WWE Night Of Champions 2013 - WWE United States Championship: Ambrose (c) VS. Ziggler

[Jack-Hammer]

It was announced on last night's SmackDown! that Ziggler will face Ambrose at NOC for the US title as a result of beating Ambrose via disqualification on the show.

I wish I could say that I was excited about this match but I'm really not. I'm not at all sure what WWE is doing with Ziggler as they've really been sending mixed messages as of late. There's talk of Ziggler having some heat with WWE officials as of late. He's been on a losing streak, indicating some possible heat, but he hasn't lost in the usual sense whenever someone is being punished. He's lost a couple of 3 on 1 handicap matches to The Shield and nobody can beat The Shield under those circumstances. Ziggler fought hard during those matches as well. During a few matches against Ryback, Dean Ambrose played a part in both Ziggler's losses. He jumped Ziggler before his match against Ryback and distracted Ziggler during a 2nd one. Against Bray Wyatt, however, Ziggler lost the bout in a pretty clean manner. Either Harper or Rowan tried to grab Ziggler's feet, which he was able to avoid, and that was the limit of their interference but he still lost in a decisive manner.

So last night, despite being on a losing streak, he's given a shot to become #1 contender for the United States Championship. At the same time though, Ziggler has been a target of the Triple H regime since just after SummerSlam, so it does make sense that he'd be challenging Ambrose. But Ziggler doesn't have a whole lot of momentum going for him.

At any rate, it should be a fun match as they had an entertaining one on SD! last night. With or without interference, I see no way Ziggler takes the title from Ambrose. I don't expect any of the regime members to drop their titles, not at NOC anyhow.

 

[torres]

The WWE took waaay too long in making this match official. Had they announced the match sooner, they could've built up the hype by allowing Ziggler and Ambrose to cut promos on each other during the last few weeks.

While I'd love for Ziggler to have some sort of title reign, it might be best to let Ambrose have it until he passes MVP's reign of 343 days and becomes the longest reigning WWE (not WCW) US Champion. Ambrose isn't going to be in the WHC title picture any time soon with two heels in Del Rio and Sandow still being in the equation.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Should be a pretty good match as far as the in-ring action is concerned. I fully expect it to open the show and it would be a good candidate for that spot as Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose are more than capable of setting the pace for the rest of the evening. Some may think Ziggler should be higher up on the card, but I like that they are doing this match. It will be good for the US Championship to have a former World Champion facing the current title holder, who clearly is destined for greatness. My only complaint is that it should have been built up more going into the show.

If it doesn't go first it certainly will be one of the earlier matches of the night. I would like to see this feud continue. These two are capable of putting on a good string of matches so hopefully it goes on into Hell In a Cell. Ambrose should retain. He needs it and so does the belt. Dolph can make his way back up the card again, he's done it before. The loss here won't be as bad for him as it would be for Ambrose. Ambrose retains to open the show and the feud continues for another month. There's many directions they can go moving forward, especially considering how little hype and build this match has received before the PPV.

DAGGER'S PREDICTION
Dean Ambrose retains the US Championship.

 

[Airehk]

It feels like such a step backwards. I always saw the US title as the Intercontinental Championship-lite. A little better than the European but less than the IC. I would have rather seen Ambrose drop the title to someone else for a push and Ambrose can move a little more up the card THEN he and Ziggler can have a feud.

 

[torres]

Backstage Fallout from Smackdown last night. Ziggler segment at 2:21 where he finds out from the interviewer that he has a US Title match with Ambrose at NOC. Talks about how much he deserves it and how much the US Title means to him. I wouldn't be surprised if Ziggler literally had no idea that he would be facing Ambrose at NOC for the US Title until right then and there.

[YOUTUBE]YKjSAHq-xJ4[/YOUTUBE]

"I am completely OVER.....it" -Dolph Ziggler

 

[torres]

It feels like such a step backwards. I always saw the US title as the Intercontinental Championship-lite. A little better than the European but less than the IC. I would have rather seen Ambrose drop the title to someone else for a push and Ambrose can move a little more up the card THEN he and Ziggler can have a feud.

There is nowhere for Ambrose to move up right now. You already have heels in the WHC, IC, and WWE Title pictures. Del Rio is the champion and Sandow has the MITB brief case. You can't have Ambrose fight for the IC Title either while Curtis Axel has it because he's a heel himself (unless Axel turns face). Ambrose is aligned with Orton at the moment, and right now is not the time for either of them to turn face.

Just like Ziggler made reference to in a recent interview, we're in a transitional period where the heels have taken control of all the titles and the company. It will be only a matter of time when the power shifts back to the side of the babyfaces, but it could take a while.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Dolph Ziggler is so much better than this. He should be main eventing PPVs, not curtain-jerking with Dean Ambrose. For once I'm actually hoping Ambrose retains, because holding the United States Championship would be nothing but a snare keeping Ziggler in mid-card status for the forseeable future. Hopefully The Shield will get involved and give Ziggler a DQ victory and then he can move back up the card to bigger and better things.

