4 Ways To Make Dolph Ziggler’s WWE Title Shot Mean Something

Your new number one contender for the WWE Championship is Dolph Ziggler. Or should that be the WWE World Heavyweight Championship? Or the WWE World Championship? Either way, Dean Ambrose will defend his golden bauble at Summerslam against the Showoff.

In many ways Ziggler is the Oscar Isaac of pro wrestling. Both have the natural attributes to be stars in their chosen vocations, but have spent much of their career as supporting characters. The problem is, Ziggler has been an also ran for so long now wrestling fans have stopped caring. This feeling was echoed around the web when he pinned AJ Styles on Smackdown Live‘s first ever main event to become the number one contender.

Ziggler is not new. He has no momentum, and fans had gotten used to seeing him as glorified enhancement talent. Given his actual level of in ring talent, using Ziggler to push newer guys up the card has been hard to watch.

As Smackdown Live starts its new era, then, it comes far out of left field for Dolph Ziggler to suddenly find himself in a World championship programme. My gut tells me this is just another enhancement job to solidify Ambrose as the champ. A one and done for Summerslam. With a lean roster though, Smackdown can’t afford to waste someone with Ziggler’s wrestling ability. The Show Off needs to come out of this smelling fresh. Here are just a few ways WWE can do this.

 

Let him use heel tactics

Allow me to be a hundred per cent clear – Dolph Ziggler should not turn heel. Not right now. There just aren’t enough babyfaces on Smackdown for the blue brand to lose one on his level. Still, the best moment of Ziggler’s long and meandering feud with Baron Corbin was the ‘technical wrestling match’ that blessed us with the greatest nut shot of 2016.

If Dean Ambrose is allowed to be cheered as a babyface while running around like a wild man, Ziggler has every right to play the snarky overconfidence card. That’s what made us love the guy to begin with, so long ago.

 

Give him a redemption story

In Kayfabe terms, Ziggler won his title shot fair and square. The Six Pack main event of Smackdown Live included nearly every guy who could be considered at the top of the roster. To some fans though, he’s not quite up there with the likes of AJ Styles, John Cena or Bray Wyatt. If WWE want to do anything with Ziggler they need to make this part of the storyline.

As much as this needs to be a coronation for Dean Ambrose as a bona fide Main Event dude, this also has to be a catalyst for a Ziggler comeback. After a year of nowhere storylines putting over NXT call ups this needs to be about Ziggler proving he can hang with Smackdown‘s main event. Make no mistake, the showoff will not beat Dean Ambrose at Summerslam. If WWE want him to be a useful tool going forward though, this feud needs to be the start of his renaissance.

 

Let Him Talk

Very quietly, without anyone really noticing, Dolph Ziggler has actually been pretty good on the mic for years now. There’s a reason they let him split from Vickie Guerrero. Ziggler is certainly on the same level as AJ Styles when it comes to talking, and the phenomenal one gave us the best promo of the year so far.

Yes, Dean Ambrose is like an artist when it comes to his mic work. Put a microphone in front of his face and he’ll give you a two minute promo about what he had for breakfast – and you’ll love it. The only way Ziggler is going to feel like a legitimate contender, however, is if you throw the pair into the ring together and give them five minutes on the mic to sell their match.

Ziggler will prove he deserves his shot, and will look like a real deal after his sojourn in the main event comes to an abrupt end at Summerslam.

 

Let him win a Programme

Man, is the Smackdown roster thin. Everyone surrounding Ziggler looks like a bigger priority to the company than he does. Certainly there are half a dozen names who I’d love to see The Show Off go twenty minutes with, but in every single case he’d only lose to elevate his opponent. After Summerslam Ziggler will need a win. Who could give him the win he so desperately needs to make him feel like a bigger deal?

The answer is Kane.

Okay, hear me out. Kane is not a popular man among hardcore fans anymore. Perceived as boring, slow and that old guy that keeps making younger stars look weak, anyone who feuds with him is at a career dead end, right? Not exactly. See, what Kane should really be doing is exactly what Ziggler has been lumped with for the last year: making younger guys look strong. Give Ziggler a string of Pay-Per-View matches with the big red machine, and have him win the programme. Decisively.

Ziggler is not an up and comer anymore, but he can still be an important part of Smackdown going forward. WWE should let his title shot be a step towards that.