Possible Role For Ric Flair: Dolph Ziggler's Manager

[Jack-Hammer]

On the WZ main page, there's a story discussing WWE's possible future plans with Ric Flair if Flair does sign again with WWE. According to the story, the WWE intends to sign Flair to both a Legends & competitor contract, but there's no mention of Flair competing as a wrestler.

The popular idea being discussed is to have Ric Flair serve as a manager to Dolph Ziggler. WWE likes the idea of having Ziggler managed but are willing to go with the Mason Ryan bodyguard angle if they have to. There are allegedly some concerns to Flair as he's known for going off script and doing things his way, as we've seen in TNA, and his age is a factor as well. There are discussions as to whether Flair should be featured on a weekly basis, but the most popular idea does seem to be to have Flair manage Ziggler.

This could be an excellent use of Flair, if he comes back, provided that WWE learns from the mistakes that TNA made. In TNA, Flair outshined the guys he was managing/accompanying to the ring. Although, to be fair, it's hard for Flair to not outshine someone like Gunner as Gunner has been portrayed as nothing more than a general, low level thug & flunky rather than a believable rising star. If WWE was able to use Flair's natural ability to put Ziggler over while simultaneously elevating Ziggler's stock. In my opinion, having Flair behave like a crazy old man, threatening to beat up guys 35 years younger than he is and overshadowing Ziggler with such antics is a waste of time. Let Flair be his charismatic self of course, but don't go off the rails to detract attention from Ziggler.

 

[Rayne]

Flair's a legendary performer, but he's not the guy I'd pair up with someone I'm trying to advance, simply because Flair is so good at speaking, he draws all the attention to himself, instead of to his protege. (Hi, AJ Styles!) Dolph needs something right now- if I knew what, I'd say it- but Ric Flair isn't it.

 

[roeleke25]

I think it's a great move, it would be a great couple.
Maybe than Dolph Ziggler is gonna win some matches again .

 

[The_Irish_Warrior]

I for one would love to see it. I'd love to see Ric return after a Ziggler match and tell him he has gained his respect. It could be as simple as that, but Dolph would have to drop Vickie and Swagger before hand which I think he is on the verge of doing.

 

[RattleRockerJet97]

I wouldnt mind it. Ill tell you one thing though, if this does fall through and Ziggles does get Flair as his manager soon, Ziggler will be a WWE or WHC very quickly. He's so damn good that its inevitable either way. But having Flair will give him that one final legit push to the title.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Flair's getting some kind of contract, that's a given. With HHH in charge and Flair broke, he'll have a job.

Ziggler's manager? Mehh. I don't like it. Then again, I don't really like Ziggler, so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

I have no idea what they will actually end up doing with Flair. Personally, I'd like to see him go against HHH and start some sort of stable. Another Horsemen/Evolution type of deal. I'm 99% sure they won't go in that direction, but I think they should. Guys like Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, DiBiase, Swagger, and possibly even Tyson Kidd and/or Cesaro (at some point) - they all fit the type of guy Flair might work with in that situation. I guess Ziggler could be a fit as well.

Either way, I'd like to see Flair back on television, and I'm sure he feels the same way. HHH will make it happen. Maybe not in the fashion I'd like to see, but he'll be back.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I wouldnt mind it. Ill tell you one thing though, if this does fall through and Ziggles does get Flair as his manager soon, Ziggler will be a WWE or WHC very quickly. He's so damn good that its inevitable either way. But having Flair will give him that one final legit push to the title.

If he was so damn good he'd have made it already. He's been on the cusp for years now, but he can't break through due to his mic skills. He often comes off as cheesy, generic and forced.

Ric Flair could help in this aspect. The only problem I see with it is that people are clamoring for him to get out on his own, away from Vickie because he's ridden her coattails so long. But getting under Flair is almost the same thing, Flair is just much better. If Ziggler pays enough attention though, he could learn something from Flair while they're together and maybe then have the skills to break out on his own.

