Dolph Ziggler Is the Modern-Day Version of 'Mr. Perfect' Curt Hennig

When Dolph Ziggler is done dazzling WWE fans with his "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig-esque, flair-filled, sublime approach to the art of pro wrestling, the conversation about his career will share many parallels to the ones we have of Hennig now.

Why wasn't he world champion several times over? Why didn't WWE showcase him more? 

Hennig painted masterpieces with headlock takedowns and dropkicks. To watch one of his matches was to watch a top-flight artist at work. Hennig was a stellar mat wrestler, a compelling showman and a constant braggart. 

The level at which Ziggler's work resemble's Mr. Perfect's forces one to wonder if The Showoff isn't part of the Hennig clan, whether he was switched birth and if he should be calling Curtis Axel (Joe Hennig) brother.

Hennig's WWE.com profile describes him as "a flawless technician with a flair for the dramatic." That line that would fit right in on Ziggler's page.

Like Mr. Perfect, Ziggler is a blond mat wizard from the Midwest. His character is built around an exuberant confidence. And despite a record of wowing fans between the ropes, he hasn't managed to push through the glass ceiling that separates stars from centerpieces.

Cocky with Good Reason

The early stages of their mat education differed, but the result was the same—each man becoming one of the top in-ring performers of his generation.

Ziggler's first taste of grappling came as an amateur wrestler. At St. Edward's High School in Ohio and then Kent State University, he was a standout on the mat. Hennig was such a crisp and deft technical wrestler, one would assume he came up the college ranks, too.

Instead, Hennig learned the business from his father, Larry "The Ax" Hennig. He trained under Verne Gagne and cut his teeth in the American Wrestling Association. 

Hennig's matches were marvels to watch. He made mat wrestling captivating. He was able to craft something memorable with a variety of opponents, be it a big man or a brawler.

But when WWE paired him against someone with top-level skill such as Bret Hart, it assured itself a classic.

The same is true for Ziggler today. On any given Raw, he's bound to excel, regardless if he's facing Ryback or Fandango or Seth Rollins. His work is fluid, pulsing with energy, fun. 

WWE can depend on him to produce high-quality matches without much story, without much effort on its part.

And when Ziggler gets a chance to face someone on John Cena's level, he does like Hennig did and hammers a home run.

Both men employ an over-the-top selling style. When someone cracked Hennig in the head, he flipped over and flopped around. He made sure to add great emphasis to each blow he took.

Taking on Tugboat in 1991, for example, he collided with the powerhouse and spun off him like something out of a cartoon.

Ziggler has made a living off moments like that. Few make moves look more devastating than The Showoff. The Internet if rife with compilations of his best reactions to moves like this one.

With as good as Hennig was, it made perfect sense that his gimmick centered on how good he was. He bragged, he boasted and then he backed it up. That's been Ziggler's M.O., as well.

Hennig's claims of being perfect wouldn't have held the same weight had he been a lesser wrestler. Ziggler's gloating about being a show-stealer draws its power from his continual show-stealing. In both cases, persona and reality married flawlessly.

Blockades of the Body, from the Writers' Room

Hennig's journey saw him bump against a series of potholes. Some of those were born from bad luck, some were the result of bad choices from those in control of what he did on TV.

Injuries ended up being one of his toughest opponents. Bulging disks, a broken tailbone and a back that refused to stay healthy had him miss long chunks of time. 

As David Shoemaker (aka The Masked Man) wrote for Deadspin, "Hennig's WWF career was marked by injury the way that Bill Clinton's presidency was marked by controversy."

That had to leave WWE higher-ups unsure if they could depend on him. If they were to anoint him the next top star, would his back just give out again? 

A similar question likely swirls in company officials' minds today about Ziggler. Concussions have been his kryptonite. 

In 2013, he suffered one so bad that it robbed him of memory. Ziggler told WWE.com, "I didn't even remember Monday until I watched Raw when I got home. I don't even remember traveling from Raw to SmackDown. I don't remember Tuesday." The headaches eventually subsided, but WWE took away his world title anyway.

He suffered another concussion in early 2014.

Despite a clean bill of health since, WWE may have already lost faith in him. Fair or not, he wears the dreaded "snakebit" label, just as Hennig did in the '90s. 

But trips to the sidelines aren't the only reasons Hennig's career didn't reach it full potential and that Ziggler's is in danger of the same thing. Bookers gave Hennig some bad avenues to walk down.

That's most true of his time in WCW. At times, he was just another add-on in the overgrown New World Order angle. Later, he led The West Texas Rednecks, a stable of country music-loving cowboys who battled a faction headed by rapper Master P.

The chances of Hennig, or anyone else, turning that into anything but a punchline were slim.

WWE has not yet turned Ziggler into a good ol' boy, but he has plenty of reason to complain about the storylines handed to him. He's often been the center of melodramatic angles involving his love interests.

The latest of those came in the form of a story where Lana grew jealous of his relationship with Summer Rae. WWE had a potential headliner play out a scene where Summer saw him naked in the shower and The Showoff then had to explain the situation to his girlfriend.

Neither rednecks nor romance were the best ideas for these men. 

A Legacy of What-Ifs

Hennig had more managers than appearances on the marquee. The same holds true for Ziggler.

The Genius, Coach, Bobby Heenan and others stood in Mr. Perfect's corner. Ziggler's seconds have often been of the more attractive variety. AJ Lee, Kaitlyn, Vickie Guerrero and Lana all accompanied him.

It was as if WWE kept just throwing darts and hoping one would stick. 

WWE never found the magic combination for Hennig. The best chemistry he had with a partner was as Ric Flair's executive consultant, injuries forcing Mr. Perfect into a second-banana role. And while Hennig made it into the Hall of Fame, he remains underappreciated.

Credit: WWE.com

His name doesn't come up often enough in the discussion of the absolute best WWE has ever seen. Some of that is because his resume has holes. He didn't claim the kind of prizes his most revered peers have. 

Hennig never once won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. He didn't claim a victory at the Royal Rumble or King of the Ring or at the top of a card of a Big Four pay-per-view.

Neither has Ziggler. His grip has missed the same brass rings that Hennig's did.

And WrestleMania has been decidedly unspecial to Ziggler. The Showoff hasn't even had a singles match at the event. Instead, WWE has lumped him into a seven-man ladder match, a Battle Royal and a mixed tag bout.

Hennig had one-on-one battles at The Showcase of the Immortals but hardly any that mattered. The company threw him in there with Big Boss Man, Brutus Beefcake and The Blue Blazer. Each time, there was minimal story, and he found himself stuffed into the midcard.

One has to imagine that had Hennig been around during Twitter's heyday, he would have vented via social media just as Ziggler has.

In 2011, Ziggler won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award (h/t Indeed Wrestling) for Most Underrated. He has a better chance of that winning twice than he does of getting a full-fledged push as a main eventer.

WWE seems to see him as a good hand with a strong following that puts on great matches but not a megastar. And so when he's done, fans are sure to be asking the same unanswerable questions as we do with Hennig.

What if they had managed to avoid injuries? What if WWE had taken a real chance on centering its product on them? What if they had a WrestleMania match where they could have really shone?

We will never know the answers to those questions about Hennig. Ziggler, though, has not written the last chapters of his tale.