WWE Money in the Bank: Are Dolph Ziggler & Alberto Del Rio Worthy Challengers?

Is it possible for the WWE to get it right and wrong at the same time? In the case of Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler challenging for Sheamus’ World Heavyweight title, maybe the creative team should step back and see what they have on the table.

This is not a situation where CM Punk and Daniel Bryan are battling for the WWE title and Kane provides the fly in the ointment that screws everything up.

What Ziggler and Del Rio provide is a great challenge for the Irishman. At the same time, they also offer an interesting question: Which one is truly worthy of challenging for the title and taking claim of one of the top spots in the wrestling world?

If it were my decision, Ziggler gets the nod hands down. Del Rio, who will face Sheamus at MITB, is great in the heel role. He is also somewhat stale, has a terrible side gimmick and needs refining. There are many ways to change his “image,” but at this point, re-invention may have a serious backlash.

Fans love to boo the heel and right now, Del Rio may be the closest thing to a true heel the company has.

Ric Flair once said in his biography, "To Be The Man," the worst thing WCW did was get rid of “Stunning” Steve Austin before he became “Stone Cold” in the WWE. I believe there is a lot of “Stunning Steve” in Ziggler. This can only be a good thing moving forward, where there is plenty of room for mobility.

Del Rio, on the other hand, has done so much in such a short amount of time in the company, that there is no wiggle room. And if he is not competing for a world title, then he is not being used properly. It is not like a Big Show or Kane or Mark Henry, who can wear the United States title or the intercontinental title and still be cheered or booed by the fans. They have the personality and the character “drive” to be able to hold that kind of a title.

Del Rio cannot.

And having two headstrong wrestlers like these two challenge Sheamus is good for the company, but will it have enough chutzpah to be a great match like Ziggler and Sheamus last month in No Way Out? I am not sure. The Del Rio/Miz/CM punk match at TLC may be a better barometer of how good Del Rio can be with a competitor or two. I am not sure this one will be the same. Del Rio’s injury history also makes this an iffy proposition.

Sheamus is not CM Punk. Ziggler may be better than The Miz. Del Rio may not be as good as he was last year. Who knows?

I have a hard time with these kinds of “three-way dances” where great stars are pitted against each other and do not seem like a great fit. All three can light up the night and tear the house down. All three can be the lead dog of this company. But in the wrestling world, oil and water do not mix.

While only two are fighting for the title, you can see there is a need for more wrestlers to challenge for the World title to keep things interesting.

I guess we will have to see if the WWE machine knows what it is doing. Or will this be another serious letdown of what could be a good-but-not-great match at a pay per view event?