10 Times WWE Almost Made A New Star (Then Totally Blew It)

Poor Dolph Ziggler always seems to be on the cusp of greatness in WWE, but they never manage to get it right.

While he has held the World Heavyweight Championship twice, his reigns came at a time when that belt was essentially a secondary title. Furthermore, there have been multiple times when WWE started to move Ziggler in the right direction, only to make baffling decisions that halted him entirely.

One particularly egregious example of WWE dropping the ball came after the 2014 Survivor Series PPV, where Ziggler ended up being the sole survivor of the main event against The Authority. Afterwards, he won his fourth Intercontinental Championship and was even named Wrestler of the Year by Rolling Stone. However, after a few weeks in the spotlight, he lost the belt to Bad News Barrett, was kayfabe fired, rehired and then faded back into the lower card.

Another example was when he came out victorious in his United States Championship pursuits, defeating Bobby Roode and Baron Corbin to win the belt for a second time, only to vacate it the following week in a bizarre move. Fans thought this would be a stepping stone for bigger things, but no, instead, Ziggler disappeared for over a month only to return to his old position as an underutilised star.