 

[mike1215]

Flair is the perfect complement to Zigs' "show-off" gimmick. This would be the best thing to happen to WWE since Evolution. I can see the promos and backstage segments now. Pure gold.

Letting Mason Ryan be his bodyguard will be boring trash. However, chances are this will probably happen.

 

[jerry20xx]

I love Ric Flair and I love Dolph Ziggler. I would love to see this happen. Vickie just isn't cutting it and to be honest, she draws all of the heat to herself instead of towards Swagger and Ziggler. I see so much potential in Ziggler but Vickie is holding him back in my opinion.

I think if Ric Flair was brought in to get behind Ziggler, it will bring a load of credibility that so many people deny him.

Ziggler reminds me so much of Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Mr. Perfect all rolled into one amazing athlete.

I wish nothing but good things for Ziggler and Flair and would love to see this happen someday.

(Ironically enough, when I first purchased WWE 12, I changed Dolph's champion entrance to the Ric Flair entrance and updated his theme song. It looks perfect.)

 

[kdk5680]

Flair+Ziggler=championship....but not necessarily ratings. The show-off would be a natural fit to the old horseman style of "were better then you and there is nothing you can do about it" but Flair has become a complete caricature of himself. If he tones it down about two notches, can stay in script (not "on" but just no rants off topic) it could work. Being as WWE owns the rights to the $horsemen name, I could see them reestabling them or call it "the New Horsemen" with Ziggler, Rhodes, and the Prime Time Players(Young and Oneil) while Flair manged(ala JJ Dillon)

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

Dolph doesn't really need a manager. Plus, having Flair as his manager as Rayne put it, would draw attention away from who he is. The reason why Evolution worked so well was because (a) it was three members plus Flair and (b) it was also due to HHH being in the group. Flair & Trips complimented each other, whereas with Ziggler, he'd be on his own and Flair would probably get in the way promo wise. And asking Ric to keep quiet is like asking Hogan not to be in the limelight all the time or Bruno forgiving Vince for whatever his issues are with McMahon. Just isn't going to work. Maybe if Dolph wasn't already somewhat established then he'd be great. Now, somebody like Ryback, sure. Looks like Goldberg, body like Batista, I get that. This, eh, not so much. But stranger things have happened. I would perfer he actually come back and challenge for the GM spot. That would be more interesting seeing Big Johnny battling (verbally) Flair rather than someone like Punk, Cena or Sheamus all the damn time. Put him in that program and it's instant success. Flair as a heel manager defeats the purpose because no matter what, the fans won't ever boo Flair.

 

[Paralyzer Z]

I'm all for Flair returning to WWE, on television or not but to tell the truth I don't think Flair nor Ziggler would benefit from this hypothetical relation in any way.

Flair much like Vickie Guerrero and Micheal Cole are best magnets when the any heel roles, that's not a hard case to make. Kafaybe wise Ziggler is trying to make a name on his own, loosing while constantly being hyped up and assisted by Vickie is an obvious way to have the split. For the majority of the time Vickie has been Dolph's manager she has tried to transfer to her massive heat to Ziggler and Swagger to get them over. Who does the audience react to more? Vickie or Ziggler? Vickie of course, much like Cole with Swagger before them the non wrestler heat magnet is the one the fans care about with their " clients" or sidekicks as I like to call them who are trying to get more of a reaction out of it take a backseat. om what I've seen this strategy of getting guys over has minimally done it's job so far.

Flair as good as he was with Batista and Randy Orton back in evolution isn't much different. He's an easy to hate guy that would most likely overshadow Dolph just as he did to A.J Styles in 2010 , and then we're back to square one just as before. Dolph needs to go.on his own to test the waters at least.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I think it'll go one of two ways... as the Four Horsemen are newly in the HOF, it makes sense for Flair to manage a new iteration. Ziggler, McIntyre and The Kings Of Wrestling. McIntyre would benefit form working with Flair and could be the Arn Anderson of the group after a time. Cesaro and Ohno (why not just call him Chris Kassius? just sayin') would be the tag glue with the name of The Horsemen to get over the "KOW" issue.

