10 Biggest Mistakes Of WWE's New Era Thus Far

10. Not Building Dolph Ziggler Up

Once the consensus “most misused” wrestler in WWE, Dolph Ziggler had reached a nadir prior to this week’s SmackDown Live. His career had been in constant decline ever since WWE completely no-sold his star-making night at Survivor Series 2014, and the fans gave-up on him. Having watched their former hero struggle for so long, the WWE Universe slowly lost interest in Ziggler’s plight, and he became little more than another name in a crowded midcard.

Installing him as Dean Ambrose’s number one contender for SummerSlam should be a step in the right direction, but it’s come far too early. While people still want to see Ziggler’s opportunities increased, nobody’s actively campaigning for it any more. The Show-Off of 2016 isn’t buoyed by the same level of crowd support that he had two years ago, because the company have given them no reason to get behind him. The Baron Corbin feud in-particular has sapped all of Ziggler’s intrigue, and his general listlessness brings very little to SummerSlam.

WWE are throwing Ziggler back into the title scene cold. With the right build-up spread-out over several months, the company had real potential to top-off a compelling redemption arc by having Dolph work his way from obscurity back to the top, but they’ve done none of that. Instead, he enters the Ambrose storyline with very little momentum. It’s a fresh match-up and they’re both talented enough to put-on a good show, but Ziggler vs. Ambrose should’ve been so much more than this.