Man, those were the days...when a (hashtag) heel Ziggler, his main squeeze AJ Lee and their oddly-proportioned, strangely asexual bodyguard Big E Langston were the other most entertaining thing on WWE television - aside from the strange but wonderful antics of Team Hell No, of course. For seven months from December 17th 2012 to July 15th 2013, Ziggler, Lee and Langston were the cosy family unit nicknamed 'Team Rocket' by fans the world over, an oddly sweet trio of villains you couldn't help but love. When they were matched against Team Hell No themselves, we thought we'd died and gone to heaven - and they even faced each other at WrestleMania XXIX. They kicked the match off by referencing Daniel Bryan's humiliating 18 second loss of the World Heavyweight Title to Sheamus the previous year, too, which is just fantastic. Those were the days. Ziggler had the Money In The Bank briefcase until the night after the Team Hell No match, when he cashed it in on Alberto 'My Ring Announcer Is Over And I'm Not' Del Rio to win the World Heavyweight Championship in legitimately one of Monday Night RAW's greatest ever moments. For one glorious night he received a reaction on par with WWE's greatest ever babyface legends. At Payback a few months later, AJ would win her first Diva's Championship while Ziggler lost his belt on the same night. Only a month later, the dream team was dead. AJ would go on to become a record-breaking Diva's Champion and retire young as Mrs. Phil Brooks to spend the rest of her life going to hockey games and saving stray dogs. Big E would drop the 'Langston' like a hot record and become the new most entertaining thing on WWE television with The New Day. And Dolph Ziggler? That night on RAW would be the single greatest moment of his career. Survivor Series 2014 aside, it was all downhill from there. If only Team Rocket had stayed together, they could have held all the titles at once, like a human hatstand of awesome. It would have been amazing.
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.