WWE: Has Dolph Ziggler Earned a Spot as a Top Guy?

Dolph Ziggler may not have a great ring name, but the guy is right on the cusp of being a really big deal in the WWE. 

After starting out in the WWE as simply “Nicky,” a member of the all-male cheerleader group known as the Spirit Squad, he returned to the main roster as Dolph Ziggler in 2008. 

Instantly, his look stood out—the tanned skin, the blonde hair and the chiseled physique. Yet, it took a move to SmackDown for the fans to really be able to see what this guy was capable of in the ring. 

Ziggler, who was an amateur wrestler at Kent State University, became one of the key figures on SmackDown in 2009, which was—at least my by standards—one of the greatest years the blue brand has ever had wrestling-wise. 

He had two great feuds for the Intercontinental Championship with both Rey Mysterio and John Morrison that resulted in a number of fantastic matches, and that was all it took for us to see that he had the potential to be one of the best wrestlers in all of the WWE. 

But something seemed to be missing there with Ziggler. 

He was great in the ring and a solid heel, but nothing really separated him from the pack, and he hardly ever got on the microphone. Whenever he did cut promos, we saw why he didn’t do them too often.

Ziggler wasn’t terrible on the mic, but he was far from good. And this is what we thought would hold him back for most of his career. 

The WWE then solved Ziggler’s talking problem, though, by pairing him with one of the most hated heels in all of the WWE, Vickie Guerrero. The tremendous heat that Vickie generates helped Ziggler get over as one of the WWE’s best mid-card heels, but there were still plenty who questioned how he’d fare without Vickie by his side. 

In the ring, he was always going to be fine. He won the Intercontinental Championship while on SmackDown, had some had some very good matches with Kofi Kingston and absolutely tore the house down against Daniel Bryan at Bragging Rights that year.

He even competed against John Cena on Raw a couple of times and wrestled Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble. 

With Vickie still serving as his manager, Ziggler was moved to Monday Night Raw where his momentum seemed to slow down a bit before he won the United States Championship. 

Ziggler hasn’t really defended the title all that much, but it’s been during his US Championship run that he’s proven that he deserves to be a top star in the WWE. 

He’s really tapped into his cocky persona as of late, putting his own, unique spin on a Mr. Perfect-like character. If you pay close attention to what he says on his way to and while in the ring, he often screams, “How good am I at this?” 

He is Dolph Ziggler, and he truly believes he is better than anyone else at what he does. And he very well might be. 

Once Ziggler started to open up a bit and show more flashes of his arrogant side, he became more comfortable on the mic as well. Whereas he used to seem nervous and hesitant, he now holds his own during promos, even when he’s doing so with some of the better mic workers in the company.

He’s gotten so much better on the mic that I would argue that he no longer needs Vickie as his manager. He can generate enough heat on his own now, especially with the recent addition of his new “Showoff” character. 

The fans really hate Ziggler lately when he does those completely unnecessary headstands in the ring or when he loudly screams about how good he is, but the truth hurts, doesn’t it? 

Ziggler really is that damn good, as evidenced by the recent stellar matches he’s put on with the likes of John Morrison (at Survivor Series), CM Punk and Randy Orton (both on Raw). All three of those bouts are among the better ones we’ve seen in recent months, and the common denominator there is obviously Ziggler. 

He’s stepped his game up in a huge way as he’s battled top stars like Punk, Orton and Sheamus in recent weeks, and it’s pretty clear that this dude is a bona fide main-eventer just waiting to happen. 

Make no mistake about it—whenever Ziggler drops that United States Championship, he’s headed for the main-event scene. 

And no one deserves it more than him.