FanPost

Fantasy booking Dolph Zigger into the next big star




Bear with me here folks... I posit that Dolph Zigger has everything within him to achieve Daniel Bryan levels of popularity given his ability to both physically perform and call a classic match within the ring. WWE had an opportunity to turn him into one of the most popular wrestlers in the world in the aftermath of Survivor Series 2014 but either did not see that possibility or did not want him in that position.

Ever since then he has struggled to make a name for himself and stay over with the fans. This is really a pretty common problem among most of the roster as WWE seems dead set on avoiding a situation where a single wrestler gains a dominant position within the company and has leverage in contract negotiations or could even choose to leave the company for another promotion while taking his fans with him. This may play into the recent idea that Vince McMahon wants the WWE itself to be over rather than single wrestlers, or that might all be nonsense and it's just bad booking in general.

My idea begins with the 2018 Royal Rumble match... Dolph Ziggler comes in at the #30 position and wins in a clean upset to receive a title shot at Wrestlemania 2018. During the intervening period he begins to look more and more dominant as time passes... he loses his initial PPV match following the Rumble but goes on a solid PPV win streak leading into Wrestlemania where he is set to face an opponent who is clearly physically superior to him. Preferably this opponent is a dominant heel, but a babyface like Roman Reigns or John Cena would also be effective. In the Wrestlemania match they need to go rather long and he needs to just barely lose and it should happen in a completely clean match.

Following this rumors should be 'leaked' to dirt sheets that he is contemplating retirement due to being assured of a win at Wrestlemania but ultimately having the rug pulled out from under him by a last minute Vince McMahon or similar authority figure decision. Now in reality he is clearly not retiring but the rumor needs to exist... but post-Wrestlemania he goes on a 20+ match televised and PPV win streak and begins advocating for another title opportunity mid-streak. He must be openly denied this opportunity before Summerslam and Survivor Series.

Ziggler continues to win at a breakneck pace even dominating his opponents through skillfull wrestling with quite a few wins coming at the expense of larger opponents due to reversals and generally clever tactics. But the match continues to be refused by the bad guys in charge who, just like Bryan view him as too small to be their top guy.

Just prior to the Royal Rumble he begins talking about winning the match and forcing an opportunity which leads the bookers to deny him the right to enter the Rumble match. However, late in the match we see John Cena come out with his music alongside Ziggler... Cena hands Ziggler his drawn lot and walks with him to the ring, referees confer while Cena makes it audibly clear he is giving Ziggler his spot in the Rumble which the referees accept after a few minutes of drama. Perhaps even someone like Triple H or Vince coming to ringside to angrily advocate for his omission from the match so you can get that great shot of the really angry heel being overruled and looking furious. This could even be part of a reveal of who was behind the attempted burial of Ziggler when the perpetrator comes out to try to stop his entry. You can have Cena and assorted babyfaces fend off outside interference if you want, but I rather prefer to avoid overbooking something that should be effective on its own.

Ziggler does end up winning the Royal Rumble to receive a guaranteed title shot at Wrestlemania. Perhaps shenanigans occur at times with attempts to prevent the match or injure Ziggler, but he successfully makes it to Wrestlemania 2019 while looking just as strong as he had during the previous year. And of course he does go over in the Wrestlemania main event for the long awaited title win.

I realize this is rather similar to the Daniel Bryan story, but it's a believable one and I believe an effective one given how the WWE fan views authority figures within the company thanks to nearly two decades of portraying them as bad guys. I believe that any traditional pushes fail specifically because of the distrust of WWE booking which makes an approach like this an absolute necessity at this time for any wrestler to reach the sort of universal popularity wrestlers like Hogan and Michaels were once able to achieve traditionally.

Anyway, I appreciate anyone who went through the trouble of reading this and certainly appreciate any feedback someone might have.

Thanks,
Caban

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.