THE VS SERIES

[Adam Rush]

Hey guys, you may remember me from the WWE series threads. Well, now I'm debuting a new series.

The Versus Series.

I will name two superstars and you, the people, have to tell me which is overall better.

So without further ado, here we go...

Dolph Ziggler or Ryback?

For me, I look at Ziggler as a Shawn Michaels-type guy, whereas I look at Ryback as a Batista-esque goy. A lot of people liken Ryback to Goldberg, and I get that, but I feel Ryback is a little more Batista, I really do. Ryback and Ziggler are two of the best, and my favorite, guys in the WWE. Both are up-and-coming athletes. But if I have to choose one, I'll go with Ziggler. He sells EVERYTHING so well.

What do y'all think?

 

[Aquaman6686]

How can you even ask that? Dolph Ziggler is one of the best wrestlers of this generation, a phenomenal athlete, and can put on a great match with just about anyone. Ryback is one of the worst "Superstars" of all time - he's bland, he can't wrestle, and he has nothing going for him beyond his roided-up physique.

 

[rb286]

How can you even ask that? Dolph Ziggler is one of the best wrestlers of this generation, a phenomenal athlete, and can put on a great match with just about anyone. Ryback is one of the worst "Superstars" of all time - he's bland, he can't wrestle, and he has nothing going for him beyond his roided-up physique.

Yet Ryback gets a much bigger response from the crowd than Ziggler could dream of. Ziggler is far superior in the ring than Ryback but that isn't what this thread is about. In terms of the overall package, Ryback has it going to be a future main eventer. I do believe Ziggler has it going as well and will improve but at this moment in time, Ryback is getting over, by himself without anyone's help (unlike Ziggler).

 

[WJDwjdWJDwjd]

Over time, I'd say Ziggler will have the better career. Right now though, Ryback is a machine. A monster. He'll have his first World Championship before the end of the year. Mark my words. Something it's taken Ziggler YEARS to get (not counting his "reign" that was taken back from him by Edge).

So, career wise I'd say Ziggler, right though I'd say Ryback.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

When it comes down to overall ability and, as of right now, how things look in the long run, I'd prefer Dolph Ziggler. I'm not going to start hating on Ryback just because he's a big powerhouse. I know there's a pretty substantial number of net fans that believe that you can't be a good pro wrestler if you can bench press 500 lbs for some damn reason.

Ryback is someone that I think is going to go far and that it'll have generally more to do with the WWE Machine behind him coupled with his look & general intensity. Ryback physically looks like a dominant beast and it's always been relatively easy for most fans to rally behind guys like him if the company really promotes the crap out of them.

For Ziggler, his success has revolved mostly around the fact that he's just flat out great inside the ring. Ziggler is also probably the best seller in wrestling right now. Within the past year, Ziggler has developed himself well as a character and has shown himself to be strong on the mic, so now he has the personality to go along with great in-ring capability. Not that I don't think Ryback is any good in the ring but, let's face it, he's not in Ziggler's league just as Ziggler isn't in Ryback's league when it comes to the look.

I'd personally prefer Dolph Ziggler but I have a feeling that when it's all said and done, Ryback could possibly be the bigger star. To me, it seems that WWE is conflicted about Ziggler. On one hand, Ziggler is loaded with overall ability and has worked extremely hard the past couple of years to show that. On the other, Ziggler is phenomenal at making other wrestlers look like a million bucks while looking good himself. It's a role that he's excelled at on a level that, in my eyes, is pretty much on par with that of guys like Christian or Chris Jericho. When it's all said and done, I think Ziggler will be on a level similar to Chris Jericho. He's someone that fans will enjoy & respect for what he brings, and he'll probably frequently pop up in the main event picture while ultimately hovering in the upper mid-card scene, but I don't believe he's ever going to ever truly be THE top guy. Ryback is someone that, in some ways, reminds me of Batista in that he has a killer look and great intensity. In my opinion, Ryback is far more entertaining inside the ring. He needs work on the mic but, for the most part, I think he's better than Batista on the stick as well. He's got the look, the intensity and the fans have rallied behind him over the course of his feud with CM Punk, whereas it's really taken Ziggler years for that to happen, at least without Vickie Guerrero. The jury is still out on Ryback in the long run but I have a feeling that, if they can, WWE try to ultimately put Ryback on that upper most level.

