When will Dolph Ziggler get a proper storyline?
It’s going to be more than a year since the ‘Let’s Go Ziggler’ chants started gaining immense steam. Even though Jerry Lawler has mistaken them as “Let’s Go Sheamus” or “Let’s Go Colter” chants, Lawler remains to be the only one mistaken.
Dolph Ziggler’s in ring skills especially his energy throughout any match makes that man someone to buy a ticket for a live event worth it. But circumstances always lead Ziggler back to where he started- as a lower card superstar.
How else do you explain Ziggler kicking off the show with the immensely entertaining Damien Sandow in the pre-show of Battleground? What’s the point? Is it to get a wider audience to assert their social relevance? Okay. That’s fine but how did Ziggler suddenly go that lower on the WWE hierarchy of performance cards?
His career trajectory saw its crescendo when he finally cashed in his Money In The Bank Contract on a face Alberto Del Rio; one of the best moments to come out on a post Wrestlemania Raw and all of Raw in years, in general.
The pop that he got triggered the same reaction from Ziggler so much so that it’s believable if he lost his voice soon after. It was one of those moments which a wrestler or any live performer lives for; a moment to revel in the adulation of a live crowd. That’s an achievement.
The only goal and the hardest one in the WWE is to get a reaction and keep getting reactions; something that Alberto Del Rio has not been able to. Something that John Cena clearly revels under even though it’s a divided response.
Ziggler has had a concussion and came back after weeks to be in a gruesome match where he endured multiple kicks to the head. He came out a fan favourite and Del Rio certainly got the most reaction he’s ever gotten since getting in the WWE.
Both superstars seemed to be heading for something relevant. But Ziggler soon fizzled out to have various tag team formations to face the Shield and went on to face one of the most highly talked about newcomers in Dean Ambrose.
Even though the matches were with a promising star, both of them were not given much opportunity to do their best. They basically had no storyline going. They were just having matches. That’s it. It could have been something much better.
This Sunday, he faces Damien Sandow – another promising star who seems to be one of WWE’s best characters today and a great actor too, in this gimmick. But it’s hard to not notice that they have no storyline going that the audience that only watches Raw or Smackdown knows of.
And when he was getting humiliated by the Authority in the beginning stages of the storyline, it seemed he would be the first one to rebel or have something building up just where he could shine in such a restricting set up. But that did not happen either.
But I still hope that he becomes the marquee guy and gets plenty of time to show off!