How many times can we get behind Dolph Ziggler only to see him relegated back to the status of jobber-to-the-stars... or worse? When he's booked to go over in the ring, part of his thing is to veer close to the wind, to make it look like he's on the verge of losing badly, to make you believe that he's being murder-death-killed out there - only to pull it out of the bag at the last minute. Is he aping this schtick with his whole career? Because I've been a Ziggler mark since he was shaking hands for a living, and not sure I can take it too much longer. I keep having conversations with people (sometimes in the comments section of articles like this) where they grimly inform me that they gave up on Ziggler a while ago. They just couldn't be bothered to keep getting their hopes up that this latest attempt at a push would actually lead somewhere. Now, I'm an optimistic fella, but even I'm beginning to lose heart. Is it his dodgy history with concussions? Because we're cool with him not having the top title, believe me. Right now, we'd settle for a consistent run of feuds where he isn't humiliated or on a losing streak - and when I say 'losing streak', I'm not talking about a losing streak angle. That would imply some booking direction. No, this is the kind that results from creative apathy: when the office simply don't care how the character comes across to fans. How else can you explain him getting away with looking like a crashed Ratt tour bus in 2016? I really want to believe that Dolph Ziggler has one more chance at greatness left in him, one more shining moment like that Money In The Bank cash-in, or that phenomenal, heroic performance at Survivor Series in 2014. I was absolutely behind him when he was saying that it's not showing off if you back it up... but at some point you have to actually back it up. Right?
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.