WWE: Dolph Ziggler Why He Can Main-Event All the Way to Wrestlemania

The show-off Dolph Ziggler has come a long way since his Spirit Squad days. At 31 years old, the man has already become the 22nd Triple Crown champion* in the WWE and will most likely be in the main events of every pay-per-view from now until Wrestlemania. His skills in the ring have always been impressive but this past year has really escalated him up the ladder of the company. His matches with CM Punk in November and December of 2011 will no doubt be a DVD collection for one of those superstars in the future. 

His antics as of late have thrust him in the spotlight. With Vickie Guerrero by his side, he verbally attacked Hard Core WWE legend Mick Foley on the January 16th edition of Monday Night Raw. His mic skills were flawless as he tore into the veteran Foley and showed exactly how a heel walks that fine line of bully, and justified it. He is set to have a match at the Royal Rumble against champion CM Punk at the end of this month on the 29th. 

The match at this point is a standard match with the only stipulation of a special guest referee. The vice president of talent relations and interim general manager of Raw will be calling the match and he's made it very clear he's not a fan of Punk's. With the quality of matches that Punk and Ziggler have had together over the last several months, and the addition of Laurinaitis as the referee things do not bode well for the current champion Punk. Laurinaitis fully admitted that he plans on screwing Punk at the coming pay-per-view event this past week so it seems inevitable that Ziggler will be our next WWE champion.

Even if good old Johnny Ace had not admitted that he plans on making sure Punk doesn't win at the Rumble I would have called Ziggler winning this match regardless. It looks like it would be a great set-up of a story line to continue all the way to Wrestlemania. Here's how I see things playing out over the next three months.

The Royal Rumble

The match at the Rumble will not end well for Punk, while in the end it will be Laurinaitis who most likely causes Punk the title. Ziggler's skills and the work that he does with Punk will be stellar and most likely the match of the night. They've been stealing the show every time they face one another and this time won't be an exception. I'll be watching for flying elbows on to announce tables, interference by Vickie even though she's been banned from ring side and other factors coming into play to cause Punk to lose the title. Giving Ziggler the win and his first run as the WWE champion. This will carry the two and the story line into:

The Elimination Chamber

Six men enter, one man leaves as the champion. The participants most likely to be in this year's chamber: CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, Sheamus, Kane and John Cena. While Cena seems like a big possibility to win his match at Wrestlemania with The Rock doesn't need the title for it to be huge. It will give The Rock more ammunition to use against Cena, taunting him that he didn't bring the title with him. Watch for some amazing work by Punk, Ziggler and Jericho inside the steel chamber. Jericho, a veteran when it comes to chamber matches, is the man I'm calling as walking out the winner and new WWE champion. This will no doubt help continue the story of Jericho and what he's been doing, but also further develop the Punk and Ziggler rivalry keeping it fresh and solid to go all the way to Mania.

With Jericho winning at the chamber it does a couple of things. Punk can complain he never got his one-on-one rematch for the title against Ziggler and demand it against Jericho at Mania. Everyone wants to see these two men collide and this will help set the stage. However Ziggler will also demand that he wants to use his rematch clause against Jericho, thus taking all three men to Miami. 

Wrestlemania 28

A Triple Threat match for the WWE championship, with three of the top performing stars set to do battle. This could be a match that will rival The Rock vs. Cena confrontation. The three of them on the microphone tearing into each other from the time of the chamber all the way to Mania will be a spectacle in itself, but when these three get in the ring to decide who will be the WWE champion to start the 2012 WWE season it will be a ballet of violence, beauty and athletic prowess. Who will walk out the champion? Will Punk regain his title and the Punk Era will continue? Will Jericho start the 2012 and his return back to Raw as the new champion? Or will Ziggler be the man with the gold around his waist bringing this rising star into the top tier full-time going forward?

It's personally difficult for me to call who will be the one to take it. I'm a huge fan of each of these performers and think anyone of them would be a fantastic champion. Whatever happens on April 1, the fans will truly be winners as having any one of those superstars as champion will start the new season in a fantastic way. 

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