 

[LSN80]

m. I wouldn't be surprised if Ziggler literally had no idea that he would be facing Ambrose at NOC for the US Title until right then and there.

If that's the case, then he hasn't been paying much attention to his own storyline, which would be pretty sad, storyline-wise. Especially since it was announced earlier in the show that if Dolph beat Ambrose, he would get a shot at the U.S. Title at Night of Champions. Later, when the Shield attacked Ziggler and The Usos made the save, Vickie congratulated Ziggler on getting a shot at Ambrose on Sunday before making the six-man tag match.

I came away from that thinking two things:

1. The Shield look pretty dumb. When's the last time Ziggler beat anyone with the Fameasser? I can't recall, but they guaranteed Ziggler a championship match by getting Ambrose DQ'd. Storyline-wise, that's the worst move they could make. Perhaps Ambrose kicks out, perhaps he doesn't and the result is the same. But we'll never know, because Rollins and Reigns handed Ziggler a championship match.

2. Why would HHH allow Ziggler near a title shot? Vickie Guerrero has shown to be an extension of him with how she's handled the blue brand, so why would she give Dolph Ziggler even the chance to earn a U.S. title shot? I suppose the argument can be made that it's 'best for business', and that HHH is a "fair" guy. But Ziggler is a guy HHH has "punished without punishing", putting him in Handicap matches against the Shield and matches against Ryback when he's already beat up. Why, suddenly, is he now in position to earn the U.S. Title?

IRL, I'm not sure if Ziggler is in the doghouse or not, but this is a major step backwards for him. In July, he was challenging Alberto Del Rio for the WHC in his rematch after losing the title at Payback, and now, he's relegated to wrestling for the mid-card title he lost in December 2011 to Zach Ryder? While slightly injury-prone in his career, he seemed to lose momentum when he got the concussion at Jack Swagger's boot, and now, despite a successful double-turn with Alberto Del Rio, he's been knocked down while Del Rio is still champion.

Part of me is wondering if we're going to see Daniel Bryan all over the NOC's card, somehow interfering or causing a distraction to the Shield members in order to cost them their championships. After all they've put him though, it would make sense. But more-then-likely, with this being the first PPV since HHH turned heel, I imagine the members of his regime will hold their titles slightly longer. This should be a good match, but perhaps the reason Del Rio is facing the flavor of the month(Christian, RVD) is to give him a decent title reign before Ziggler is brought back into the picture to defeat him for the WHC.

Ambrose has done a nice job with the U.S. Title, and the storyline is working so far. Why change anything up? Following a distraction or a thumb to the eye, Ambrose hits the Bulldog Driver to retain the U.S. title.

 

[Carlito_Orton]

Probably the easiest match to predict on the card going with Dean Ambrose on this one, I don't see Dolph being the one taking the title away from Ambrose.

I go into more detail in my prediciton/simulation vid
[youtube]IGME-s5_I9s[/youtube]

 

[El Rev sXe]

I'm excited for this one. Ziggler's role as far the Shield is concern over the last month has been very interesting plus there is an actual feud between him and Ambrose. It's going to be a very good wuality match but Ziggler won't win, he doesn't need it.

 

[MCMG]

This should be a fantastic match and while there is no doubt that Ambrose retains it will still be entertaining. I can't see Ambrose winning clean but they could have Rollins and Reigns interfere and then be chased of by whoever wins the tag-team turmoil (likely to be the PTP) giving them so credible momentum as a face team. Ambrose retains by pinfall probably after an interference.

 

[Starkist]

How poor Ziggler fell off the totem pole. Least he is still working hard to do what it takes to get to the top of the card again. Zigglers matches have become better with time. Ambrose is just all around great. Everything he does is to utter perfection. He can work with anybody in the locker room with ease. Him vs Ziggler shall be a great match to watch. I see it being timed very well with everything being sold/executed to perfection.

I would like to see Ziggler winning here but it wont be the title. He will win due to some sort of disqualification from Ambrose himself or from the other members of the SHIELD. This should hopefully prolong this mini feud to eventually Ziggler will dethrone Ambrose.

My pick for tonight: Ziggler wins via disqualification.

 

[torres]

Ambrose wins clean over Ziggler

No interference
No dq
No cheat tactics

Very surprised by that

 

[SkyCommanderWinky]

I'm not mad at that back rake and I'm usually mad at back rakes.

Also first time I've seen his finisher (Ambrose).

 

[HBsam31]

This was a decent match, but I am surprised at how far Ziggler has fallen. He got the win on Raw in what I think was a better match than this one, but was still surprised to see Ziggler lose clean.