Cody doesn't work for me as traditionally the Rhodes were the enemies, so it's great for an eventual face turn. Also if JBL returns with a stable there could be some potential for the Horsemen as faces.

The other option is Flair and Ziggler, with Zigg being annointed the new "Nature Boy" and being given a robe etc by Flair. It could come right after a title win or be the spark that leads to one. Personally I still hate the name Dolph Ziggler, this might work if they went back to the Nick first name. Nature Boy Nick Nemeth or Ziggler sounds better than Dolph.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

Stop trying to make a new Four Horsemen. Goodness, will people never let it die? And on the subject, The Kings of Wrestling probably won't come in as tag team, as WWE hasn't done much with legit tag teams since God knows when. I don't mind seeing new tag teams to spice things up and bring some legitmacy back to the division but a new/renewed Four Horsemen is not gonna happen & I pray it doesn't.

 

[BigDaddyKewl]

I wouldn't mind seeing Flair make a few odd appearances like Piper, Hart and Foley but I don't want to see him every week. As other have said he's going to completely over shadow Dolph. Why does Dolph need a manager? He's over and he's improved on the mic.

 

[TheChosenOne10]

Ive thought of this awhile back and absolutely love the idea of Flair managing Ziggler. It would be fantastic for him in my opinion. I think Flair would obviously get cheered at first but the guy is like Jericho, he has the ability to be hated. Flair did wonders for HHH and pushed him to be the main guy. I think Flair could do that for Ziggler.

Look what he did with AJ, the guy couldn't talk at all and now he's pretty good. AJ was loved by TNA fans and then hated once Flair got in the picture. Im hoping the same happens with Ziggler.

I really hope WWE and Flair come to terms because this would be huge.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

They could get a long life and a lot of use by basically putting together a Punk and manager Flair feud similar to days of Hogan and manager Heenan feud. Punk and Flair both have a lot of personality but in different ways. Flair has legit heat with the WWE fans the way he retired and went off and wrestled again. WWE would be smart to take advantage of this legit heat to establish Flair as an actual heel as opposed to an admirable legend.

As far as Ziggler goes, an alignment with Flair makes Ziggler more of a threat to win a title. On his own Ziggler, similar to ADR is not someone to carry the belt but putting him with Flair (and his willingness to cheat) makes Ziggler seem far more dangerous. I'm not much of a Ziggler fan so I'm not sure if I want this, but I am happy to have Flair on my TV.

 

[Str8Edge]

I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet. But with Ziggler always being compared to Mr. Perfect, does anyone not see the similarity?
Henning was like Flair's consultant for like a short period, helping him win matches.
Then after, turned on Flair.

Now, Ziggler won't help Flair win matches but it'll be the opposite (Flair helping Ziggler). Just the pairing is where I see similarities.

I actually like the idea. If Ziggler could one day, outshine Flair, after months maybe a year or two of consulting. We can see the next top star. If not, then at least Ziggler tried.
Not saying Ziggler will ever be better than Flair, but showing that he can also be a big star in comparison to Flair would be all he needs.

 

[The Crock]

I love this idea, even if I'm not a huge fan of Ziggler's. Ziggler has a nice following and he's close to getting that push from the WWE -- he's still very rough around the edges, but being paired with Ric Flair would probably be the thing that would take him right over the top. Ziggler needs something new, anyway. He's been stuck in the same spot for quite a while now, as WWE never followed up on their last major push of his. He needs to separate himself from Jack Swagger and Vickie Guerrero, and this is probably the best opportunity they'll have, to have Dolph Ziggler hit the ground running.

