Dolph Ziggler recently lost the Intercontinental Championship to the Miz, only to win it back the next night, and on the September 29 edition of RAW, he successfully defended it again. This is a pattern that needs to continue for quite some time. Though he is very popular with many fans, he still needs to be established as a more dominant champion in order to actually be seen as a credible threat to Rusev. To do this, Ziggler needs to win as many matches as possible, and show off his athleticism and heart to the best of his abilities. The key to this is to book him as a strong champion, which means that he cannot lose any matches directly. If WWE feels compelled to have him lose to someone for the sake of creating more convincing opponents for him, then he should team with someone, and have his partner be the person who gets pinned. It would give that challenger some momentum going into a match with Ziggler without having him lose directly. A potentially great opponent for Ziggler to defend his title against next would be Bad News Barrett. After being sidelined with a shoulder injury in June of this year, Barrett is scheduled to return to the WWE during their European tour this coming November. So, after Zigglers title feud with the Miz and Cesaro is finished, he would have an excellent opponent in Barrett, who technically never lost the title, but had to vacate it due to his injury. Whether as a face or as a heel, Barretts drive to regain what was his would lead to some great matches between Ziggler and himself.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
