10 Early Predictions For WWE SummerSlam 2016
1. Dean Ambrose Vs. Dolph Ziggler
Now that Dean Ambrose has successfully concluded his dealings with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, it’s onto the next challenger. SmackDown’s talent roster is very top heavy with a host of established main eventers and very few midcarders, but Dolph Ziggler has emerged from the pack and earned the right to face The Lunatic Fringe.
With AJ Styles and John Cena feuding and Randy Orton set to face Brock Lesnar, there were only a couple of genuinely viable options. Bray Wyatt stood-out, and while he and Ambrose's last feud ended in farce, a revival would've finally elevated Bray to the main event scene after years of peculiar booking. Instead, WWE put their faith in the Show-Off, who pinned AJ Styles in SmackDown's Six-Pack Challenge this past Tuesday.
Ziggler, like Wyatt, has been misused for years. He hasn't looked like a genuine top-level threat for a long time, and after his lacklustre feud with Baron Corbin, his crowd support has it an all-time low. In 2014, Dolph Ziggler's entrance music drew one of the loudest reactions of the night: now, it barely even registers.
Still, Ambrose and Ziggler is a fresh angle that hasn't been done before. The match suffers from Ziggler's all-round lack of support and build-up, but that's nothing that a quick heel turn won't fix. It doesn't match Rollins vs. Balor in terms of hype, but it's likely the biggest SmackDown match WWE could've made at this point.
This program can go a long way to pulling Dolph Ziggler out of the midcard and putting him back where he belongs, but don't expect him to win. It's going to take a lot more than four weeks to rebuild Dolph Ziggler, and Ambrose's popularity is too strong to sacrifice at this point. Look for The Lunatic Fringe to retain decisively.