WWE News: Dolph Ziggler Gets WWE Championship Match After Raw Goes off Air

It is being reported that after Monday Night Raw went off the air last night, Dolph Ziggler won a 41-man Battle Royal and earned himself a WWE Championship match following it against CM Punk.

The 41-man Battle Royal, which was advertised for Raw, did not take place on the air but went on afterwards. The match apparently came down to Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger and Zack Ryder in the ring. Ryder eliminated both and thought he had won the match. However, Dolph Ziggler, who was thought to have been eliminated earlier in the match, came back in and took out Ryder to be the immediate No. 1 contender. 

Of course, since the match was not televised, no one could realistically expect Ziggler to win, (Punk won by pinfall with a GTS), but it is very interesting that they chose to give Ziggler a title match since he is the only one of the four qualifiers who lost their match on Raw.

The match tested Ziggler's reaction for the main event as well as set up a future feud with Punk, and it also advances his current feud with Zack Ryder, who he eliminated last in the Battle Royal. We already know that Punk and Ziggler can put on an awesome match, as we saw on RAW a couple weeks ago. 

My only quarrel with it is that it should have been televised. Lauranaitis could've used it to show that he is a creative mind and give the fans exactly what they wanted to see. It could have been done certainly if the show was booked better and they got rid of segments such as the Diva's match or the Santino vs. Nash match.

Also, even if there was no way Ziggler was gonna win, it's my belief that a WWE Championship match should never not be televised. It just makes the title feel less important if they can put it on the line whenever they want to. 

I understand that it has happened before and dark matches after the show involving main event Superstars is not out of the ordinary, but the WWE Title match on TV could have done wonders for Ziggler's rise to the top, and the Battle Royal could have featured a lot of up-and-coming talent that most WWE fans don't get to see that often.