I see some similarities between Ziggler and Flair. I'm not implying that Ziggler is ANYWHERE near the performer Flair was, but their personas fit together well. Ziggler, the show off, and Flair would be a natural fit and a natural partnership. The crowd would already identify with Flair, so they'd get behind whoever he manages -- in this case, Ziggler. Being under Flair's tutelage would do wonders for Ziggler's on-screen character, just like it did for Randy Orton and Batista. Anyway, in this stage of his career, Flair doesn't need to be doing anything other than helping younger talent get over -- it would be a waste of his immense talent, otherwise.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Flair as Ziggler's manager is something I have mixed feelings on. Flair back in WWE in any capacity (other than wrestling again) would be interesting. I just don't think that having him be Ziggler's manager is really the best idea. Ziggler does not NEED a manager. There's a reason people want him to be sperated from Vickie. That reason would be so that he can begin a solo run. He has the skills in the ring to back up what he says in his promos in regards to the showoff he claims to be.

With that being said, I can still look at it in a positive way. Flair is a legend, so working with him is almost always going to benefit whoever is involved. Ziggler could learn ways to even further improve in the ring, and then Flair can help him improve on the mic some too. The bad that comes out of this is that Ziggler might have to work with another manager. The good news is that it's someone like Flair who will be able to help Ziggler. It could be worse.

 

[LeviCook]

I think this could be great. But the main thing i'm worried about is them not allowing Ziggler to be Ziggler. I don't want anything about Ziggler to change at the moment. I don't want him to be "the next Ric Flair" and wear the robes and everything else. They can let Flair work with him a little bit on his character but not to the point where he isn't Ziggler any more.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Flair isnt broke, reports on this site indicate the sponsorship deal with Coke gave him the financial freedom to be done with TNA.

I dont get this rep for going "off script", cause TNA circulated one story indicating he changed something in a promo and it caused them storyline problems (ironic they couldnt just edit or re-shoot it as Impact is taped). Win or lose, Flair for years was a guy who went with almost anything for the good of the show, including dressing in drag at ringside, wrestling as a Masked Stalker, the infamous heart attack angle, putting over Bischoff at Starrcade, the list goes on.

That said, as a manager and on screen personality Flair is a huge asset, especially to a younger talent. He has tremendous name recognition and charisma, is still able to take occasional bumps (must for a heel mgr) and is good on the mic. Just ask Batista what Flair did for him.

Flair seems happiest when involved with the show and certainly Ziggler could benefit. It's a win-win for Ziggler & WWE. Plus under a "Legends Deal" WWE can not get a host for it's network it also gets a great ambassador for autograph signings, etc, not too mention another round of commemorative DVD's from the WWE Archive, pure profit for Vince.

 

[DirtyD79]

Being a manager would be the best way to use him. I'm sorry but Dolph Ziggler just doesn't have the charisma to go it alone. He needs somebody who can draw heat. I think the Nature Boy would definitely compliment his show off persona a lot better than Vickie ever did.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

I personally look forward to Ric Flair coming back to WWE TV and rambling on like a drunken fool.

In all seriousness though, if Ric Flair can actually get his shit together and not continuously cut people off when they try to talk like he did throughout his time in TNA then yes, he could be an asset as a manager to guy like Ziggler.

I don't think Dolph Ziggler necessarily NEEDS a manager to get to the next level, but it could still help him out a great deal. Who knows, this may lead to the formation of a new Horsemen-type faction, with Flair as the manager of the group, which could prove to be very entertaining if done right.

 

[SacredMesa]

Flair's a legendary performer, but he's not the guy I'd pair up with someone I'm trying to advance, simply because Flair is so good at speaking, he draws all the attention to himself, instead of to his protege. (Hi, AJ Styles!) Dolph needs something right now- if I knew what, I'd say it- but Ric Flair isn't it.

What Dolph needs is to stop being managed, stop being stuck with Swagger, mic time for himself and a damn good fued, oh hi Christian, and he could be catapulted into main event status pretty easily.

As long as he is stuck with someone managing him, speaking for him, with irrelevant baggage to carry he won't become anything more than he currently is, not that he's in a bad spot he could just do so much better.