10 Reasons Why Dolph Deserved His Demotion

3. There's Only One Chapter In His Story

Dolph Ziggler
WWE.com

Dolph has mastered the art of the ten to fifteen minute mid card TV match. He must be a lazy hollywood writer's dream - that he's been involved with so many meaningless variations of them is confirmation of that.

There is very little variety in his act elsewhere, though. His matches seem to exclusively follow one storytelling formula - a back and forth encounter between two equally matched opponents, ending in a narrow, could've-gone-either way win after an excessive number of near-falls.

It is the essence of 50/50 booking - so Ziggler shouldn't be at all surprised that's he continually lost in the shuffle. His work with Corbin has been refreshing, in that he's broken up the pattern, but again, it's probably too late to be considered a string to the bow of his main event prospects.

A proper main event talent should be able to tell in-ring stories with more nuance and diversity. Kevin Owens, for one, has already demonstrated in a much shorter space of time that he can put on very different but equally good matches with a whole host of different wrestlers. Ziggler's matches are largely indistinguishable from the ones he was putting on 2011.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!