WWE Superstar Study: Analyzing the State of Dolph Ziggler's Character

Dolph Ziggler has become one of the Internet’s favorite WWE superstars. 

Despite being a heel, he’s earned the support of wrestling fans across the world for his incredible in-ring skills and his amazing ability to sell. He’s undoubtedly developed somewhat of a cult following as a result. 

Yet, aside from brief tastes of the main event, Ziggler has surprisingly never risen to that world title level for the long-term. So, today we’re going to take an in-depth look at one of the most talented wrestlers in the WWE: Dolph Ziggler. 

Where He’s Been 

In June 2011, not long after he was “signed” to the Raw brand, Ziggler defeated long-time rival Kofi Kingston to win his first United States Championship. 

He would spend most of his U.S. title reign feuding with Zack Ryder in a very solid mid-card rivalry, eventually losing the belt to Ryder at WWE TLC in December. But while U.S. Champion, Ziggler also found himself competing with stable mate Jack Swagger as a tag team. 

Ziggler and Swagger challenged Air Boom for the WWE Tag Team Championship at the Hell in a Cell and Vengeance pay-per-views, but never managed to win the belts. They began competing as a tag team less often after Ziggler dropped the U.S. title to Ryder in large part because Ziggler was immediately elevated to the main event. 

Ziggler, now under his new “Showoff” persona, was then inserted into a WWE Championship feud with CM Punk that resulted in a title match at the 2012 Royal Rumble, which Ziggler lost. Though he was the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship, Ziggler essentially played second fiddle to John Laurinaitis, who was in an intense feud with Punk at the time. 

“The Showoff” would also challenge for the WWE title in Raw’s Elimination Chamber match in February, and although he was the star of the match, he was never taken seriously as a threat to win the belt and wound up losing the bout. He and Swagger also challenged Epico and Primo for the tag team titles at the end of the month, but lost that match as well. 

After that, it was back to the mid-card for Ziggler. 

Where He is Now 

At WrestleMania 28, Ziggler was relegated to the 12-man tag team match between Team Teddy and Team Johnny.

Ziggler helped Laurinaitis’ team get the win and was the star of the match (once again), but it had to be considered a major disappointment to go from challenging for the WWE Championship one month to being thrown into a match with 11 other competitors two months later. 

Following his team’s victory at WrestleMania, Ziggler and Swagger challenged Santino Marella for the United States title on this week’s Raw, but Santino retained his belt after pinning Swagger. 

After the match was over, however, Swagger and Ziggler went after Santino, but were surprisingly greeted by Brodus Clay, who came out to help Santino. 

Where I Think He’s Headed 

The confrontation among those four wrestlers was likely the start of some type of tag team feud between Ziggler/Swagger and Santino/Clay, although I could see a situation where we see Ziggler feuding with just Clay instead. 

Either way, I don’t think this rivalry is going to last all that long. Maybe Epico and Primo get involved and both of these teams challenge for the tag team titles, but since the WWE draft is likely coming up soon, I think most current feuds are going to end within the next month or so. 

That begs the question: Where is Ziggler going to be following the 2012 WWE draft? 

I think he stays on Raw in pretty much the exact time spot he’s in now for the foreseeable future. It’s not a terrible spot as an upper mid-carder/tag team wrestler, but with SmackDown stars consistently appearing on Raw, that really limits his TV time. 

While Ziggler’s likely going to be stuck on Raw, I think his stable mate Jack Swagger and Vickie Guerrero are both going to end up on SmackDown, resulting in the gradual dissolving of their stable and Ziggler splitting off as a singles competitor without a manager. 

I don’t expect Ziggler to enter the WWE Championship picture anytime soon because Punk is pretty busy with Chris Jericho, and we’ve already seen Punk and Ziggler feud before. 

That being said, Ziggler should be in line for a sizeable push around SummerSlam and into the fall because the guy is simply too talented to waste away in the mid-card. 

Where I Think He Should Be Headed

Right now, SmackDown stars have a huge advantage because they appear on both Raw and SmackDown every week, so I’d start Ziggler’s elevation by sending him to SmackDown in the WWE draft, which should happen in the very near future. 

SmackDown tends to be a more wrestling-heavy show, and as seen by the world title reigns of Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry and Christian in 2011, it’s easier to rise up the card on the blue brand. So, I’d make sure to get Ziggler on Friday nights, put him in a lot of long matches and have him appear on both shows on a consistent basis. 

But the No. 1 thing I would do is split Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero up and have Ziggler venture off on his own as a singles competitor. 

As good a manager as Vickie is, I simply don’t think that Ziggler is going to be able to break out as a bona fide main eventer until he’s doing it on his own. His “Showoff” character has been severely limited by having Vickie do his talking for him. 

Ziggler needs to start cutting his own promos and being viewed as a singles star rather than a part of a stable, or I fear that he’s going to be held back and remain in the mid-card. That starts with him cutting ties with both Vickie and Swagger. 

If you put Ziggler on SmackDown as a singles competitor, give him more promo time and have him cross over to Raw, then he’s going to get over as one of the top heels in the WWE. 

But if the WWE wants to guarantee that, I would make sure that Ziggler’s first post-WWE draft feud comes against either John Cena or Randy Orton. 

Ziggler has had some really great TV matches with both guys (especially Orton, though), but he’s never had an extended feud with either of them. That should change, and it should change ASAP because it could help catapult him to the main event for the long-term. 

Final Thoughts 

You don’t need me to tell you how great Ziggler is as a seller and an overall ring-competitor, or how his talent warrants a better spot on the card. 

The issue with Ziggler isn’t how he performs on a consistent basis. It’s how the WWE does or doesn’t book him. 

If the creative team can really get behind him following Extreme Rules, then there’s no telling where he will go and no doubt that he’ll become a world champion by the end of 2012.

Note: As part of the new WWE blog, I'll be asking all of the B/R wrestling readers for questions for a new mailbag that I will post on Fridays. It will be a slideshow featuring 10-20 questions and answers on a wide range of topics. You can submit questions either through Formspring or Twitter, and the best ones will be answered in the B/R mailbag.