Royal Rumble 2012 Results: Dolph Ziggler Was Show's Biggest Loser

Nobody had a worse night at the Royal Rumble than Dolph Ziggler. Now, it will take weeks of rebuilding to make up for his terrible showing at the year's first pay-per-view event.

Ziggler should be one of the company's biggest stars. He has everything you could want in a WWE superstar, including the ability to steal the show with his wrestling skills, which is a dying trait in today's age of style over substance.

While nobody was truly expecting the WWE to have CM Punk drop the title quite yet, Vince McMahon and Co. could have at least made Ziggler look like he belonged in the main event picture.

Instead, they allowed Punk to effectively beat him four times while also kicking out of Ziggler's only shining heel moment. Any momentum Ziggler had built up over the past month during the pair's feud was washed away in a matter of 20 minutes.

It was shocking to see somebody with so much talent get shoved aside so the company could continue to push Punk's storyline with John Laurinaitis.

The WWE could have salvaged the colossal debacle by allowing Ziggler to win the Rumble match. A triumph there would have made everybody forget about what happened earlier in the night and kept him in the main event picture where he belongs.

Once again, McMahon and the creative team blew a golden opportunity. After a relatively short stay in the 30-man battle royal, Ziggler fell victim to Big Show's brief reign of terror.

When you total it all up, it's like Ziggler lost five times in one night. If there was ever a knockout punch to a character build, that's it.

CM Punk will continue to dominate Raw with Chris Jericho likely to start feuding with him before long. Y2J wouldn't have returned unless there were big plans for him, so his Rumble elimination will be more of a speed bump than Ziggler's roadblock.

Add in The Rock's return, John Cena's inevitable rise into an unstoppable powerhouse before WrestleMania and all of the mid-card storylines that will need to develop, including Kharma's return to boost the Divas division, and there just isn't much room for Ziggler.

The Royal Rumble was a chance for the WWE to start showcasing its next big star. Yet, they found a way to turn him into a glorified jobber while probably hoping nobody would notice.

Sorry, Vince; the WWE Universe noticed that epic error in judgment.