program right now, and instantly shove him up to Cena.

And this thread is just a cheap rip off of the Cena heel turn thread, minus the idiocy of someone saying that John Cena is going to turn heel because of DZ, or anyone right now.

In my defense, I haven't actually read that thread.

Everybody seems to be missing the point of this one...If it's scripted- and I'm not implying that it isn't- my question is...why? Obviously it would be to stir up drama, but would the WWE really want fans to choose between Cena and Ziggler? It just baffles me.

And keep in mind that Ziggler was in a lower position on the card when he became the 'main character' of Survivor Series 2014. So if they chose to build this up, they could do it...Don't see why they would, but that has been the question.

 

[V Dogg]

Yeah, and bring Lana into all of this. She's supposed to be dating Ziggler. Oh wait, Lana is Rusev's woman for real.

 

[JoeMallard]

I haven't liked Ziggler since this whole Rusev storyline began, so he's already a heel to me.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

I don't watch the entire Total Divas but I watch the season finales and IMO it was all planned(as most of it is).
For one- Ziggler started a random conversation with Brie about having kids with Bryan and like 10 seconds later jumped to talking to Nikki about having kids with Cena.
Then Brie confronted Ziggler about flirting with Nikki while Cena just so happen to past by them in the background. And later Ziggler confesses his "feelings" towards Nikki at the same time Cena music is playing as he's going out to the ring.


There was a report that it may led to a feud over the U.S championship between Cena and Ziggler, but I don't think wwe would make this into a storyline. (rephrase) There's no way wwe could make this into a storyline with the way things are. Nikki is a heel, Cena's a face who gets booed, and Ziggler is a face who is acting like a heel by cheating on Lana with Summer and Nikki.
How can they even try to make that work?

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

I'm pretty convinced Dolph Ziggler has no feelings for Nikki Bella anymore. That was likely a work in an attempt to increase ratings on Total Divas.

Anyways, Ziggler is a natural heel. I think he could play Drew McIntyre's old gimmick to perfection. Besides, almost anything is better than this love triangle (square?) stuff.

 

[Mudlup50]

I wanna say there was discussion on them making Ziggler heel back after Mania this year? Correct me if I'm wrong but it'd be pointless to make Ziggler heel, that being said WWE has a tendency to not care what the fans think about certain characters(like Cena getting crammed as a face).

Maybe a heel turn would work, I'd be all for a storyline where Dolph actually becomes the heel, show off, man****e that he's been booked to be for years now. Imagine if he hit on every diva in the locker room, he's being interviewed by Renee Young and decides he's going to kiss her because why not. It'd be interesting and would give his character...well I guess it would give him character which a lot of the time it feels like he lacks. The problem would be the more serious fans cheering him.

Moving on, I think other people are right when they say it's just for ratings. I mean I don't know the official breakdown of the people who watch Total Divas, but I'd assume it's mostly girls. Could be wrong, that's just my guess. But with Dolph being on the show you give them some eye candy and it gives the more serious fans a reason to watch. It's a smart move but I wouldn't think much of it.

 

[Mustang Sally]

To be honest, I want Ziggler to turn heel as I just want to see him get his ass kicked, but I also don't think the WWE universe would allow it. They could probably do a storyline where he rapes someone and people would still cheer for him, which is a drama killer.

As always, talking about Dolph Ziggler underlines a fundamental truth about the unique world of pro wrestling. If a guy is a good wrestler, does that always equate to popularity with the fans?

Conversely, if a guy is popular with the fans, does that mean he should be winning championships?

Dolph is a curious case; he does get cheered when doing his human pinball routine in the ring, but when WWE management tries to elevate him to main event status, he just doesn't fit. Despite his crowd-pleasing style, he doesn't seem to present as a guy who should be holding the world title. He features as a popular also-ran, which isn't a bad thing.....not in a profession in which he gets steady work and probably commands some decent respect from management.

I think it will be the same for him as a heel or face; Dolph seems to need other people by his side to work programs (I'm not talking about his opponent) and if WWE thinks changing his attitude will change his fortunes, all I can say is.....it's been tried before.

I would guess Dolph would rather play a bad guy for the same reason as most performers: it's easier to make people hate you than like you. Dolph will get good crowd reaction whether he's good or bad.

So, if they want to turn him to the dark side......go ahead, knock yourself out, WWE.

 

[Really?]

They migh very well turn him heel, but it won't be because of TD. I watched this season, and if you watched the season finale, it is obvious that the entire Ziggler talking to Nikki at the end is a prank that Brie is playing on Nikki as payback for the drink that Nikki and Dolph sent to her when they were out for dinner. Yes, TD set it up as a cliffhanger to get ratings for the premiere when it comes back, but when the show comes back, it'll turn out that Dolph will start laughing and Brie will show up.

Seriously folks, as wrestling fans, you should be able to see predictable coming much more easily that this.