Where Would Dolph Ziggler be Now if Rey Hadn't Been Suspended?

[Thriller Ant]

This past summer, one of the best feuds was a series between Dolph Ziggler and Rey Mysterio over the Intercontinental Title. They had a bunch of good matches and it felt like Ziggler would win singles gold at any time. That is, until word got out the Rey was being suspended under the Wellness Policy for 30 days. This led to Rey losing the IC Title, not to Ziggler with whom he had been feuding, but rather to John Morrison is a random one-off match. Ziggler continued feuding over the belt with JoMo, but never won it and has fallen into the lower midcard. Most recently, he was fed to Kane so the Big Red Monster could look good going into his IC Title match against Drew McIntyre.

The question I have for you guys is as follows: Where would Ziggler be if that suspension hadn't happened? Would he be/have been IC Champ? Would he still have fallen? Something else? What do you think and why?

 

[By Eight Hooves to Asgard]

Dolph would be right where he is now had Rey not been suspended. Personally, I don't care too much about Dolph and what really preys on my mind is where John Morrison would be as of now had Rey not gotten himself suspended.

As you all know, Morrison was a last minute choice for IC champ after Rey had to drop it. Beforehand, however, it seemed as if Morrison was on his way - slowly but surely - to the main event. World title match with Jeff Hardy, increased promo and ring time, and most importantly an ever-expanding fan base. But once he won the IC title his push went downhill, and hasn't seemed to change from thereon.

For Dolph Ziggler, had he even become IC champ for a time, it wouldn't have been long before the 'Chosen One' came along and won it... whether it'd been from Dolph himself (unlikely) or from a transitional face champion. Right now there really is nothing for Dolph except for a few candidates who he could start up a pointless, typical mid-card rivalry with. (R-Truth, I'm talking to you). In summation, Dolph isn't much of an asset and I believe WWE sees that. The fact we even saw him on Smackdown this past week was a surprise.

A little bird is saying to me 'Future Endeavoured'. Does anyone agree?

 

[Savion83]

You must be real bored right now...

But anyways. Maybe, will never know now bruh. Dolph Ziggler is a good talent. But I think that the WWE will have plans for both Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger by this year. I think that the WWE knows what there doing by waiting for Dolph to season up more as a wrestler before giving him the IC championship which help make superstars that are still around today. HBK, HHH, Orton, Edge.

This year Ziggler will have some gold.

 

[The Doctor]

Yes, I believe that Ziggler would have been Intercontinental champ by now. After all, they were going to put him over in his match at NOC, correct? They had faith in him, but due to a combination of Mysterio saying no and getting suspended, Morrison ended up with the belt. They didn't want the new champ to look weak, so Ziggler ended up losing again and again.

It seems he's been put on the backburner now. It's a shame. Circumstance and fate screwed Dolph Ziggler.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

Dolph Ziggler would have been the IC champion, and would have been a pretty good one as well. The guy knows how to wrestle matches against many styles and give solid performances, something that is required of a champion. Don't know how long this reign would have lasted though.

Personally, this would have been the way to go. Dolph Ziggler was a rising midcarder with potential, proving he could have held the championship. John Morrison was a star on the rise into the Main Event with huge momentum and potential to become a credible star there. It would have made sense to slap the title on Ziggler. However, Rey did not feel there was a need to do so, something that I can't grasp as to why. All the entire thing accomplished was Rey still being a major star in the main event, JoMo floating as an upper midcarder and Ziggler varying between Smackdown & Superstars. In essence, you could say that the proposed Morrison heel turn was caused due to this whole dilemma.

I believe Dolph Ziggler would have been taken as a credible threat to opponents and become a stamina hungry competitor where he won his matches via long, extended contests due to him having more gas in the tank. Though, Drew McIntyre would have been given the IC belt one way or another with the creative having no idea what to do with Ziggler... again.

 

[Moe T]

I'm in agreement with the majority. I think Dolph would be where he is now. He had numerous IC-title opportunities and never got the strap. However, I do think he is talented and needs to be doing SOMETHING. I would like to see him join Punk and the SES to build that stable up some more.

