Rollins vs Ziggler on Smackdown

[FightOwensFight]

For those that didn't see Smackdown last night, it opened with Rollins telling us all the only person that needs to know why he betrayed "his brothers" was him and he didn't owe the fans anything (tried and true heel promo). Ziggler came out to interrupt, confronting Rollins, and to nobody's surprise, HHH made a match between the two.

Now, as for the match. I thought it was very good with a lot of near falls and with Ziggler actually controlling much of the match. Rollins got a couple impact moves at the end and won it with the curb stomp (love that move).

My question is; do you think this makes Ziggler look strong or Rollins look weak? Is it a sign of bigger things for Dolph (pushing HHH's handpicked star to the limit) or just a blip on the radar?

I think it could be a good sign from Ziggler. He got a pretty good reaction. The crowd was very into the match (as much as you can tell with Smackdown "crowd noise"). HHH even went to the bag of tricks he used when trying to keep Daniel Bryan down by talking about how "Yes, Rollins is a sell out. He sells out arenas, something you will never do".

Interested to hear people's thoughts on this as I know Ziggler has a pretty good following, as does Rollins.

 

[Mustang Sally]

My question is; do you think this makes Ziggler look strong or Rollins look weak? Is it a sign of bigger things for Dolph (pushing HHH's handpicked star to the limit) or just a blip on the radar?

Interesting questions. Frankly, as I watched, I took it as Dolph being used strictly as a sacrifice to elevate Rollins, not as a vehicle to restore Dolph to his position of former glory in WWE. Maybe I'm wrong, but Dolph has been given numerous chances to make it big, yet I never saw him as anything but a mid-carder who got to (briefly) twice hold a world the title.

Last night, he even made reference on the mic to being sent even lower on the totem pole which, while I'm sure it was a management-approved statement, probably reflected Dolph's frustration at having been de-pushed this past year.

Perhaps he'll get his shot at main event status again some day, but I felt last night's events were about pushing Seth, not Dolph.

 

[FightOwensFight]

Interesting questions. Frankly, as I watched, I took it as Dolph being used strictly as a sacrifice to elevate Rollins, not as a vehicle to restore Dolph to his position of former glory in WWE. Maybe I'm wrong, but Dolph has been given numerous chances to make it big, yet I never saw him as anything but a mid-carder who got to (briefly) twice hold a world the title.

Last night, he even made reference on the mic to being sent even lower on the totem pole which, while I'm sure it was a management-approved statement, probably reflected Dolph's frustration at having been de-pushed this past year.

Perhaps he'll get his shot at main event status again some day, but I felt last night's events were about pushing Seth, not Dolph.

Thanks for the reply. I do see your points about Dolph having a number of chances.

I should clarify though. When I say Dolph getting a push I mean a push to the IC or US title level. I have no illusions of Dolph being a main-event kind of guy

 

[OYDK]

I think this match was beneficial to both Rollins and Ziggler, and BOTH men came out of the match looking strong. I don't understand why people think everything in WWE has to either make one man look weak and one man look strong... Ziggler controlled most of the match and basically beat the tar out of Rollins while Rollins ultimately came out with the the win in his first match as a "singles" star. Ziggler looked great and Rollins looked equally as good last night.

As for Dolph Ziggler, I think WWE is definitely testing the waters with the guy again. It seemed they lost all faith in Ziggler after his injury and they're just recently beginning to see him as a draw again. A few months ago Ziggler was jobbing to everybody under the sun, now he's had a few high profile matches with people like Batista and Rollins and has been given some mic time. He's definitely moved up from where he was on the "totem pole" some time ago. Now it's just a matter of waiting to see if he can continue fighting his way even further up.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I assume Ziggler was told to go out there and fill time with his in ring antics. Nothing more, nothing less. Everyone looked good and they put on an enjoyable albeit meaningless match with Rollins coming out on top. Rollins is never going to be a guy to squash or have complete control of a match from beginning to end. He has the look and abilities of a guy that can fill a lot of time without killing the crowd and momentum of a show. SD was a perfect example of that. Ziggler didn't get pushed or buried and Rollins got the ceremonius "I'm just starting my singles heel turn" victory. Don't read in to the match or the outcome any more than that.

