If you're still a Dolph Ziggler fan in 2016, you've just sat through a year of storylines involving him being an actual home-wrecking bastard while dressed like Kip Winger's wardrobe from 1984 threw up on him, and you still think he's a babyface. If you're still a Dolph Ziggler fan in 2016, you've become used to disappointment, to perusing online wrestling fora for the dirt on why this latest push has been derailed, or the latest justification for why he's being 'buried'. If you're still a Dolph Ziggler fan in 2016, you're a glutton for punishment - rather like the man himself - but I feel for you. I've been there. Eight years on from Nick Nemeth's debut in the WWE under that name, there's a lot wrong with Dolph Ziggler. In many - well, ten - ways, I might actually hate Dolph Ziggler (kind of). Here's why...
10. He Still Has No Identity Of His Own
Back when he first began achieving a measure of popularity, fans were determined to get their new favourite guy over with their fellow wrestling nerds, and the best way to do so (it seems) was to describe how much he was "like other wrestlers that you like". That's when the comparisons to Mr. Perfect began - there was the fried bleached-blond hair, the athletic, technical ring style and his old theme tune stated "I am perfection". Billy Gunn's another one: Ziggler uses the Fameasser as a signature move, and both men do a weird gyration thing during their entrance, while wearing a whole lot of pastel colours. There are flashes of Edge in there too, especially as a heel - but it's Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels that he's most often compared to. The Flair comparison is mostly skin-deep, but Ziggler's encouraged it by incorporating Flair's patented strut into his matches on occasion. Scuttlebutt (like gossip with surfer-boy hair) from a few years ago had it that Flair actually wanted to manage Ziggler and gift him the Figure Four Leglock as a finish. WWE management nixed the idea, suggesting he try it with the Miz instead, and we all know how well that turned out... Sweet Jesus, ease the pain. I'm tapping out just looking at it! But there are comparisons with the Heartbreak Kid that go on for miles. The gift for selling (and overselling) is a definite point of overlap, as are the cocky 'look at me' persona, superkick usage and flamboyant ring gear. There's not much air between The Show-Off/Show-Stealer and The Showstopper, either. That's all great, and an ideal way to introduce an ambitious new WWE superstar into the fold. Eight years later, Dolph Ziggler is the veteran being challenged by hungry young bucks like Tyler Breeze, and he's still drawing Curt Hennig/Shawn Michaels comparisons. When a guy's been around that long and is on TV on a weekly basis and hasn't developed enough of his own identity to escape easy early juxtapositions like that, it's time to be a little concerned.