 

[The Prophecy Trevor Sins]

I don't think he would have been because he needs time to develop his character. He can wrestle a good match, but he needed time to develop a personality. If developed right, I see the next Mr. Perfect in him! He could be that guy, and I think he will be

 

[LSN80]

First, I have to respectfully disagree with the OP: It wasn't that great of a feud. Maybe it's because that was Rey's program following his with Jericho's, which would be hard to top. Rey hasn't yet, hard as they tried with Batista.

However, I disagree with most people that he would be where he is now. I think the reason they put the belt on Morrison on Smackdown had more to do with Morrison than it did with Ziggler. They wanted another face to take the reigns on such short notice, and Morrison was the right person to fill that void.

If Mysterio hadn't been suspended, I believe that Ziggler would have won the IC title off of him eventually: on PPV. They were extremely high on him at the time, and it wasn't until he began to work with JoMo that they soured on him at all, espcially after their ppv encounter with Pat Patterson. To me, that's where he dropped the ball, in showing that he couldn't put on a real good match or work a good promo that didn't involve Rey Rey(In my opinion).

So I think he would have won the IC title, maybe even at HIAC, and may still be champion now. And I don't think he's close to being future endeavored, I just think he's lost in the shuffle right now. Alot of guys are! But we are talking about a guy that headlined a ppv once(see Vengeance 06 DX vs The Spirit Squad). He's just trying to find his niche as a single's competitor. Give it time. Patience. It's no different then the Swagger's, Kingston's, and DiBiase's of the world. His time will come. It just isn't now.

 

[The King]

He would be right where he is now...out of the main event elimination chamber match. I think he has lots of potential, but is just missing something.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I honestly think that things would still happened roughly the same as they did in reality. Ziggler might have defeated Mysterio at Night of Champions and held onto the belt for a little over a month, but Morrison would still have won the IC title and had his reign. After that.... Ziggler probably would still be losing to guys like Kane or McIntyre. In the end he would have had been IC Champion from Night of Champions until September 1st when Morrison got the belt, but still would have ended up where he is now. The only difference if Rey hadn't been suspended would be that Ziggler would have gotten a 30+ day reign as IC Champion because Morrison and McIntyre were going to get the belt anyhow whether it was Rey or Ziggler who had it before them.

 

[GenMe]

I think Dolph could off been a 2 time IC Champion by now.If REY would off never got Suspended,They will have there feud until maybe now.I was really liking the feud between them and i was happy that Dolph was puttingon some great matches against Rey.Also Rey was putting him over with the crowd.If the suspention had not happend Dolph will have been the IC Champion for now instead of Drew Mcintyre.But now i really dont know were Dolph is,Lat time I saw him was in the Royal Rumble and that was one month ago.

 

[maar130]

Well going with the trend, I think he will be where he is now since The actually were not going with him, that is why they picked Morrison, Where would Morrison be? that is something that I really don't know.

More than Dolph Missing something, it is how management change things so ramdomly, I mean they go with one guy for a while, after afew months they have a change of hart and go with other, too many changes in the last two years.

All of the sudden Ted is going to be the next Main eventer, then it was scrapped, then Koffi, it was crapped too, Cody is the Sleeper one but it seems also scrapped and before them, Swagger and Ziggler.

There are more names on the list but they get like 3 weeks attention and as soon as something seems to be going on well they change direction. Woudl give you an example but we have seen to many this year to mention them.

 

[Theo Mays]

I think Dolph would have won the title in all honesty. Whether it would be clean or a dirty win it doesn't matter, Ziggler would have been the IC champ. The question that popped into my head is where would this leave Drew McIntyre. If Ziggler were to have gone on to be a good champ with feuds with Morrison, Kane, and R-Truth (just examples), would McIntyre have gotten the call up. Maybe after Ziggler dropped the title, which I think would have come around TLC or the Royal Rumble. But I do think Ziggler would have been crowned the IC champ and would have had a solid run with the gold and possibly creep towards the main event.