The interesting part was Ziggler's promo. His comment about "turning on your brothers" was funny considering his own biological brother was cut from WWE not too long ago. I assume HHH had a big part in that decision. I wonder if the writers were trying to be crafty.

 

[#HELLNO]

Hmm, good questions. I don't believe that it makes Rollins look any weaker, it made him look more of a workhorse if anything. He went in there with the only star on the roster who could wrestle a broomstick & make it look good. So as far as Rollins looking weak, I see this as more of a 'big-ish' win as he was able to knock off a former World Champion.

As for Ziggler, I only see big things in the future for him. Triple H has been spending more time on people like him recently, Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, to name a few. This was obviously a match that the Game made so as he could watch hands on how good these two, Ziggler more so, are in the ring.

 

[Radical]

It makes both look stronger.

If Ziggler DIDN'T dominate much of the match and have many near falls then it would have only made Rollins look good. But we all knew Rollins was going to win this but Ziggler looked good in the process, since Ziggler isn't in line for any titles shots that we can see. He won't even be in the MITB match.

Personally, I'm sorry to say but Ziggler is the perfect wrestler to be mid to upper card challenger but rarely a winner. He sells so good he actually makes a much better loser than a winner. Sure, he needs to win sometimes to be credible or else he becomes a Zack Ryder and Ziggler has. He's been World Champion before and IC and US champ so he has enough credentials from the past where he can ride around being the punching boy for up-and-comers and make them look really good and his 'character' can be a constant disgruntled employee.

 

[GeneralKarim]

Dean Ambrose: "Nope".

Does Triple H look bad cause some time ago Axel "took him to the limit" in their main event match on Raw?

That's just your typical Ziggler match and they made it a bit longer. As GSB said, it's Rollins heel introductory match. It was either him vs Kofi or Ziggler. Cause both are irrelevant but yet somewhat relevant at the same time. Him vs Heath Slater would look like a blatant job, whereas with Ziggler the match had a bit of credibility to it, even tho it didnt and it was meaningless.

Nothing is going to come out of this for Ziggler. He is pretty much done as having any shot at being a top guy. He is in the same boat as Sandow and Miz. They are from a class of superstars ( tho sandow joined later ) that are now a bit too old for them to start being big time "main event playah"s ( No copyright infringement intended Mr.Brodus ).

I like Ziggler and I think he is pretty much one of the purest examples of a superstar that could be very big in today's culture and yet they are deliberately keeping him down. Sad as fuck but that's how it is and we have to suck it up or deal with it as one of the blue meanie's relatives would say.

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

Ziggler cut a good promo and the match between the two was the obvious option. The match was really good, but at first I though it would be the typical 4-5 minutes match, where the face just gets some moves in and then the heel gets a decisive victory. This wasn't the case. Rollins didn't look weak at all. I would call this more like getting caught off-guard. Ziggler looked really good in that match, once again showed he has tremendous skills in the ring and took Seth to the limit. At some point even, I thought that he would even beat him, either by a solid finisher-pinfall situation or by simply a roll-up.

As for what that means for Ziggler, I can't say really, mostly because of the bookings he has received the past 2 years. He was given the MitB, was given a main event with Cena at TLC2012, he became the World Champ, and then became a jobber. They seemed like they tried to push him back up only to make him a jobber again. So I can't really tell you.

As of this time, it seems like Ziggler has a better attitude, at least in the eyes of the management, so maybe he is out of the dog house and this whole segment was made just so Ziggler can get involved in that storyline, possibly even becoming a third Shield member, if they ever wish to run with that.

Thing is, I don't think that Ziggler needsto be involved in that storyline, because he will get lost in it. The main focus will be Reigns vs HHH going into Summerslam, with Rollins possibly fighting Ambrose. I hope this good performance by Ziggler gives him some sort of title shot or #1 contendership. After all, it is really a missed opportunity if they don't give him time.

 

[chicagokmc]

I think it just means we're probably going to see some Orton vs Ziggler; HHH vs Ziggler; Kane vs. Ziggler, maybe Rollins vs. Ziggler but on Raw (where it always means more) and perhaps even Wyatt vs. Ziggler. Also maybe some Ziggler/Big Show vs the Evolution guys. I think at this point he'll be elevating others. I don't see any of this pushing Ziggler into main event down the line or even into mid card titles pictures. Were he to turn heel again, I could then see Ziggler in a program against Sheamus.