A Perfect Ending: Dolph Ziggler's Overdue Intercontinental Championship

I try to not read Smackdown spoilers after the show takes place on Tuesdays. I like to watch the show take place on Fridays. However, in the New York area, this past Friday's episode was pushed back due to a Yankees game. With a busy weekend for myself, I didn't get to watch the episode until today, thanks to full episodes now appearing on WWE's YouTube page.

As I watched along, I learned that Dolph Ziggler had an Intercontinental Championship match against Kofi Kingston later on. Knowing Ziggler's history with championship matches, I expected two things: a good match and a Ziggler loss.

The Internet wrestling community is aware of the long struggle that Ziggler has gone through regarding the Intercontinental Title. Ziggler's long and bumpy road took almost a year and a half but has now ended in gold. Ziggler, whose real name is Nick Nemeth has come a long way from being Kerwin White's caddy, as well as spending time as a VERY excited male cheerleader.

Ziggler's long road officially began on April 15 of last year, when he was drafted to Smackdown via the Supplemental Draft. Ever since Ziggler's first Smackdown match, he has been in the hunt for a mid-card title, but to no avail. In his first match after being drafted to the blue show, he pinned MVP, who was then the United States Champion.

A week later, it was the opposite of the case. MVP held on to the title and Ziggler dropped into a feud with The Great Khali. It was the best thing that could happen to Ziggler, though, because the young star was forced to carry a feud with one of the least athletic giants in WWE history.

A good job on the feud led to Ziggler getting a title shot against then-Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio. WWE booking had planned to give the title to Dolph right then and there at either the Night of Champions pay-per-view in July or August's SummerSlam.

However, Mysterio refused to drop the belt to Ziggler and retained in back-to-back pay-per-view appearances. Mysterio would give the title to John Morrison in September, which adjusted Ziggler's focus. At October's Hell In A Cell, Ziggler continued his losing ways when it mattered the most. The stigma of being a superstar that will never win "the big one" began to sit in.

Suddenly, Ziggler dropped out from those graces, showing well on televised matches, but never having many matches of any significance. The year 2010 meant many matches on Superstars for Ziggler, which eventually vaulted into him into the storyline that he is in today with Vickie Guerrero.

Vickie is the cougar and Dolph is her proverbial pool boy. While it looked like Dolph may have been rid of Vickie a few weeks ago, it all came together last week with Ziggler's first taste of gold in WWE.

Once seeing Dolph's win, I was shocked, mainly because I had not heard any murmurs from other wrestling fans. Nobody grumbled, like many do when someone wins a title out of nowhere, and nobody was ecstatic, since many wrestling fans had waited patiently for Ziggler to get his moment finally.

Ziggler has not won a pay-per-view match since The Bash, which was at the end of June 2009. With championship in hand, expect a rematch with Kofi Kingston on Sunday, which Kofi will lose and may actually turn heel.

The result for Ziggler was a long overdue triumph, but expect a decent-sized reign to legitimize him. Dolph's victory actually occurred on July 28, but did not air until August 6. Therefore, Dolph already has held the title for two weeks.

Ziggler becomes the 66th different winner of the Intercontinental Title, which is more prestigious than the United States Title. Also, Ziggler is on Smackdown, which means he will actually be defending his championship in matches. Ziggler's underhanded tactics and cougar valet will likely help him hold the belt for at least two months, dropping it in either one of the October pay-per-views: Hell In A Cell or Bragging Rights.