10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Dolph Ziggler

3. A 2017 Heel Turn Squashed His Babyface Potential

Dolph Ziggler Jerry Lawler
WWE.com

It's that time again; hit up the WWE Network, trawl through the archives to No Mercy 2016 and watch a masterpiece between The Miz and Dolph Ziggler for the IC Title. In that one 'Title vs. Career' Ladder war, Dolph looked like the blue brand's next big babyface smash. Fans in California greeted his win with a mega-pop.

Dolph turned heel less than three months later, and for what? A feud with Kalisto?

It was quite the error in judgement to take a red-hot face and turn them against fan wishes just to plug a gap in the lower card. When Dolph should've been riding high and challenging for the top titles, he was mixing it with a masked Cruiserweight WWE didn't know what to do with.

Later, Dolph took credit for Jerry Lawler's very real heart attack in 2012. This was all an attempt to turn him into a cold son-of-a-bitch, but all it did was strip Ziggler of the excitement and vigour he'd had as a spirited, plucky babyface.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.