 

[Lethal D]

Dolph Ziggler > Ryback

Ziggler is one of the next main eventer's in my honest opinion along with Del Rio. Their match on smackdown this past week was awesome. Even though you may consider then to both be main eventer's already. I'm talking when Cena, Orton and Punk start slowing down these guys are the future. Basically, he's the total package. Good look, he's AMAZING in the ring, he makes others look way better than what they actually are, better than most on the mic, and he's DIfFERENT. I mean people are comparing him to HBK, which alone is quite an accomplishment. I can see how people can make the relation and its far from a bad thing.

Ryback, I like but it's just more of the same. More of what I hate. Everyone has different likes and tastes but we all know the story... Big dude, a few moves, squash matches. It's ok to see I guess but how many guys have we seen like this already. We already have one Cena. We don't need another and I feel if Ryback continues getting more over and over its what we'll end up with. Another cena... What happened to the dominate heel? Not that I don't like Ryback, but I just don't see how and why anyone would pick him over Ziggler...

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

Ziggler is great in the ring as far as wrestling and charisma goes, but he lacks on the mic at times. I've found myself more entertained by some of the shit that Big E says more-so than Ziggler. Also, Ziggler has effectively killed most of the momentum that AJ had. As it is right now Ziggler bores the shit out of me when he isn't in the ring.

As far as Ryback goes, he's pretty much won over the WWE audience. The Goldberg chants have died down, and people love the guy. The reactions he got at Royal Rumble throughout the match were incredible. He's not as slick in the ring as someone like Ziggler, but Ryback's got the "Bob Holly" thing going for him in that everything he does looks like it hurts like hell. It all looks believable.

At the end of the day, I'd take Ryback over Ziggler right now just because he's got more upside in the near future. I think down the line once Ziggler develops more storytelling on the mic that he will surpass Ryback in terms of drawing, but as it stands now it's Ryback, who hasn't needed a microphone to get over.

 

[Turnz05]

Ryback. Ryback. Ryback.

I understand the WWE needs to have a mix of characters. If we had a whole roster of 200lbs guys it would be shit. If we had a roster full of 400lbs guys it would be shit. Personally, I prefer a guy like Ryback because he's a monster, normal people can't train to be like him. He's someone who has got a physique that a 6 foot nothing guy like me could achieve. Ziggler's routine could be achieved by any regular guy that put his mind to his training. This also explains why i'm a fan of Big show, Kane, Undertaker. They are unique. You couldn't see these guys in the street. Wrestling for the most part is fiction and I love to suspend reality while I'm watching.

CM Punk is different as he is an anomile. I am a similar build to Punk, but his training and wrestling brain is far superior to anything I could achieve. Ziggler to me is good, but he isn't unique. He is capable of uniqueness but only due to our familiarity with his routine, not just at a glance.

Ryback > Dolph
inb4butthurt

 

[THTRobtaylor]

In the last few months Ziggler has improved the selling. My critisism of him was that he was overselling dangerously at times, trying to take innovative and more spectacular bumps than needed (for example the spot where he twisted to hit the announce table and injured Barrett). But he has begun to turn that down as he has been working with higher guys, perhaps the margin for damaging them is lesser... We all know what happens if you injure or nearly injure Randy lol. His mic work is improving but having AJ and Big Carlton Banks around him is distracting enough to hide it for a while. Where he needs to learn is intensity, it's easy to be a "show off" character but what made Jericho, Shawn and Flair so good was that when the gloves came off they could make you believe an issue was personal, Zig hasn't really managed that yet as his feuds are all about "stealing the show".

To that end, I hope they do have him work/and lose to Jericho at Mania rather than Ryback. Zig can still take the Bret route and cash in the same night, but that feud with Jericho who is hot as a face right now would give him the chance to build that final skill ( have AJ defect/double turn) and make a great first feud for Zig as a world champion.

At the moment he is perhaps a little more likely to have a great career than Ryback, but that's only because there is going to be more they can do with him over longer. With Ryback he isn't going to suddenly become a great "athlete" even if he improves as a worker. He's no Bam Bam Bigelow or Vader. He will take over the Undertaker's role in time as the go to guy for monsters and wrestling machines but Ziggler will be the one who can have more variety, face giants, monsters, snarks, smaller guys and everything inbetween.