Making the Case for Dolph Ziggler to Win the Money in the Bank Briefcase

There's more than a contract for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match awaiting Dolph Ziggler inside the Money in the Bank briefcase; there's a dynamic story ready to unfold.

The last time The Showoff had his fingertips on the company's top rungs, a concussion knocked him off the ladder. The injury rocked him, both physically and career-wise. Regarding what he recalls about that night, he told WWE.com, "I didn't even remember Monday until I watched Raw when I got home."

Whispers of whether he could withstand the toll of the WWE schedule began to arise.

The question became whether WWE could rely on him to stay off the injured list—whether the company could put its faith in him as a top guy without him derailing booking plans with more injuries.

More recently, he has shown himself to be durable, reliable and a workhorse. 

Between losing the world title to Alberto Del Rio in 2013 and now, Ziggler has also grown as a talker. He's sharpened his mic game, having his interviews become nearly as powerful as his work inside the ring.

Beyond that, Ziggler winning the Money in the Bank briefcase is a tremendous narrative that WWE should consider telling. Pro wrestling revolves around stories and great athletes, and Ziggler seeking out the WWE title involves both elements.

A Tale Worth Telling

Ziggler winning the briefcase for the second time would be a moving story of redemption. Last time out, he followed up his cash-in with a long stay on the sideline. A concussion robbed him of his memory and his momentum.

It's been two years since that moment. Those two years have seen Ziggler embark on an up-and-down journey back toward world title contention.

After he pinned Seth Rollins at Survivor Series to oust The Authority from power, some fans envisioned him climbing out of midcard status. He didn't. The Showoff held the Intercontinental Championship three times in the span of four months but never for long. 

He was taking on Kofi Kingston's role of repeated midcard champ who doesn't keep his hands on his title long enough to do anything with it.

To have Ziggler win at Money in the Bank is to offer him a second chance and push a guy who perpetually resides on the cusp of the top-star status to a place his fans have longed for him to be.

This current love-triangle story with Rusev and Lana is a waste. He should be battling The Authority, threatening to take down the regime and building on what he began at Survivor Series.

A feud with Rollins has tremendous potential. A match with Triple H promises to be phenomenal. 

For now, Ziggler is living out a Daniel Bryan-like story of being overlooked while his fanbase grows. In an interview with Michael Cole, he talked about the fans being behind him. He said that they were pulling for him even when he was a heel:

All of this is true. 

Ziggler is one of those wrestlers, like Bryan before him, whom the audience likes more than the folks in charge of booking the company do. When he cashed in against Del Rio, the thunderous response he received is a testament to how much fans want to see him succeed.

To give him the win on Sunday is to acknowledge his popularity and give a vocal, passionate portion of the crowd another electric moment to savor.

Not So Snakebit 

It's time to give Ziggler a new label. After two concussions, Ziggler was developing a reputation of being hurt too often. More recently, he's been someone WWE can lean on, just as he was before the concussions.

According to PWInsider (h/t WrestleZone), WWE officials held back on pushing Ziggler because they believed him to be injury-prone. The term "snakebit" popped up.

Ziggler hasn't been injured since, though. He's now a year-and-a-half removed from his last concussion. 

Meanwhile, his fellow competitors in the Money in the Bank ladder match have been forced to step away from the ring.

Roman Reigns underwent emergency surgery in September for an incarcerated hernia. In 2013, Sheamus went under the knife after a torn labrum suffered in a Money in the Bank ladder match. The next year, Sheamus missed several months after surgery took him out of action again.

WWE.com listed his injuries as "a left cervical neurapraxia (stinger in arm), bone spurring, narrowing of the spinal canal (spinal stenosis) and narrowing of the nerve canals (neuroforaminal) along with nerve compression in his neck." This was the storyline explanation of why he was gone from TV, but the point remains—Sheamus was hurt twice in two years, yet Ziggler wears the "injury-prone" label.

The numbers say otherwise about The Showoff. A look at the number of matches he's been in during the last two years speaks to him being fully capable of being a centerpiece wrestler WWE can plan around.

Wrestler	Matches in 2014	Matches in 2015	2014-2015 Total
Dolph Ziggler	196	78	274
Roman Reigns	150	93	243
Kofi Kingston	155	72	227
Kane	137	78	215
Sheamus	172	37	209
Neville (including NXT)	111	73	184
Randy Orton	125	46	171

Putting a Top-Notch Performer on the Top Tier

Ziggler is too good not to be on the marquee.

That's especially true as his vocal ability has improved. Maybe it's just a result of being more experienced, or maybe it's hunger driving him to excellence or his stand-up comedy work bleeding over into his wrestling interviews, but Ziggler has become a far better talker than he was in recent years.

He's more emotive and able to deliver more moving rants. When he gets in someone's face, be it Triple H or Batista, he just feels like a star.

Fans saw some of his elevated promo work in an emotional post-match interview after Battleground: 

And as an in-ring performer, he's almost been top-notch.

It hasn't made a difference on what part of the card WWE puts him or who his opponent is. To add to his collection, he's had standout TV matches with Neville, Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt this year.

Steve Austin was one of many who loved what he did against Harper at TLC:

These have all been opportunities outside the spotlight, though. If he were to win the Money in the Bank briefcase and ultimately the WWE title, he would have the WWE hype machine to back him up. The bouts would be more significant.

And if he's already capturing the audience's attention with just midcard fare, putting him in the main event against the company's best is a guarantee of greatness.

Ziggler is that sixth man on the basketball team who becomes great once he goes to a new team and gets starter minutes. He just needs more of an opportunity to be the star.

His talent and popularity have him poised to make a major impact as a headliner. 

The briefcase set to hang above the ring at Money in the Bank is his ticket to getting there, offering a second chapter to a story that an injury interrupted.